West Virginia Radio Corporation will acquire Oldies “Max 92.9” WXDC/1010 WCST Berkeley Springs WV from Metro Radio LLC for an undisclosed amount.
WVRC will begin operating both stations on Wednesday, May 1 by debuting new formats on each station. Both stations will become part of the company’s Martinsburg WV facility. President Dale Miller told the Hagerstown Herald-Mail that “Our intention is to take care of a few technical problems with the radio station signals, then program responsive, local radio stations for Berkeley and Morgan counties.”
92.9 WXDC will evolve to Classic Hits with Operations Manager Jeff Adams serving as Program Director. We reported last week in our Domain Insight of a potential branding for WXDC. 1010 WCST will flip to a simulcast of News/Talk 1340 WEPM/93.7 W229CM Martinsburg as the “Panhandle News Network“.
Both stations had been leased by Metro Radio to Dianne Smith’s Buddy Lou’s Broadcasting who operated them out of her restaurant in Hancock MD. The Morgan Messenger reported earlier this month that Smith had lost the lease to WXDC’s tower as of the end of April.
Got a chance to listen to Cool 92.9 - since they are not streaming as of yet. Lots of '60s and even late '50s. Unusual, but welcome to the airwaves. They appear to be locally voicetracked/programmed with jocks from Today's 97.5. Those familiar with the oldies on the old Cool 95.9 in Hagerstown will recognize the sound. It's almost like they pulled the old playlist.
Not exactly sure if that is the situation here. I was never in the original studios of the former AM/FM combo, except for seeing them in online photos ... but I can tell you they looked straight out of the 1970s. They appeared to have an absentee owner, even before their sellout to the Northern Virginia firm, who really had no intention at all of keeping the studios anyway. The AM side has such a poor signal, I have doubts as to why WVRC is even bothering with it.