WPAY Sold?

[Lee]

That's the rumor. Starting in February they will be playing "oldies, folk-rock" or something.

Can anyone confirm?

WKNU bought the station and are streaming their feed onto 104.1.

[genlock]

Did WPAY give up on the 1000' tower out near Carter City construction permit?

[Lee]

Confirmed:

http://www.wnku.org/page_wnku.asp?p=0532010

[Mr. Jones]

http://www.nku.edu/display_news.php?ID=4282

NKU to acquire 105.9 WPFB and 104.1 WPAY to establish WNKU radio network

News from NKU...

Wednesday - Jan. 19, 2011
For immediate release...


HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Northern Kentucky University announced today plans to acquire 105.9 WPFB AM/FM and 104.1 WPAY FM as part of a network of stations that will broadcast the 89.7 WNKU public radio signal to more than 3.3 million people.

The $6.75 million acquisition, which will be funded over 20 years, puts the 25-year-old station on a direct path to complete financial self-sufficiency by dramatically increasing its geographic reach within the region and more than tripling its current population footprint. The deal will also expand the station's academic collaboration with the university.

"WNKU has become an integral part of the civic and cultural fabric of our region," said NKU President James C. Votruba. "In its 25 years, the station has established itself as an industry leader. Today's announcement reflects the value we, as an institution, place in this community treasure."

Dr. Votruba acknowledged that some may question the timing of the move, given the university's continuing funding challenges and the state's sluggish economy, but said that these factors are part of what makes now the right time for WNKU to expand. "Frankly, if the economy weren't in its current state, there is no way we could afford to do this," he said. "The price is right, right now. We were presented with an opportunity that we could not pass up."

He also acknowledged that, as beneficial as expanding the WNKU signal might be, the acquisition would probably not be on the table if it didn't accelerate the station's path to complete financial independence. "We're proud of all that WNKU has accomplished over the past 25 years, and we're excited about the prospect of establishing a network of WNKU stations," Dr. Votruba said. "But at the same time, we must - particularly during these difficult economic times - consider the financial ramifications of a move like this.

"We've looked closely at the numbers, and we've had others look closely too," he continued. "This is not a move we're making lightly. We have performed careful and significant analysis of all aspects of this acquisition. Using very conservative estimates, we're confident that the net increase in revenues generated by this expansion will cover the entire acquisition cost. This move will, literally, not only pay for itself, but also reduce and eventually eliminate the money NKU spends annually operating the station."

Each year, about $300,000 of the station's $1.1 million operating budget comes from the university. The rest comes from grants, member donations and underwriting. The expanded network means more listeners, which means more donors and increased underwriting revenues.

WNKU is currently listened to by about 55,000 people each week and has a population coverage of about 1 million people. It also has a growing online listenership, which will increase as the result of the station's expansion.

WNKU has been voted Best Radio Station in the region by Citybeat readers five of the last 10 years. WNKU General Manager Chuck Miller credits the station's strong local ties for its success. "We're locally based, locally owned and locally staffed," Miller said. "That's becoming increasingly rare these days. Our listeners understand and appreciate that we are a part of this community."

The acquisition will expand the station's signal into 16 Kentucky counties not currently served by the station. The two new stations will expand WNKU's coverage by an additional 2.2 million people. "What has made us great for 25 years is our community participation," Miller said, "and this acquisition will create opportunities for us to enhance and expand our community engagement on a whole new level."

Miller noted that the success of the acquisition will ultimately depend upon the availability of public and corporate support. "This community has been urging us to expand for years," he said. "It is the support of our current listeners and underwriters that has allowed us to become one of the region's most respected radio stations, and we anticipate similar support in these new areas."

Miller said one of the factors that made the acquisition so appealing was that there would be very little FM signal overlap. "If you look at the current WNKU footprint, and then overlay the WPFB and WPAY footprints, the signals fit together really well," he said. "By adding these two signals to create a WNKU network of stations, our signal will be strengthened in some areas and our reach will extend from Dayton, Ohio, to beyond Ashland, Kentucky."

And he noted that both FM signals - at 105.9 and 104.1 - are in the heart of the commercial part of the radio dial. "For a station that plays as much music as we do, that is very important," he said. "We're confident that when our signal reaches more people and they hear the dynamic, original programming we offer, they'll keep listening. No other station offers the eclectic blend of music or delivers more Northern Kentucky news and features than we do."

Miller said the acquisition will allow the station, once more space is available after NKU's informatics center, Griffin Hall, opens later this year, to expand existing partnerships with NKU's academic programs. WNKU currently partners with several academic areas, including electronic media and broadcasting and marketing. The station mentored more than 300 NKU students last year.

"With this acquisition, we'll be able to better serve our current listeners and serve thousands of new listeners," Miller said. "We'll also be able to create more academic collaborations. And, best of all, we'll be able to do it in a way that actually enhances the university's academic offerings and that will eliminate the need for NKU to spend its money to operate the station. That's why we're thrilled about this opportunity and excited about the future of WNKU."

NKU was represented by Public Radio Capital throughout the acquisition process. The acquisition has received the necessary approvals from the NKU Board of Regents and the appropriate state agencies. It now requires Federal Communications Commission approval, which is expected later this spring. However, WNKU will begin broadcasting on the new stations on February 1 through a management operating agreement.

### NKU ###

Follow NKU news on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NKU_News.

[genlock]

NPR news and commentary for only 6.5 megabucks.

[Ace Purple]

"WNKU is boldly going where we’ve never gone before with new frequencies, new logo, and new website coming Feb 1! You’ll be able to listen to WNKU on your radio from Dayton, OH to Huntington, WV on 105.9 FM, 89.7 FM, and 104.1 FM."

http://www.wnku.org/page_wnku.asp

Also, it seems that 104.1 WPAY-FM has applied to change its city of license from Portsmouth, OH to New Boston, OH.

[Ace Purple]

Addendum to the WPAY-FM post -- it seems that the station will be downgrading from a Class C to a Class C0 as part of the COL change. Does anyone know why that is happening?

[genlock]

The core market for Northern Kentucky University is northern Kentucky and Metro Cincinnati.
Perhaps the university sees an opportunity to sell WPAY and it's cp to pay off the debt.
Now is Kindred's chance!

[Dave Loudin]

Addendum to the WPAY-FM post -- it seems that the station will be downgrading from a Class C to a Class C0 as part of the COL change. Does anyone know why that is happening?

It's a coordinated change with I forget what station. WPAY will be C0 because it will not build to the full HAAT/power of a class C.

[genlock]

WPAY-AM?

[sportsvoice]

Wow.

If they keep it, I'd expect that WPAY-AM would just go dark. Seems to me like this is a package deal though for the whole Braden group and that they would spin off WPAY AM/FM to someone else. I agree that they are only really interested in covering Cincinnati.

WPAY-FM can't be moved to the west because of Vern Baldwin's K-Love drone on 104.3, which is being moved into Cincinnati as part of the WPAY C0 downgrade.

[sportsvoice]

The riots outside the WPAY studio in Portsmouth on Feb 1 should be fun to watch at least...

[lastone]

Now wait just a minute !

The "Educational" lower end of the FM band was created for "Educational", your tax dollar (and your contributions) stations.

How is it OK for a commercial license to be taken "Educational" out of the band for such stations.

How is it OK to loose another "Competitor" in the shrinking station pool?

"Public" radio was never to be a competitor to anyone. "Expanding their reach"? Hell. Why not just buy a network....it's tax money !

Look out WLW !! You could go 100,000 Watts again....as an "Educational" station !

[Tom Taggart]

WPAY's tower came crashing down several years ago in that ice storm that also KO'ed the Channel 11 tower.
They could not replace the tower as before because of FAA issues. As a result they lost their grandfathered Class C status.

Saga--owner of WNNP, 104.3 Richwood, Ohio--made noises about asking the FCC to force WPAY-FM to downgrade to a lower class based on the actual AHAAT and power. Briefly, the Bradens applied to move PAY back into the hills to a fully spaced site in order to regain their Class C status. Common sense prevailed, and, realizing that this would entertain more black bears, deer and raccoons than country listeners, they reached a deal with Saga whereby they would downgrade to a C-O, thus allowing Saga to move 104.3 from Marion County south to West Jefferson, just across the Franklin County line. However, in order to go where they really wanted to, Saga had to have 104.9 WCVO move their transmitter site a little farther north. The whole deal fell apart when CVO was attacked by Nimby's, and WNNP remains in Richwood.

Meanwhile,WNLT,a Harrison, Ohio FM station owned by Vern Baldwin, also on 104.3 struck a new deal with the Bradens in order to move WNLT from its Indiana site onto a tower near downtown Cincinnati & change city of license to Delhi Hills, Ohio. In order to accommodate this move, and to meet other minimum spacing requirements, WPAY needed to change its antenna to protect WLBC in Muncie, Indiana (as well as protect the Harrison station at the new site). This antenna has not yet been installed, and, I would guess, has not even been ordered.

As a result of the downgrade of WPAY, this allowed WETZ-FM New Martinsville (103.9) to change city of license to Vienna, WV. While that construction permit has been granted, it is, like the WNLT move, conditional upon WPAY-FM installing their new directional antenna.

[genlock]

Educational stations are all over the"commercial"FM band
WOSU-AM and a lot of universities are in the am band.
I think they will spin it off to pay down debt.

[genlock]

The billionaire Hubbard family agreed to a $505 million deal to buy radio stations from Bonneville International, a media company affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The deal may be a sign of a thaw in the buying and selling of traditional media assets. Few large scale radio stations, broadcast TV outlets or newspapers have changed hands since the financial crisis –except for the assets taken over by debt holders after companies slipped into bankruptcy-court protection.

The companies said today that Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. agreed to take over 17 Bonneville radio stations in four markets–Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington — including the highly rated news-and-talk station WTOP in the Washington market.

[Tom Taggart]

Consider that WPAY-FM has a cp to change city of license to New Boston (as well as make the antenna changes to accommodate the WNLT move).

Why would they do this?--Maybe they are selling WPAY (AM) to Maillet (owner of WIOI). By changing PAY FM to New Boston, this means WIOI can then be moved without removing the "only service" to New Boston. If Maillet bought PAY/1400, they would preserve their Portsmouth audience for WIOI while then getting a second station on 1010 in...... Huntington? Ashland?

[djMatty]

My only question... who will be around to screw up 104.1's use of the EAS System when servere weather hits ... since I would think after the sale is approved. WPAY will operate with a MSW (after they become non-comm)

[Dave Loudin]

Factoid: with this purchase, Hubbard will have both Class As on 1500 kHz - KTSP and WFED.

[the voice]

WOW..WNXT AND WLGC will have a field day selling with WPAY gooooone.