Indiana RadioWatch: February 10, 2001
Northeast
Condolences to the family & friends of Robert Elliott, former GM at Federated Media's WQHK(AM)/WMEE-FM (1380am, 97.3fm; both Fort Wayne). Elliott, 69, passed away on February 2. He was VP/GM at the stations from 1971-1990. For a
time, he also ran Federated Media's stations in South Bend, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Northcentral
Two Petitions to Deny for LPFM stations to report: Elkhart Adventist Broadcasting Service Corp's application (96.3fm, Elkhart), and Voice of the Fighting Irish, Inc.'s application (105.5fm, Notre Dame). IRW is unsure who filed the
petitions.
Northwest
WZRK-CP (101.7fm, Kentland) flips calls under new owner Milner Broadcasting to WLRT.
Tom Murray, News Director at Country/WHZR (103.7fm, Royal Center), exits.
Eastcentral
Investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. acquires Citadel Communications, for $1 billion, plus debt. In Indiana, Citadel owns News-Talk/WMDH(AM) & Country/WMDH-FM (1550am, 102.5fm; both New Castle), and Country/WWKI (100.5fm,
Kokomo).
Central
The Indy station sale we alluded to in our last issue? Emmis Communications has sold WTLC(AM) (1310, Indianapolis) and the "intellectual property" of WTLC-FM (105.7fm, Indianapolis) to Radio One. According to an Emmis
Communications press release, "intellectual property" means WTLC's calls, trademarks, service marks, symbols, and logos, plus any contracts, and staff. That means that Radio One will have to find a frequency to house "WTLC."
According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, that frequency will be 106.7fm, current home of WBKS (106.7fm, Greenwood). Also according to the IBJ, this entire sale is valued at just over $8 million. The WTLC(AM) sale
involves an LMA to Radio One, effective later this month until the sale closes. Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said that one condition of the sale was WTLC employees moving to Radio One would, at minimum, have a guaranteed
one year contract. Both WTLC(AM) & FM were purchased by Emmis Communications from now-defunct Panache Broadcasting in June 1997. As for the to-be-vacant 105.7fm, after all is moved, nothing has been confirmed by Emmis as to its
future programming.
"The New Guy", nights at CHR/WZPL (99.5fm, Greenfield) decides to quit...being New, and use to his given name: Jason "Buzz" Craven. He had been using the "New" moniker since his arrival in October 2000.
Religious/WPZZ (95.9fm, Franklin) flips formats from Gospel to Talk. We'll have more about this in our next issue.
Country/WGRL (93.9fm, Noblesville) afternoon guy Brent Lee exits.
Following their switch to classic rock, WHTI & WHTY (96.7fm, Alexandria; 93.5fm, Hartford City) inks Craiger Williams as their new imaging "voice." In addition to his voice work, Williams is also morning man at WBBY in
Tampa, Florida.
Southeast
Modern AC/WZTR (98.9fm, Salem) flips calls to WZKF. But there's more to the story: According to station officials, they flipped formats to CHR on 26 December 2000, as "The New Kiss 98.9 - Kiss FM." Also, as mentioned in our
2 December 2000 issue, "The Rick Dees in the Morning Show" debuted on January 1, 2001.
Southcentral
WBRO (89.9fm, Marengo) is sold by Keith Reising's Good Shepherd Radio to Crawford County Community Radio, Inc.
A correction: The PD at Country/WKKG (101.5fm, Columbus) is Mike Patrick, not Mike Carter.
Southwest
Country/WFPC (102.3fm, Petersburg) flips calls to WBTO. Also, Evansville's Classic Rock/WTRI (94.9fm, Mount Carmel, Illinois) flips calls to WKRI.
That's all for this issue. See you in two weeks!
Blaine Thompson
Indiana RadioWatch
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