In this week’s issue… Family Life buys, sells – “Alt” wars end in Albany – Binnie flips in NH – Rutland signal reclaimed – New “Moose” in Canada – Remembering Greek radio’s “Mr. D”
By SCOTT FYBUSH
*One of the fastest-growing broadcast groups in the region is growing again – and also getting ready to spin off one of its recent acquisitions.
While national groups like EMF (K-Love and Air 1) get most of the attention, Family Life Ministries has been steadily expanding its own regional Christian radio network outward. From its original home base in Bath, New York (and, soon, an expanded new headquarters down the road in Corning), the Family Life Network has continued to build its presence across western and central New York and Pennsylvania.
After a big expansion a few months ago with the acquisition of a cluster of signals spun off from Seven Mountains’ purchase of the former Sound stations in New York’s Southern Tier, Family Life struck again last week, filing to buy two more stations and to spin off one of the former Seven Media/Sound signals.
The bigger of the two acquisitions is a sequel to an earlier deal in Pennsylvania. In April, Family Life (the Bath-based entity) bought WKDN-FM (88.3 State College) and WFRJ (88.9 Johnstown) from Family Stations (the national Christian broadcaster now based in Iowa). A third nearby Family Stations station, WUFR (91.1 Bedford), wasn’t included in that deal, apparently because of some issues over its transmitter site – but now that’s been squared away, and Family Life will pay Family Stations $150,000 for the 2.5 kW/372m class B signal, which reaches from Altoona almost to the Maryland border. Once it goes back on the air (it’s been silent since February), it will become the southermost link in the Family Life Network.
A much smaller addition to FLN’s reach is east of Syracuse, where it’s paying Cazenovia College $30,000 for WITC (88.9). What does Family Life want with the 130-watt signal, which is entirely overlapped by its much larger WCIS (105.1) in nearby DeRuyter? We’ll be watching.
And then there’s the sale: when Family Life bought a package of signals from Sound/Seven Mountains, we knew it would try to spin off the two AMs that came along with the deal. WPGO (formerly WMTT) 820 in the Elmira market went last week, and now WGGO (1590 Salamanca) is also being sold. Holy Family Communications, the Buffalo-based Catholic broadcaster, will bring its “Stations of the Cross” network to Cattaraugus County as it pays $100,000 for WGGO and its Olean translator, W263CZ (100.5).
Behold, the 2025 calendar!
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (can you guess? you don’t have to if you buy the calendar!).
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This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
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In this week’s issue… WBUR backs off local talk - EMF's expansion in NY, nationally - Rochester broadcasters honored - Russell finds new PA radio home - Remembering Bruce Stevens - The new calendar's here!
In this week’s issue… Remembering WNY's Palvino, Harris - Will King sell Bangor stations? - Kay moves earlier - New signal on LI - Cumulus cuts hit PA, New England - Frizzell sells in NH
In this week’s issue… Saluting a small-town radio vet - Bell moves CP24 - Scott heads west - Burlington gets Air 1, "Experimental Radio" - Family Life heads down I-86
In this week’s issue… NY TV anchor, radio historian both retiring - XPN PD to retire - More Cumulus cuts - Rogers sells FMs as Corus makes big talent cuts By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT - MA...
