In this week’s issue… Beasley sells near Philly – WMGK picks DeBella successor – Remembering the voice of the Sabres – Evanov to shutter “Proud” – Corus cutbacks – New tower rises in Ontario, towers come down in Southern Tier – Translators file for changes ahead of LPFM window
By SCOTT FYBUSH
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!).
We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for immediate shipping!
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?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
(Programming note: We had a lot of news this past week and some time to put an issue together, so here’s a NERW that’s slightly out of our summertime bi-weekly schedule. Depending on the news over the next week or two, we may or may not have issues on Aug. 28 or Sept. 4, but we will be back for certain on Sept. 11. Thanks again for your patience and continued support.)
*If you’ve ever sought out the highest point in every state, you may have ended up on Ebright Road at the very northern tip of DELAWARE, just 448 feet above sea level and just a few feet south of the Pennsylvania state line. And if you’re a radio aficionado standing at that point, it’s hard to miss the nearby tower of WJBR (99.5 Wilmington), with its big class B signal that reaches much of the Philadelphia market along with Wilmington and most of Delaware.
For years, WJBR has been a one-off in the Beasley Media Group portfolio, the company’s only station in the Wilmington market, operated mostly on its own but with some services shared with its nearby – and much larger – cluster in Philadelphia proper. After paying $42 million for WJBR in 2007, Beasley is now selling WJBR for just $5 million, a sign of how swiftly the value of standalone stations has declined in this decade.
The buyer? It’s VCY America, the Wisconsin-based Christian broadcaster that’s making an aggressive play for expansion into big cities. Just last year, VCY paid $7.25 million for the former WFAS-FM (103.9) in the New York market. Like WJBR into Philadelphia, 103.9 (now WVCN) serves some, but far from all, of the New York market – but for a religious broadcaster that’s driven by donations instead of ratings, what matters is simply the number of people covered, not how well that coverage matches the Nielsen market boundaries.
When the deal closes, WJBR’s “Mix 99.5” AC format will go away, leaving Forever’s WSTW (93.7) hot AC/top-40 format as the closest thing remaining in the Wilmington market, where it will be the only full-market commercial class B signal.
We expect the WJBR calls to go away (ending a legacy that goes back to the late 1950s, when John B. Reynolds, Sr. and Jr., put the station on the air), and we’ll be watching closely to see whether this is the only sale Beasley makes, or whether that company’s financial issues might prompt more selloffs.
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...
