Update 6/14: Two of the stations that Jeff Shapiro’s Vertical Captial Partners acquired the rights to will be spun off to a third party to keep Shapiro under FCC ownership limits. “101.5 The Fox” WEXP Brandon and “Oldies 104.3” WWOD Hartford, VT will be sold William and Gail Goddard’s Electromagnetic Company. Both WEXP and WWOD have simulcasts that will be staying with Vertical Capital so we will need to wait to see what happens with the programming at the pair.
Update 5/23: Bill Binnie’s Carlisle Capital has won the bidding for $12.5 Million.
The stations will be spilt upon Binnie’s WBIN Media and Jeff Shapiro’s Vertical Capital Partners as follows:
WBIN Media will receive 17 stations:
Maine – Talk/Oldies 870 WLVP Gorham and 1470 WLAM Lewiston, Country “99.9 The Wolf” WTHT Portland and 99.3 WBQQ Kennebunk, Rock “106.3 The Bone” WHXR Kennebunkport, Classical “W-Bach” 106.9 WBQX Thomaston and 107.7 WBQI Bar Harbor, and Classic Hits “107.5 Frank-FM” WFNK Lewiston and 105.5 WBYA Islesboro
Vermont – Country “95.3 & 107.1 The Wolf” WXLF Hartford and WZLF Bellows Falls
New Hampshire – News/Talk 1490 WEMJ Laconia, Country “93.3 The Wolf” WNHW Belmont, Hot AC 98.3 WLNH Laconia, CHR 105.5 WJYY Concord, and Classic Hits “106.3 Frank-FM” WFNQ Manchester
Vertical Capital Partners gains 13 stations:
New Hampshire – Sports “The Score” 1230 WTSV Claremont, Classic Rock “104.9 The Hawk” WLKZ Wolfeboro, Rock “Q106” WHDQ Claremont
Vermont – Talk 1450 WSNO Barre, Country 1490 WIKE Newport, Hot AC “Moo 92” 92.1 WMOO Derby Center, Country “Froggy 100.9” WWFY Berlin, Classic Rock “101.5 The Fox” WEXP Brandon and 100.7 WTHK Wilmington, Classic Hits “Oldies 104.3” WWOD Hartford and 96.3 WFYX Walpole, NH, Classic Hits “107.1 Frank-FM” WORK Barre
Update 5/21: The remaining Nassau stations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will be auctioned tomorrow.
They had been rumored to be sold to a partnership of Bill Binnie and Jeff Shapiro for $12.5 Million, but the deal was never completed. Shapiro previously operated many of those stations when he co-ran Vox Radio Group. He also owns 7 stations in New Hampshire and Vermont under the name Great Eastern Radio.
Original Report 5/7: The winning bidders for the auction of bankrupt Nassau Broadcasting’s properties have been revealed.
Goldman Sachs, Nassau’s primary creditor will retain the eleven New Jersey and Pennsylvania properties with a $37.8 Million credit bid. Those stations serve the Trenton, Allentown-Bethlehem, and Stroudsburg markets.
New Jersey – Christian 920 WCHR Trenton, Sports 1040 WNJE Flemington (currently LMA’d to ESPN), CHR 94.5 WPST Trenton, and Rock “107.1 The Bone” WWYY Belvidere/Stroudburg PA
Pennsylvania – Talk 840 WVPO Stroudsburg & 960 WPLY Mount Pocono, Christian “The Light 1160” WBYN Lehighton, Sports “ESPN Lehigh Valley” 1230 WEEX Easton and 1320 WTKZ Allentown, Hot AC 93.5 WSBG Stroudsburg, and Classic Hits “99.9 The Hawk” WODE Easton.
Manning Broadcasting gets the Maryland stations of Talk 1490 WARK Hagerstown, Hot AC “Key 103” WAFY Frederick, and Classic Hits “106.9 The Eagle” WWEG Hagerstown with a $6.4 Million bid. Manning had sold WARK and WWEG to Nassau in December 2004 but had recently sued Nassau for over $1 Million in missed payments.
The Cape Cod, Massachusetts cluster of Classic Hits “93.5 & 101.1 Frank-FM” WFQR Mashpee and WFRQ Harwich Port and Rock “Pixy 103” WPXC go to John Garabedian of “Open House Party” fame for $2.7 Million.
In Maine, one part of the Classical “W-Bach” trimulcast will go its own way as 104.7 WBQW Kennebunkport was sold to Mainestream Media for $150,000. Catholic “106.7 The Presence” North Windham/Portland goes to The Presence Radio Network for $250,000. That group had already been leasing the station.
Joseph 
Keith Murray 
Rob 
Chucky 
casey1027 
I’d be very surprised if Goldman Sachs were to hold on to the Nassau stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for any extended period of time. I’d expect them to be sold-off, maybe in pieces, perhaps to other broadcasters who already have stations in those areas.
Goldman wants 7-8X cashflow. Realistic bids at 5X fell short. Also, official Bankruptcy/court paperwork does not show Shapiro or Binnie as successful bidders. Unless something happened today NE seems wide open. BK paperwork shows no successful bidders for NE (Including Goldman who was in at $14M)
And IF Binnie/Shapiro combined their bid at $12.5, who gets what? Shapiro is loaded in the upper valley and VT… Can’t see Mr. Binnie getting all excited about W. Lebanon and Berlin VT! How does 107.7FM factor in to concentration limits in the Concord-Lakes Region??? And what about Maine???
I’ll be interested to see the next round of filings from today’s action!
What happened to 99.1 WNNH in NH? It was in that group but I don’t see it listed anywhere…
WNNH and 101.5 WWHQ were already in a divestiture trust from a previous restructuring of Nassau. I haven’t seen them mentioned anywhere in these proceedings.
Lance, I have those two stations listed as dark. Are they back on? Please reply to theradiomall@aol.com
Last I heard the two stations had returned to air with automated Classical programming.
yes. wikipedia confirms this (assuming you conside wikipedia to be sufficiently confirmatory).
WODE is actually Classic Rock.
Even with selling WWOD and WEXP isn’t Shapiro still over the cap in the Upper Valley/Rutland Market. He already owns WTSL, WXXK, WGXL and WMXR. Add to WXKF/WZLF, WTSV, WHDQ and that makes eight signals. I am not even including the Walpole, NH and Wilmington, VT signals either which would push it up to 10.