Entercom and Radio One have agreed to a swap of stations in four markets that will lead to format changes at multiple stations.
Entercom will receive Sports “980/95.9 The Team” WTEM Washington DC, “Hip Hop 103.9” WPHI Jenkintown/Philadelphia PA, Hip Hop “Hot 104.1” WHHL Hazlewood/St. Louis and the intellectual property of Adult R&B “95.5 The Lou” WFUN Bethalto IL/St. Louis.
Radio One will receive Entercom’s Charlotte NC cluster of News/Talk 1110 WBT Charlotte/99.3 WBT-FM Chester SC, Sports 610/102.5 WFNZ and Hot AC “107.9 The Link” WLNK Charlotte.
When the companies begin operating the new stations via Time Brokerage Agreement on November 23, the following format changes will take place:
- 103.9 WPHI will flip to a simulcast of News 1060 KYW Philadelphia
- The Adult R&B format of WFUN-FM will move to 96.3 KNOU St. Louis replacing CHR “Now 96.3“. It is not yet known what will air on 95.5. Entercom will keep Reach Media’s suite of The Morning Hustle, R&B with Al B. Sure, and The Rickey Smiley Morning Show on the stations.
In a memo Entercom CEO David Field told employees, “It is never an easy decision to part with any of our stations and the members of the Entercom team that work there, but expanding these three great clusters was too appealing. We have a fantastic team in Charlotte and are grateful to them for all of their terrific work over the years. We wish them all the best as they continue to provide Charlotte with outstanding programming and service as part of an expanded market cluster.”
Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins stated, “By adding three best in class general market formats (Adult Contemporary, Sports, News and Talk) to our existing cluster of stations (WPZS-FM, WOSF-FM, and WONC-FM) that super-serve the Black and Urban consumer, Urban One will be a dominant player across all segments of the growing Charlotte market. The ability to build scale with a complete market offering in multiple genres is what makes this deal so exciting. Rationalizing our portfolio of radio stations in this manner also helps us continue our strategy of de-leveraging the business.”
Eric Jon Magnuson 
edwardford 
mbatchelor 
Quoting KYW’s own story about the change (at https://www.radio.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/kyw-newsradio-to-be-heard-on-103-9-fm)…
“103.9 FM will expand KYW Newsradio’s over-the-air reach into parts of Bucks and Burlington counties, where the AM signal has been historically poor, [KYW brand manager Alex] Silverman said, adding that interference from wireless technology has created issues in other parts of the area as well.
“‘We’ve heard the feedback — and the static,’ Silverman said. ‘We’re thrilled to be able to fix it for you in key parts of the area, including Center City.'”
Charlotte and St. Louis are markets #22 and #23 respectively. However the rate cards and revenues are higher in #7 Washington DC and #9 Philadelphia than Charlotte NC. Not sure what Radio One was thinking (again). Maybe they’ll make more in the time brokered portion of the deal than Entercom does.
My biggest question is what becomes of the 95.5 WFUN signal, since Entercom is only buying its intellectual property, as it can only own one more signal in town. I’ve heard the name of former longtime KSHE GM John Beck kicked around as a potential suitor for the 95.5 frequency, as well as EMF/K-Love; but they’ve already been in St Louis and left, and IDK if they will take on Joy FM since they already have a relationship with them leasing them the 101.9 translator, which used to carry Air1 and be on 101.5 several years ago.