Saga Communications is preparing to flip an undisclosed station to Country and is seeking a Brand Manager/morning host for it.
In a job posting on the company site,”Saga Communications is looking for a strong Brand Manager/Morning host for a soon to be launched Country station in a fantastic market. If you get the Country vibe, can write killer imaging, understand the importance of being part of the local community and want to work with a product focused company that does local radio “right”, this may be the job for you. Send your stuff to schase@sagacom.com. All inquiries will be confidential. Saga Communications is an EOE.”
Saga currently operates Country stations in fifteen of its 27 markets.























My best guess in terms of this flip, based on the person who was provided and his contact info, that they’re either going to flip WNDD-FM, WNDN-FM or WYND-FM.
This guy who’s email is mentioned (Scott Chase Bechtel) is is their hiring manager only for North Central Florida Media., not for any other market.
The four stations that they own in this market is WOGK, which is already country. They have three stations all simulcasting the same format, which is a classic rock format as “Wind FM”
My best personal guess for the flip would be one of the following two stations. WNDN-FM, based on this being the most powerful of the 3 classic rock simulcasters in that market, would probably be preferred over WNDD or WYND-FM, due to it being double the effective radiated power.
However, their recent activity with WYND-FM, the fact they recently filed a License 2 Cover on 6/21/23 to increase the power and move it to a higher elevation and HAAT transmitter site, might give another hint here.
My best guess is that one of these three classic rock simulcasters is going to be flipped to country. Potentially a format similar to the difference between WGH-FM and WUSH in the Norfolk, VA market. With the newly launched station being more oriented towards oldies (80’s and 90’s country, as well as early 00’s favorites) and WOGK being more oriented towards “New Country.” would be the potential approach here in order to grasp more of the market’s potential country format revenue. New Country doesn’t usually do well with the older demographic in Florida, so having a “Country AC” station would be beneficial in order to steal listeners from nearby market country stations.
You’re overthinking it. Scott Chase is Saga’s Director of Group Programming and would be the point person for any blindbox opening.
Why would they flip another station in Ocala to Country when they own WOGK?
Even if this isn’t a flip to Country in Columbus…
I’ve always felt Saga should do one there.