Townsquare Media has taken three of its stations in Upstate New York off the air.
CHR 97.5 WTBD-FM Delhi and Classic Rock simulcast “The Eagle” 94.7 WIYN Deposit/100.3 WDHI Delhi/Oneonta ceased operations at the end of 2023. STA filings with the FCC state, “Due to economic conditions in the market, the licensee was forced to take the station off the air temporarily. The licensee respectfully requests special temporary authority for the station to remain silent. The licensee will promptly notify the Commission when it is able to resume station operations.”
The stations were operated out of their Oneonta cluster where the company continues to operate Country “Big Cat 92.1” WDLA Walton, Hot AC “Star 93.9” WKXZ Norwich, Country “Big Cat 95.3” WBKT Norwich, Classic Hits 103.1 WZOZ Oneonta, AC “Mix 103.9” WSRK Oneonta, and “CNY News” 730 WDOS Oneonta/1270 WDLA Walton. Townsquare previously took 970 WCHN Norwich silent in February of 2023.
Townsquare also shut off Sports “920 ESPN” WNJE Trenton NJ and Conservative Talk 1470 WFNT Flint MI at the end of 2023.
The company made similar shutdowns of AMs in early 2023 eventually selling 940 WINE Brookfield CT, while turning in the licenses for KOSY Texarkana AR, WTVL Waterville ME, and WYOS Binghamton NY.






















As with retail locations, if the location isn’t profitable any longer, and there’s no chance of a turnaround, you close it to stop financial loses. Townsquare seems to get it, where other radio groups just throw on another network offering. As if changing from ESPN to Fox Sports is going to solve the problem of no local revenue (and low listenership).
If they got it, people would want to work for them. Nobody wants to be forced to blog. Their top 40 in my market has been looking for 5 years for a morning show co-host and can’t find anyone. Their country station, which has been #1 or #2 in the market for 30+ years is looking for a morning guy. We’ll see how long that search takes.
Remind me again how iheart is killing this industry. Townsquare is worse. At least iheart isn’t turning licenses in.