The first known shut-down of a Cumulus Media station has taken place in Lexington KY where Variety Hits “101.5 Jack-FM” WLXX Richmond went silent over the weekend.
The station had debuted the “Jack-FM” identity in February 2018. It had registered a 1.4 share in the Fall 2024 Nielsen Audio ratings.
Cumulus Lexington VP/Market Manager told LexRadioTV, “As part of our ongoing efforts to optimize our portfolio and resources, Cumulus Corporate has identified certain stations that are no longer a strategic fit for our local markets. As a result, Cumulus has decided to turn them off for now while they identify the best path forward for those stations.”
The sign-off of WLXX is one of the first of planned shutdowns for Cumulus of underperforming stations in its portfolio.
Mike R 
Chip Ramsey 
Ricky Schultz 
Lance Venta
So basically like normal, shut down the station, sell to a non profit or anything to keep from having to sell it to another operator…
They should divest these stations to another operator who may hire some of the thousands they put out of work.
Something interesting is going on. WAGX 101.3 the first adjacent channel licensed to Manchester, Ohio has recently gone dark as well. WAGX would have had to protect 101.5 WLXX and vice versa. Some significant musical chairs could be in the process of happening or maybe nothing at all. Good luck to everyone involved!
WAGX is shut down for completely different reasons. The owner is no longer fit to run the station. It’s been a jukebox station literally ran by a cd changer for the last decade or so. It was just odd timing that Jack FM was also shut down.
So they can play Dog in a Manger with the FCC license by just going dark. My friends, that is not broadcasting in the public interest. If I had the interest, I would file for that station frequency at the FCC, and put it back on the air.
That’s not how it works. Stations can be silent for up to 365 days. The plans are to sell the station to another operator who will resume operations.