Seven Mountains Media completed the majority of its programming changes in State College this week.

Hot AC “95.3 3WZ” WZWW moved to 93.7 WMAJ Boalsburg replacing Forever’s similarly formatted “Majic 93.7” as the company eliminates a direct competitor.

Classic Hits 97.1 WOWY merged with Forever’s similarly formatted “Happy 103.1” WAPY State College. WOWY will continue to simulcast on 1150 WHUN/97.7 W249DD and 103.5 WHUN-FM Huntingdon.

Classic Country “Bigfoot Legends 98.7” WLEJ will move to two sets of signals replacing Forever’s Sports “ESPN 1450” on 1450 WQWK/103.7 W279DK State College and replacing Lightner Communications’ Variety Hits “104.3 Jack-FM” on 1260 WPHB Phillipsburg/104.3 W282CV State College.

Another change will take place on Friday, January 6 at 10:00am as the former CHR “B94.5” WBHV-FM’s format will be relaunched on 1390 WRSC/93.3 W227DV State College under a new “Pop Radio” brand. 1390/93.3 are currently looping N’Sync’s “Pop” similar to what Seven Mountains did prior to launching the “Pop Radio” brand in other markets.

94.5 WBHV-FM, 97.1 WOWY (soon to be WGJC), and 98.7 WLEJ (now WWJL) are all stunting with a loop of David Bowie’s “Changes” and imaging telling listeners to go to 7MMStateCollege.com to find where their stations have gone. While unconfirmed, it is expected that all three signals will be divested to non-commercial Christian operators.

Most of the Sports play-by-play that had been on “ESPN 1450/103.7” will continue to be heard on those signals along with its new 1260/104.3 simulcast with Penn State women’s basketball airing on 1390/93.3 and Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers football and some overlap airing on Classic Rock “99.5 The Bus” WBUS.

With Lightner Communications assuming operations of WRSC’s brand on 95.3, that station has debuted a new on-air lineup. WRSC will continue to feature Salem Media’s Hugh Hewitt in mornings, but expands the show from 6-8am to 6-9am. Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade replaces Glenn Beck from 9am-12pm. Premiere’s Clay Travis & Buck Sexton and Sean Hannity follow with the former replacing Westwood One’s Dan Bongino from 12-3pm. Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and Joe Pags remain in evenings, while Westwood One’s Red Eye Radio replaces Coast to Coast AM in overnights. The station notes that new local programming will debut soon as the station drops “WRSC 8AM Live with Chris Forshey”.

Update 12/30: Seven Mountains Media has confirmed it will close on its $17,375,000 purchase of 34 stations from Forever Media on Monday, January 2.

The closing will be followed by a massive shuffle of programming in State College PA as the company’s four existing brands in the market relocate to new signals within the following days.

Hot AC “95.3 3WZ” WZWW will move to 93.7 WMAJ Boalsburg replacing Forever’s similarly formatted “Majic 93.7” as the company eliminates a near-direct competitor.

CHR “B94.5” WBHV-FM will move to what is currently 1390 WRSC/93.3 W227DV State College, while rebranding under the “Pop Radio” moniker that Seven Mountains utilizes in multiple markets.

Classic Hits 97.1 WOWY will merge with Forever’s similarly formatted “Happy 103.1” WAPY State College. WOWY will continue to simulcast on 1150 WHUN/97.7 W249DD and 103.5 WHUN-FM Huntingdon.

Classic Country “Bigfoot Legends 98.7” WLEJ will move to two sets of signals replacing Forever’s Sports “ESPN 1450” on 1450 WQWK/103.7 W279DK State College and replacing Lightner Communications’ Variety Hits “104.3 Jack-FM” on 1260 WPHB Phillipsburg/104.3 W282CV State College.

The four FMs currently owned by Seven Mountains Media are being transferred to Seven Mountains COO Jim Loftus’ Covenant Communications for expected divestitures. The first will see Forever’s News/Talk 1390 WRSC/93.3 W227DV move to what is now Seven Mountains’ 95.3 WZWW Bellefonte under new WRSC-FM call letters under the operation of Lightner Communications. That pairs with Lightner’s 1260 WPGB/104.3 W282CV becoming part of the “Bigfoot Legends” simulcast with an expected license swap to follow. It is unknown at this time what programming will go on the other three FM’s being transferred to Loftus’ Covenant Communications: 94.5 WBHV-FM, 97.1 WOWY, and 98.7 WLEJ. WLEJ has applied to change call letters to WWJL as of January 3.

Seven Mountains Media will retain the brands of Forever Media’s Classic Rock “99.5 The Bus” WBUS Centre Hall and Country “Big Froggy 101.1” WFGE State College on their current signals. Forever’s “Majic 93.7“, “Happy 103.1“, and “ESPN 1450” brands will be retired.

Once the changes take place only two other commercial stations in the market will remain with their current frequency and format: Major Keystone Rhythmic CHR “Loud 101.5” W268BB State College/WZWW-HD2 and Schlesinger Communications’ Rock “Qwik Rock 105.9” WQCK Philipsburg.

Original Report 12/28: As many as nine brands in State College PA will change or relocate once Seven Mountains Media closes on its $17,375,000 purchase of 34 stations from Forever Media.

A handful of call sign requests and a website telling listeners where to find the brands have given away the bulk of the changes as Seven Mountains acquires the four FMs and two AMs owned by Forever and transfers its four FMs to a holding company owned by their Chief Operating Officer Jim Loftus. Upon the upcoming closing of the deal, the following changes will take place:

• CHR “B94.5” WBHV-FM will move to what is currently 1390 WRSC/93.3 W227DV State College, while rebranding under the “Pop Radio” moniker that Seven Mountains utilizes in multiple markets. MyPopRadio.com was registered for the brand in November.
• Hot AC “95.3 3WZ” WZWW will move to 93.7 WMAJ Boalsburg replacing Forever’s similarly formatted “Majic 93.7“.
• Classic Hits 97.1 WOWY will merge with Forever’s similarly formatted “Happy 103.1” WAPY State College. WOWY will continue to simulcast on 1150 WHUN/ 97.7 W249DD and 103.5 WHUN-FM Huntingdon.
• Classic Country “Bigfoot Legends 93.7” WLEJ will move to two sets of signals replacing Forever’s Sports “ESPN 1450” on 1450 WQWK/103.7 W279DK State College and replacing Lighter Communications’ Variety Hits “104.3 Jack-FM” on 1260 WPHB Phillipsburg/104.3 W282CV State College.
• Forever’s News/Talk 1390 WRSC/93.3 W227DV will move to what is now Seven Mountains’ 95.3 WZWW Bellefonte under new WRSC-FM call letters under the operation of Lightner Communications. Registrations were made last week for 953WRSC.com, NewsTalk953.com, and Talk953.com.

It is unknown at this time what programming will go on the other three FM’s being transferred to Loftus’ Covenant Communications: 94.5 WBHV-FM, 97.1 WOWY, and 98.7 WLEJ. WLEJ has applied to change call letters to WWJL as of January 3.

Seven Mountains Media will retain the brands of Forever Media’s Classic Rock “99.5 The Bus” WBUS Centre Hall and Country “Big Froggy 101.1” WFGE State College. Only two other commercial stations in the market will remain with their current frequency and format: Major Keystone Rhythmic CHR “Loud 101.5” W268BB State College/WZWW-HD2 and Schlesinger Communications’ Rock “Qwik Rock 105.9” WQCK Philipsburg.

Based on the call letter applications made for 93.7, 95.3 and 98.7, we expect the changes to begin on or near Tuesday, January 3.