Radio biz: Breakup and shakeup

One of the biggest players in Northeastern broadcasting is about to vanish, a victim of overly aggressive expansion and impatient creditors. And it has big implications for the Vermont radio scene.

A bankruptcy judge has ordered Nassau Broadcasting to auction its 46 radio stations, including 12 in Vermont. And the 12 include some of the biggest stations outside of Burlington. A few names: WORK (“Frank FM”) and WWFY (“Froggy”) in central Vermont, WXLF (“The Wolf”) in the Upper Valley, WMOO (“Moo 92”) in the Northeast Kingdom, and WEXP (“The Fox”) in Rutland. Complete list below.

As is the case with every corporate radio chain, Nassau’s stations feature homogenized formats and syndicated personalities, often spiced up with a local morning show and occasionally a bit more. But very standard, uninspiring stuff; the kind of mass-marketed programming that’s turned radio into the vast wasteland it is today.

(This story comes from the Rutland Herald, whose content is behind a paywall, so I won’t bother including a link. But it was listed on Google News this morning, and if you go through Google News you somehow evade the paywall. Go to Google, click on “News,” and type “Nassau Broadcasting” in the search box.)

After the jump: Big debts, the station list, and a lament for a (mostly) lost medium.

Nassau is a New Jersey-based corporation that expanded aggressively into New England, taking on mountains of debt in the process. It has debts totaling $283.7 million, and its major creditors (Goldman Sachs and others) are forcing bankruptcy and the asset sale. Or, in bankruptcy-filing-ese,

The debtor’s balance sheet reflects far too much secured indebtedness for these businesses and it cannot be sustained; an orderly liquidation process in the form of a proposed sale will, in all likelihood, generate greater recoveries for creditors than a piecemeal liquidation, and no one could fairly argue otherwise.

Bids are due by April 27, with the auction to be held on May 3.

It’d be nice to say that this could open a new day in Vermont broadcasting, with new owners bringing fresh capital and ideas to stale properties. Hell, it’d be nice to say “Anybody want to go in on a radio station?” But the truth is, these stations are almost certain to be shuffled to other corporate chains. Might be a few format changes, but it’ll be more of the same syndicated pap you can hear anywhere in the country.

The lifting of ownership limits in the 80s and 90s by the FCC, and the tidal wave of corporate takeovers that followed, have turned radio into a hollow shell of what it used to be.  

Sigh.

The list:

WORK-FM (Barre) “Frank FM,” Classic rock.

WWFY-FM (Barre) “Froggy,” Country.

WSNO-AM (Barre) Conservative talk. Beck, Rush, etc.

WEXP (Rutland) and WTHK (Wilmington), aka “The Fox.” Country.

WXLF and WZLF (Upper Valley), “The Wolf.” Country.

WWOD and WFYX (Upper Valley), Oldies.

WNHV-AM (Upper Valley), inactive. Formerly ESPN sports talk.

WMOO (Derby), “Moo 92,” Adult Contemporary/Variety.

WIKE-AM (Newport), Country.  

3 thoughts on “Radio biz: Breakup and shakeup

  1. Nooooooooooooo! Where on earth am I going to be able to listen to “We are the Champions” every day, now? Who will play those Steve Miller songs that I was tired of 20 years ago? This is awful. I don’t think I’ll ever get to hear “Sweet Home Alabama” again!

  2. That decision to lift the limit was essentially the small bomb before the bunker buster of Citizens United hit.   Same corporate domination of the media/message theme.

    Wish Obama would have the balls to go back on some of this public airwaves stuff…   maybe WGOP would not be as brazen as they are about their slant/leaning.    

    It was reminiscent of the days that they would report a story on Bernie, but only show photos of some Republican hack like Skippy.    

    These days they show that fat ugly mug of Kurt Wrong and pass over Miro as much as possible.    

    Now today, the Free Press – Jesus, since when do you not lean toward the smartest guy in the room, and ignore the first term dropout and guy who has not had a full time job for the last 10 years?  Seriously?  Shelf stocker and bar hopper more qualified than either of the other two?  Wanda didn’t have a clue of what was happening but she at least went to work every day and stuck out a degree program.

    Not unlike Bob Kiss, we could now have another Mayor who has to rely upon others for the real GUTS and NUTS of running things.    

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