Paired rockers WZZU-FM and WZZI-FM are being sold to Todd P. Robinson’s WVJT LLC. The western Virginia stations will pair up with two other FMs already in Robinson’s Roanoke-Lynchburg portfolio.
WZZU is licensed to Lynchburg VA, and WZZI to Bedford VA. The stations, which play everything from classic rock to rock fresh out of the studio, are coming from Allen Shaw’s Centennial Broadcasting.
The price will be $523K cash, with $300K allocated to WZZU and $223K to WZZI.
WZZU is a Class C3 on 97.9 MHz with 570 W @ 1,926’. As suggested by its COL, its signal is centered on Lynchburg, and it lacks sufficient wallop to make it into Roanoke to the west.
WZZI is a Class A on 106.9 MHz with 290 W @ 1,276. Its signal covers the area between Lynchburg and Roanoke, clipping the edge of the Roanoke.
The stations will be paired up with a pair of others:
WIQO-FM Forest VA is a Class A country station on 100.9 MHz with 210 W @ 1,677’. It serves the Lynchburg side of the market.
WXCF-FM Big Island VA is a Class A AC station on 103.9 MHz with 6 kW @ 1.909’. It covers the area to the north of both cities, clipping Roanoke and also approaching Charlottesville to the northeast.
RBR-TVBR observation: Here’s another piece of evidence as to what’s happened to radio station valuations as prices have been falling back to earth after the post-Telecom 1996 boom. We found the deal Centennial made for WZZI alone, back when it was known as WBWR-FM. It bought the station from Cumulus in a deal that had a contract date of 3/31/05. The price: $1.9M. Divide by 8.5 and you get its current value. And so it goes.
