With 5,000 watts at 590 on your AM dial, this Northeastern Pennsylvania powerhouse cranked out the hits from 1959 through 1971. By 2011, it had become a Cumulus Media property, through its merger with Citadel Broadcasting. The next decade wasn’t kind to this former market leader, with a 2014 transmitter failure and power cut that continues to today.
Cumulus spun the AM in September 2021. Now, it is poised to change hands again.
Cumulus on September 22 signed off on an asset sale agreement that saw Major Keystone Inc. acquire four AM radio stations located in the Keystone State. Among the properties obtained is Class B WARM-AM 590 in Scranton, Pa.
Since 2014, WARM has operated with 1800 watts by day and 430 watts at night from 3 towers, putting a formidable AM signal over the Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazleton DMA that can also be heard in the Lehigh Valley, and in the Elmira, Binghamton and Ithaca, N.Y., markets.
Now, it is poised to become the latest Seven Mountains Media property. An asset purchase agreement was finalized on January 15 and submitted Wednesday to the FCC for approval.
Upon closing, Seven Mountains, led by Kristin Cantrell, will add WARM for just $50,000; Major Keystone had obtained it in a four-station deal with a total value of $179,500. A $10,000 escrow deposit has been made by Seven Mountains and its associated licensee, Southern Belle.
Terms of the transaction also call for Seven Mountains to provide a lease of State College, Pa.-based Class A WZWW-FM HD3‘s multicast space to Major Keystone, which is based in Allentown and led by Pat Cerullo.
Major Keystone was represented by D.C. sole practitioner Melissa G. Repp.
What’s next for WARM? For Seven Mountains, bringing value back to a faded brand is likely part of the mission ahead. On May 1, 1958, Susquehanna Broadcasting purchased WARM-AM for $195,000 — approximately $1,757,523.53 in 2021 dollars. Under Susquehanna, WARM won over audiences who didn’t care for the ABC Radio Network lineup, perhaps presaging moves to Top 40 at 77 WABC in New York and 89 WLS in Chicago.
By the mid-1960s, now-defunct ratings service Hooper-Pulse found WARM to be the highest-rated radio station in the country in one survey period. WARM eventually transitioned to Adult Contemporary in the early 1980s, competing against Top 40 competitor “The Great 98” WILK-AM for many of those years. WARM’s final coda is tied to the 1980 debut of WKRZ-FM as a Stereo Top 40 station. Today, WKRZ is one of the nation’s most-listened-to Top 40 stations, continuing the WARM heritage of format dominance.
Seven Mountains’ Scranton assets include WLGD-FM 107.7, offering Classic Country as “Bigfoot Legends.” It is the former WCIG-FM and has been operated by Seven Mountains since summer 2021.
