On Monday (11/27), RBR+TVBR reported on the sale of silent WNBZ-AM to North Country Radio — the Lake Placid-based entity co-owned by Jonathan Becker and Gregory Gallacher — by fiscally impaired broadcaster Ted Morgan.
Now, RBR+TVBR has confirmed that the only station owned by Morgan that is actually on the air has been sold, and he’s exiting the business. However, little is known about the buyer of the station deal that’s just been announced.
What is known is that the station covers the Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y. market and the Montréal southern metropolitan area.
In an announcement distributed Tuesday afternoon from Jason James of Patrick Communications, the broker representing Morgan and Saranac Lake Radio, he has agreed to sell Class C2 WNBZ-FM 106.3, licensed to Saranac, N.Y., to NBZ LLC for $300,000.
The new owner will begin operating WNBZ via an LMA on Friday, Dec. 1.
In an interview with RBR+TVBR, James noted that the sale of WNBZ-FM is part of an effort to sell all of the stations he controls. It follows yesterday’s announcement that Morgan’s Radio Lake Placid was selling silent WNBZ-AM 1240 for $6,000 to North Country Radio and that WLPW-FM 105.5, also dark under special temporary authority (STA) rules, could be sold to North Country under a right of first refusal within 30 days at an additional cost of $25,000.
Asked to clarify Morgan’s decision, James said, “It’s just a business decision to exit the business.”
James also declined to offer further information on WNBZ-FM buyer NBZ LLC. However, he says that they are first-time owners “that are going to be independent operators.” The two principals behind NBZ LLC are presently employed in other places. However, all will be revealed on Wednesday when the asset purchase agreement (APA) appears in the FCC’s CDBS database.
“They are very excited to tell the community what they are doing, and they know their names are going to be out there tomorrow with the APA,” James says, adding that they will be aiming WNBZ’s programming at Burlington and Plattsburgh.
James is also very excited for this deal, as it involves two individuals “who are happy to be local radio station owners. This is what is needed in the industry.”
James would not comment on the status of those stations held by Morgan that have been silent for a period of time that has come into question by local media. While FCC records indicate STAs for WLPW and WNBZ-AM were put into effect in June 2017, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise has reported — based on information obtained from other area media observers — that the stations have been dark for nearly two years. If this were true, Morgan could be in hot water with the Commission for failure to promptly notify the Media Bureau of the stations’ silence — putting the sale to North Country Radio of the stations in question, if not on hold.
As WNBZ-FM is licensed to Saranac Lake Radio, which is free and clear of any issues, a quick LMA-to-close scenario is envisioned.
WNBZ-FM’s signal reaches Valleyfield, St. Jean-sur-Richelieu and much of the Montréal, Quebec, metropolitan region, in addition to Cornwall, Ontario. It also stretches south from Lake Placid to the northern tip of Lake George, N.Y.
Meanwhile, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that the Morgan-held “Radio Park,” two adjacent properties on Santanoni Avenue associated with WNBZ, has been taken off an Essex County, N.Y. tax auction list.
North Country Community College is buying the property, which it wants not for its studios but as a better right-of-way to its adjacent academic facilities and parking lots.
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