KINGSTON, N.Y. — With co-founder and former President Howard Camping now well in its past, Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio Network continues preaching the Word of G-d across 51 stations and 45 translators located throughout the United States.
In Buffalo, New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley and the Columbus, Ga., area, listeners who presently tune to stations airing FRN’s Christian talk and teaching programs will soon be in for a big change.
The nation’s No. 2 licensee of radio stations is poised to take them over.
On August 23, Educational Media Foundation signed an asset purchase agreement — filed with the FCC one week later — that sees the owner of the Christian Pop “KLOVE” and Worship Music “Air1” networks purchase the following stations and FM translators from Family Stations Inc.:
- Class C3 WFRC-FM 90.5 in Columbus, Ga. and Class A WFRP-FM 88.7 in Americus, Ga.
- Class A WFRH-FM 91.7 in Kingston, N.Y. and silent FM translator W282BI at 104.3 MHz in Catskill, N.Y., the county seat of Greene County.
- Class B1 WFBF-FM 89.9 in Buffalo, using a tower located to the far south, in North Boston, N.Y.
It is a near certainty that KLOVE will replace Family Radio programming on all of the stations.
For Columbus, Ga., listeners, the nearest KLOVE member station is to the west — WMRK-FM 107.9 in Montgomery, Ala.
In the Kingston area, the nearest KLOVE home is an FM translator at 106.9 MHz used to reach Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, with newly acquired WPLJ-FM in New York the main station to turn to all points south of Newburgh.
In Western New York, the closest KLOVE member station is WKDL-FM 104.9 in Brockport, a Class A serving Rochester.
To enter the Buffalo and Columbus, Ga., markets while greatly improving its Mid-Hudson Valley coverage, EMF is paying Family Stations $1.4 million.
A $70,000 deposit has been made.
No broker or finder is associated with this transaction, which again sees Paige Fronabarger of Wilkinson Barker Knauer serve as EMF’s legal counsel of record.
Representing Family Stations is Matthew McCormick of Fletcher Heald & Hildreth.
— Rachel Reuben contributed to this story from Kingston, N.Y., with additional reporting by Adam R Jacobson in Boca Raton, Fla.
