It carries a construction permit for a 4,400-watt Class A facility covering such Erie County, Pa., municipalities as Union City, Waterford and Wattsburg.
Soon, it will be exiting the Family Life radio network. But, that’s only because the broadcast ministry has a noncommercial FM construction permit in hand that will instead use to serve this area of the Erie marketplace.
Bath, N.Y.-based Family Life Ministries, led by Richard Snavely, is agreeing to sell WCGM-FM 102.7 in Wattsburg.
The buyer is Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, or LECOM.
That’s the radio station owner known for Classic Hits programming in Erie, Pa., on WMCE-FM 88.5 and simulcast partner WWCB-AM 1370 in Corry, Pa., which uses W231DW at 94.1 MHz to bring an FM signal to the town.
It offers a similar Classic Hits presentation on WSRQ-AM in Sarasota, WSRQ-FM in Zolfo Springs and WVIJ-FM in Port Charlotte, Fla., serving the Suncoast region of Florida.
Now, LECOM will use WCGM to widen its coverage of WMCE in the Erie market. To do so, it is paying $250,000 for the FM from Family Life.
A $10,000 earnest money deposit has been made to Family Life by LECOM.
Serving as LECOM’s legal counsel in this transaction is David O’Connor of Wilkinson Barker Knauer; the legal counsel representing the seller is Joe Chautin III of Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin.
For Family Life Ministries, programming will shift to a forthcoming facility at 89.3 MHz in Columbus, Pa. it agreed to acquire from Calvary Chapel in a March 2023 transaction. It will have the same signal contour at WCGM.
