He’s known across Western New York as the owner of one of the most successful all-music AM radio stations in the world. In August, he expanded his radio holdings by agreeing to acquire an FM radio station in the city that’s his second home.
Now, Buddy Shula has closed on the property. A format change is already in the works.
WKEY-FM “NRG 93.7” in Key West, which a Spottswood Companies subsidiary purchased from Choice Radio Keys stations trustee Philip Von Kahle following that licensee’s dissolution, has completed its sale of the property to Shula’s Radio One Key West.
The deal was originally covered in August by RBR+TVBR. Shula is paying $301,000 for the Class C3 6.1kw facility, which fades when one reaches Big Pine Key on Overseas Highway when driving from Key West to Miami.
For Shula, a.k.a. William Ostrander, that’s just fine. And, he’s put a placeholder Smooth Jazz format on WKEY ahead of the October 18 of the official new format. He confirms to RBR+TVBR that an LMA agreement with David Reese that had the contemporary dance and LGBTQ+-targeted “NRG” programming on WKEY concluded on September 30.
“This is truly honing to be a great local station,” Shula tells RBR+TVBR. “Local radio is truly vital in Key West and the Lower Keys. I think Key West, which I am a part-time resident of, is in for some great local radio. Information and entertainment are essential, and that is exactly what is planned.”
Shula’s permanent home base is in Buffalo, where his WECK-AM and its FM translators have generated significant audience share and growing revenue opportunities with an Oldies format and heritage market air personalities.
While he’s not offering any glimpses into what the Key West audience will receive, it is noticeable to local radio listeners that an absence of Oldies from the era WECK-AM targets exists, with much of the music focused on the 1970s forward.
“I look forward to enjoying paradise, often,” he says. “The biggest initiative for WKEY and Radio One Key West will be good corporate citizens. I take this responsibility very seriously. WKEY will be targeted to engage, entertain, and inform our listeners, and to also help the many businesses in Key West, from large to small. As a small business owner, myself, I know how important it is to empathize and support local business.”
