COVINGTON, KY. — It’s one of the most beloved set of call letters in American history, largely thanks to its fictitious use in an iconic CBS Television Network sitcom popular 45 years ago. Today, thanks to Jeff Ziesmann and Randy Michaels, “WKRP in Cincinnati” lives.
To get the Classic Hits on the air, it’s been using a Class A FM in Williamstown, Ky.; a Class A FM serving neighboring Dayton, Ohio; and a Class A FM with a tower in Middletown, Ohio, to reach its radio audience. This has left a reception hole in downtown Cincinnati and the hipster communities on the south side of the Ohio River in Covington, Dayton and Newport, Ky.
That signal gap has just been filled for WKRP.
Michaels’ Radiowave LLC has signed a purchase agreement that will see it acquire WCVG-AM & W280FW in Covington, Ky., from Reign Enterprizes LLC.
Terms call for Radiowave to take control of the facility ahead of closing via a LMA agreement, and that signals a four broadcast home — and an integral place where those Over-the-Rhine can easily tune to when seeking to find “where the music went.”
A $110,000 purchase price has been agreed to, with a $5,500 deposit being held by the broker of record, Beth Griffin of Griffin Media Partners. She represented the seller in this transaction.
WCVG & W280FW will join WKRP-FM 97.7, WOXY-FM 94.5 and WNKR-FM 106.7 in creating a 150-mile-long collection of broadcast signals for “WKRP.” WCVG-AM, at 1320 kHz, is a Class B with 500 daytime watts and 430 watts at night. W280FW at 103.9 MHz is 99 watts and has a signal that blankets the heart of the urban core of greater Cincinnati, a revitalized zone that meshes established African American communities with younger adults and new families.
