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Author Topic: Pat buys another one  (Read 4542 times)

geno57

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Pat buys another one
« on: September 09, 2004, 01:51:04 PM »
From AllAccess.com, a radio industry site ...


TIMES-SHAMROCK sells Oldies WTTR-AM/WESTMINSTER, MD to PAT SAJAK for $540,000. SAJAK, the "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" host, owns WNAV-AM/ANNAPOLIS, on the opposite side of BALTIMORE from his new acquisition, as well as WKHZ-AM/OCEAN CITY, MD.

aaron sica

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2004, 01:51:56 PM »
[quote name=\'geno57\' date=\'Sep 9 2004, 01:51 PM\'] From AllAccess.com, a radio industry site ...


TIMES-SHAMROCK sells Oldies WTTR-AM/WESTMINSTER, MD to PAT SAJAK for $540,000. SAJAK, the "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" host, owns WNAV-AM/ANNAPOLIS, on the opposite side of BALTIMORE from his new acquisition, as well as WKHZ-AM/OCEAN CITY, MD. [/quote]
 Corey D. can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Pat sold WHKZ in Ocean City...

davemackey

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2004, 04:18:53 PM »
As of July, Sajak no longer had an interest in the Ocean City station, as reported by Eastern Shore Radio & TV...
Quote
WKHZ Flips Back-7/6-Contemporary Hit Radio has returned to 1590 WKHZ as the LMA that Pat Sajak had with Bill Parris expired on July 1st and Sajak decided to part ways from KHZ. “1590 KHZ”-‘Ocean City’s Top 40 Station’ is back on the air with a lot of music and few liners and commercials. Mike Parris is back voicetracking three-hour blocks on KHZ. Sajak began LMAing the station on 12/27/02 with an AP News format with local news breaks in the morning. It later evolved into afternoons and weekends. KHZ even had their own local news staff for a while. With the new AP News format came the new name of ‘1590 The News Station’. The prevailing thought is Sajak wanted out because of the lack of money being made by the station but more importantly the status of the land where the WKHZ towers are located. The estate, which owns the land the tower sits on, wants to sell which will cause major problems for WKHZ. Sajak who had the option to buy after the LMA expired did not want to deal with the headaches of getting a new permit and purchasing new land for its towers. There is no guarantee that Sajak would have been successful in moving the towers and certainly no guarantee that current owner Bill Parris will be able to in the near future…..

uncamark

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2004, 04:29:35 PM »
If Pat Sajak's buying a radio station, that's one less Clear Channel, Infinity, Entercom, Citadel or Cumulus can buy.  Glad to see him doing this as a sideline (although he probably spends more time with the stations than he does with "Wheel").

Craig Karlberg

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2004, 05:36:59 AM »
I guess Pat has a "summer" home in Maryland where he owns that $540,000 pet project & a couple others if he's not doing his WOF thing.

bossjock967

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2004, 11:49:09 AM »
Quote
Corey D. can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Pat sold WHKZ in Ocean City...
Having worked at WKHZ for a time... I can answer...

Mr. Sajak never owned the station.  He was leasing (or LMAing) the station from a guy named Bill Parris with the intent to buy it.  However... the station never really took off... and really didn't have the listenership or made the money that Mr. Sajak expected.  That... and as the blurb from ESRTV states above, the lease is almost up on the land that the towers and transmitter sit on, and will not be renewed (according to the land owner's estate).  The family of the deceased land owner wants to develop the land, and the towers have to go.

Based on the amount of money the station was making... I really don't think Mr. Sajak thought it was worth buying real estate and building a 3-tower array for a puny 1 KW directional, daytime AM station with 85% of its signal being wasted over the Atlantic Ocean.

Now... a prediction... I bet that within a couple of months... Sajak will flip the format from oldies to news.  For some reason... the higher-ups at Sajak Broadcasting want to have a powerful news station.  And... as the general manager stressed quite a bit... NOT news/talk.  News... period.  Even with the failure of WKHZ... I see this station becoming a news station.

I wish them the best of luck... Sajak Broadcasting was a wonderful company to work for.  You couldn't ask for a greater group of people to go to work with.  I still regret not having met Mr. Sajak before I left.
Corey Dukes
The "Biggest Jerk" of the Game Show Forum

davemackey

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Pat buys another one
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2004, 06:26:40 AM »
[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Sep 10 2004, 05:36 AM\'] I guess Pat has a "summer" home in Maryland where he owns that $540,000 pet project & a couple others if he's not doing his WOF thing. [/quote]
 Pat considers Maryland to be his home; his wife and her family are from that state.