11.10.2006
WHAT About WLIB?
Up in Philly, it's being reported that WHAT-AM, owned by Inner City Broadcasting, has been sold, although the buyer's identity has yet to be revealed. Their general manager Chris Squire said: "Inner City wasn't looking to get out, but out of the blue we were made one of those offers you can't refuse".
In New York, Inner City owns WBLS, which isn't going anywhere, and another AM station, WLIB. It, like WHAT, for a long time featured programming aimed at the urban community, until 2004 when Air America Radio started leasing time on the station. With AAR now on AM 1600, WLIB switched recently to a gospel format. I have heard nothing regarding WLIB being sold, but with the WHAT development, one can only wonder. And these days, its signal is better than before: remember back when Inner City actually bought WOWO in Fort Wayne from Price Broadcasting simply to lower their nighttime power? (WLIB used to be a daytimer.)
Anyway, if I were the recipient of WHAT, I'd definitely would have liked to see what Inner City's ante would have been to throw in WLIB, which I think still carries some talk programming, I could be wrong.
As far as WHAT, wouldn't it be ironic if their new owner was - I dunno, Air America? Probably not; these days I don't think they have a pot to invest in...
More on the sale: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/15957612.htm (scroll to "Say WHAT?")
