WJIB 740 in trouble?

[Rick]

Are we going to lose the last AM station in the region that still plays
music? (aka: Hasn't turned into talk radio format.)

I flipped on WJIB 740 yesterday and the owner - Bob Vintner - has
something to say. He's announcing that because of the new royalty fee
structure he can't keep the station playing a music format. He is saying
that if people want the station to keep playing it's existing format he
needs to raise $87,000.00 in donations by some date in June to cover the
new royalty structure fees for the next year. If that amount is not
raised by June the station will change to a talk radio format and any
donations made will be returned. He's not saying that the station will
be sold at that time, but it sounds like it. Can't imagine him running
it himself as yet another talk radio station on the air.

Tune it in and hear it yourself - the announcement doesn't come up
often, but he does repeat it several times a day.

I like WJIB but I've never understood how he has managed to run it while
*not* running any commercial advertising at all. AFAIK he only has one
period of leased air time for a foreign language broadcast and that
can't be enough revenue to cover costs, even before the new royalty fees
go into effect. It seems like his policy to reject advertising has been
extreme. Nice - but somewhat impractical. Personally, I wouldn't mind
advertising on the station if it meant it didn't change format.

Any comments? Hate to see this station in it's current format going off
the air.

Rick