WJIB 740 in trouble?

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 4 Apr 2007 at 11:39, Rick wrote:

> 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.
 
This is several-weeks-old news, and we've discussed it around here.  
The main problem is that ASCAP and BMI have greatly increased the 
licensing fees for the music that Bob uses (BTW, it's Bittner, not 
Vintner).

Also, unless Bob has changed the announcement, he did not say that he 
was going to turn the station into a talk station.  In the 
announcement that I heard, he didn't really say what he would do with 
the station if he couldn't raise the money that he needs to raise.

Listener-supported stations have existed before -- the best-known 
private station in the local area was Simon Geller's WVCA in 
Gloucester, which lasted that way for many years.  Time will tell 
whether Bob is successful in this.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 Fax 617.742.7581
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