Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270070
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHUCK MILTEER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WROV KNOCKING AT LYNCHBURG'S DOOR
David Weil, owner of Roanoke radio stations WROV AM and FM, this week signed a contract to buy Lynchburg stations WJJS (101.7 FM) and WXYU (1320 AM).The move gives WROV the opportunity to expand as one of the region's most aggressive and successful radio operations.
And it gives Mike Slenski, WROV's vice president and general manager, a chance to develop a new station without leaving town.
Slenski says WJJS will retain its urban-contemporary format. WXYU's programming will change to become very similar, if not identical, to WROV-AM (1240), which airs satellite-delivered oldies music and extensive sports programming. The combination will be the first AM stations in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market to offer coverage to both metropolitan areas.
With the acquisition, WROV also will be the first broadcasting operation in the market to operate two FM stations airing different programming. V-103 (formerly V-Jams) and K92 both have two stations, but they air the same programming.
Slenski says most radio broadcasters in the market thought WROV was looking for an FM outlet in Lynchburg to rebroadcast its album-rock station's programming. He says that's still a long-term option, because new FCC regulations allow broadcasting companies to own more than one FM station in a single market.
Slenski wouldn't give the purchase price for the Lynchburg stations but said it was about one quarter of what V103's owners paid for their Lynchburg station. That would put the price at about $300,000.
Slenski says he sees WROV's move as part of the nationwide trend toward consolidation of station ownership. The new FCC rules let companies own up to 18 AM and 18 FM stations and up to two of each in markets the size of Roanoke.
With the distance separating Roanoke and Lynchburg, WROV could own two FM stations in Lynchburg and two in Roanoke as well as the two AM stations without exceeding FCC limits. That would let the company buy a Roanoke-area signal for WJJS' programming and another FM signal in Lynchburg for rebroadcast of WROV-FM.
Buying more stations allows WROV - or any other broadcaster - to use the efficiency of combined operations to make the stations more profitable. If successful, the addition of WJJS likely would give WROV the largest slice of the region's approximately $13 million radio revenue pie.
Slenski has considerable experience with urban radio. Before coming to Roanoke to launch WROV-FM in 1988, he launched urban stations WQOK in Raleigh, N.C., and WZFX in Fayetteville, N.C.
In the latest Arbitron survey of the Roanoke-Lynchburg radio market, urban stations garnered about 10 percent of the total market share. If WJJS and a Roanoke Valley-based sister station could get the bulk of those listeners and draw some from the area's non-urban stations, there is the potential for a very powerful addition to the WROV family.
"There are no pie-in-the-sky projections here," Slenski said. "It all has to make sense monetarily."
Slenski and his company's history is in moving or upgrading existing stations in small areas to serve a much larger audience - a prime example is WROV-FM, which was in Martinsville before it moved to Roanoke.
Don't expect these moves to be the last - for WROV or for other stations. Slenski said he thinks other broadcasters in the region are looking at opportunities as well, but added, "I'm not interested in what other stations in the market are doing. . . . There are a lot of opportunities and I'm going to pursue every one of them."