
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507140021
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MD.'S BENCHMARK LIKES ROANOKE RADIO

Like an avid record collector adding to a music collection, Baltimore-based Benchmark Communications said Wednesday it had purchased Roanoke radio stations WROV (AM-1240 and FM-96.3), adding to its growing list of media properties.

"We already own WYYD (FM-108), and that's the No. 1 station in the Roanoke market," Benchmark general partner Bruce Spector said. "WROV-FM is the No. 2 station, and the chance to put the two together was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Benchmark, which already owns 17 FM and eight AM stations in Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware, purchased the two new stations from Fayetteville, N.C.-based Lisa Broadcasting. The $5.8 million deal, brokered by Michael Bergner of Boca Raton, Fla., also included an option to purchase Lynchburg station WLNI-FM for an additional undisclosed sum.

WROV, with its album-oriented-rock format, captured 8 percent of the total audience among people age 12 and older, according to the most recent Arbitron survey for the Roanoke market, Spector said. The format includes a wider variety of rock music than top-40 stations.

Benchmark will not make any changes to WROV, Spector said, preferring instead to stick with the format that has proven successful.

"WROV is the only rock station in the market," Spector said. "We'd be crazy to mess with that."

Tamara Joseph, WROV promotions director, said the stations' employees were informed of the sale in a meeting at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday. While the employees were a bit surprised, they weren't overly concerned about their fates, she said.

"They said they weren't going to make any changes, and I believe them," she said. "After all, they bought WYYD a while ago, and they didn't make any changes there."

The Federal Communications Commission in 1992 relaxed regulations governing the number of stations one company can own, Spector said, which allowed Benchmark to own WROV and WYYD, even though they are in the same market.

"The radio industry is consolidating," Spector said. "This is happening all over the country."

by CNB