No radio sale: Sparta stations shy away from La Crosse group

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 21, 1998

The last chapter--for now--can finally be written in the WCOW/WKLJ saga.

The Sparta, Wis., radio stations will not be sold to La Crosse's Family Radio group, said Zel Rice, president of Sparta-Tomah Broadcasting, owners of the AM-FM combo. The stations will keep their current staffs and programming, he said.

Based on a majority vote of its seven-member board of directors, Sparta-Tomah agreed in December to sell the stations to Family Radio.

All radio station ownership changes must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. FCC approval was expected in April, Rice said, but was delayed when questions were raised about Family Radio's share of the area radio market.

Family Radio owns four La Crosse stations--WKTY, WRQT and WIZM AM and FM.

The FCC gave initial approval to the sale this summer, but there was a 40-day period in which listeners or businesses could file objections to the sale.

Rice said many people in the Sparta area were against the sale because they were worried that a La Crosse owner may not be as concerned about serving Sparta. Some filed objections with the FCC, he said, and the FCC had not yet granted final approval of the sale.

The contract between the two companies specified that either could terminate the contract if the transfer had not been made by mid-October, Rice said, and a majority of the Sparta-Tomah board voted Sunday against selling to Family Radio. The vote was ratified by the company's stockholders.

"I have no idea why they changed their mind, and some of them didn't change their mind," he said.

While the market share issue was being investigated, WCOW/WKLJ general manager Jim Michaels said the pace of the FCC approval process was a major factor in the decision.

"I think the true issue is how long they take to do things," he said. "I think they just take their time getting around to it."

The last few months have been difficult for him and his staff, and they're happy a decision was made, he said.

The company usually employs about 25 full- and part-time people, he said, and some positions need to be filled after a couple left for other jobs because of the uncertainty of their futures with the station.

The last few months were also difficult for some Family Radio employees, including Kelly Wilde, former morning jock on WTRV (The River), which was the company's country station until it became WRQT (The Rock) in April, anticipating the transfer of WCOW to Family Radio.

Wilde was slated to be program director of the Sparta stations.

"It's frustrating, because we had so many plans for it," he said. "We've been consumed by the acquisition for the past nine months. We did a lot of market research and a lot of format analysis and had a product that was just going to be stellar, and now it's sitting in my drawer and on my computer."

He said he's not sure what will happen next, but feels good about his future with Family Radio.

"The original River staff is still here and still employed and we just kind of bounce back from job to job," he said.

Dick Record, president of Family Radio, was on vacation Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.