Educational Media Foundation has closed on a $2.5 million deal for two Upstate New York FM stations providing a footprint into the bilingual city of Montreal, Canada. The Christian broadcaster adds CHR “94.7 Hits” WYUL Chateaugay, NY and WVNV Malone from Martz Communications.
As expected the sale involves format flips. “At midnight tonight, 94.7 Hits FM is going away,” says a promo airing on WYUL. “Thank you for 19 years of playing Montreal’s hottest music.”
Ahead of the sale closing, Martz last week moved its “Wild Country” brand to WPDM Potsdam (1470), WICY Malone (1490) and a trio of translators – the Potsdam-licensed W261CJ at 100.1, the Malone-licensed W274BI at 102.7 and the Akwesasne-licensed W278CS at 103.5. WPDM was previously formatted as a classic country outlet, while WICY aired classic hits.
Together the two FMs give EMF access to Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, along with the southwestern portion of the province of Quebec and eastern Ontario. The sale also expands EMF’s coverage in the upper reaches of New York State, north of the Adirondack Mountains region along the Canadian border.
WYUL is an 11,000-watt class C2 licensed to Chateaugay, NY that is a rim-shotter to Montreal. WVNV is a 23,500-watt class C3 licensed to Malone, NY with a footprint that falls far short of the Montreal metro but does cover parts of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario in addition to northern New York state.
Seller Martz Communications hired broker Richard A Forman Associates to shop the two stations. Martz still owns WICY, WPDM and 80s Hits WSNN (99.3) Potsdam, NY; and hip-hop/R&B WAMO Pittsburgh (660).