Civic Media is buying four northwestern Wisconsin signals to add to its fast-growing network of stations around the state, many of which carry Liberal Talk.
According to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC, Civic Media is buying two AM stations, one FM station, and one FM translator from Zoe Communications for $700,000. They include:
- WDMO/95.7 (Baldwin), which carries a Country format. It was moved from Durand a decade ago and now serves St. Croix and Pierce counties, including River Falls, in the eastern part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul market.
- WXCE/1260 (Amery) and W297CU/107.3 (Amery), the latter of which transmits from the WZEZ tower site north of Turtle Lake. WXCE had carried several formats over the past decade and went off the air last year due to transmitter issues. The asset purchase agreement says Zoe will loan Civic a 1kW transmitter that can be used until the 5kW transmitter is repaired.
- WCBN/910 (Hayward), which recently went silent after “The Cabin” Classic Hits format that airs on W245CT/96.9 was moved to the HD2 signal of WHSM-FM (Hayward).
The buyer took over operation of WXCE/W297CU on Sept. 2 through a time brokerage agreement.
Zoe, headed by Mike Oberg, retains eight other full-power stations in the region, including WHSM-FM. Zoe will lease tower space at the WHSM-FM and WZEZ sites to Civic for the WCBN and W297CU transmitters.
As tracked here in developments over the summer, Civic Media is also in the process of buying stations in Wausau, Richland Center, Berlin, Oshkosh, and Wisconsin Rapids, and has already launched Liberal Talk lineups in Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. One of the Richland Center stations is expected to change callsigns on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Civic Media is owned by Sage Weil and Michael Crute, who are also part of the companies that run Liberal Talk formats in Milwaukee and Madison.