Western Wis. Radio Sale Closes with Message from Longtime Owners

It’s not often that the new owners of a radio station give the old owners airtime to say goodbye, but that’s what listeners are hearing on WCFW/105.7 (Chippewa Falls).

Magnum Media has closed on its $600,000 purchase of WCFW and translator W256AE/99.1 (Chippewa Falls) from Roland Bushland, who built the station more than five decades ago. The station is running a goodbye announcement from Rol and Pat Bushland as its legal ID.

The pending new call letters mentioned in the ID will be WEZY, which was previously used on a station in Racine and is currently parked at WEZY/1350 (Portage).

In a news release, Rollie Bushland said, “Pat and I appreciate the many well wishes we’ve received from our loyal listeners and business associates since we announced the sale to the Magnums back in June. As I said back then, it takes time for these transactions to wind their way through the FCC, but we got through it without any hiccups.”

Pat Bushland said, “Rol is 88, and I’ll be 83 later this month. After nearly 54 years, we’re both looking forward to being able to sleep through storms without having to worry about equipment getting damaged and taking us off the air. Now it’s Dave, Ty, Reid and Chelsey Magnum’s turn.”

The news release stated that Jon Zecherle will continue his work as a contract engineer at the station, where he has performed maintenance for more than 30 years. It mentioned that Zecherle will have some new equipment to work with.

WCFW covers the Eau Claire area with a 25kW/93m (class C3) signal. W256AE has applied to move its transmitter to Eau Claire with 250 Watts; Magnum Media owns several translators carrying formats originating on HD2 channels in other Wisconsin cities.

Magnum currently runs 24 formats in six Wisconsin markets, the closest being La Crosse and Tomah. The company is owned 88% by Dave Magnum and 8% by Reid Magnum.

“Rollie & Pat remind me of my parents, grandparents and my late wife Lynn’s folks, too. I’d like to think that we’re all cut from some of the same cloth. We’re honored that the Bushlands chose us to be the next stewards of the radio station they founded and successfully operated for over five decades,” Dave Magnum said in a news release.