Nassau Broadcasting Partners
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Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP is a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owns radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which include both AM and FM frequencies, are located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. The Company is owned and headed by Louis F. Mercatanti. Nassau is predominantly an operator of radio stations in medium and small markets. Nassau does, however, own radio station WCRB-FM in Boston, the eleventh largest radio market in the US according to BIA Financial Network, Inc. Nassau operates radio stations in substantially all of the major formats. The company's most common format is Classic Rock/Classic Hits.
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[edit] History
Nassau Broadcasting was founded by Herb Hobler with the acquisition of WHWH 1350 in Princeton, NJ. That station employed a full service MOR format. WHWH-FM was eventually launched and became WPST on 97.5 FM by 1975. WPST employed a rock based Top 40 format. WPST was one of the most successful medium market stations in the country. Until the early 1990s WPST and WHWH were the only stations owned by Nassau.
In 1986, Louis F. Mercatanti, a successful New Jersey entrepreneur, acquired Nassau Broadcasting from Mr. Hobler. Mr. Mercatanti continued to operate Nassau as a two station radio group until 1995 when the FCC raised the limits for the number of radio stations that any one company could own in a particular market.
In the Spring of 1996, Nassau acquired then-Country music station 106.3 WHCY located in Blairstown which served Stroudsburg as well as the Sussex County, New Jersey radio markets. This station would for a few years remain a Country station. Shortly after Nassau went on a buying spree of radio stations.
In August, 1996, Nassau entered into an agreement with Great Scott Broadcasting to acquire religious station WCHR-FM 94.5 FM and Sports station WTTM serving the Trenton. The religious format that was on WCHR FM moved to the AM station which was renamed WCHR AM while the FM station at 94.5 (formerly WCHR FM) became Oldies station WNJO. Nassau operated these stations pursuant to a Local Marketing Agreement ("LMA") until 2002.
In the Fall of 1996 Nassau would acquire WNNJ and WNNJ-FM in the Sussex County market licensed to Newton, New Jersey. Early in 1997 WNNJ-FM would drop its Hot AC format in favor of a pop leaning Classic Rock format known as Classic Hits. WNNJ would drop Satellite Oldies in favor of Stardust, a satellite based Pop Standards format. In 1997, Nassau would buy AM stations 1160 WOBM and 1310 WADB in Monmouth County along with AC stations WJLK, WOBM-FM, and WQNJ (which became WBBO(now WKMK)). AM stations WOBM and WADB would become Adult Standards stations while WOBM-FM remained an adult contemporary station. WJLK-FM became a Pop Alternative based Hot AC station. In the Spring of 1997 WBBO left the WJLK simulcast and became B 98 and employed a CHR format.
In September 1998, Nassau agreed to acquire radio stations WSBG FM and WVPO AM, licensed to Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg Pennsylvania respectively, from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, Inc. Nassau began managing these properties pursuant to an LMA in November, 1998. WSBG ultimately dropped its Hot AC format in favor of and 80's and 90's based Pop Adult Rock format.
Nassau also began managing WDLC and WTSX located in Port Jervis and flipped WTSX to Oldies from AC and WDLC to Standards from Oldies. WTSX served Middletown, New York and the Sussex County markets while WDLC served Port Jervis. At the end of 1997, Nassau also bought locally owned WSUS, which was and still is an Adult Contemporary radio station. Nassau also evolved WSBG to a Hot AC format.
In March 2000, Nassau signed definitive agreements to acquire Aurora Broadcasting. Aurora operated stations in the Southern New York state and Western Connecticut areas. In order to fund the Aurora acquisition and to accomplish an overall recapitalization of the company, Nassau initiated the process to take the Company public in early 2000. During the process of executing the IPO, the Dow Industrial Average dropped approximately 30% and the Company cancelled the IPO. The Aurora deal was cancelled that Fall.
On August 25 of 2000, WHCY dropped its Country music format in favor of CHR and became known as "Max 106.3". WSBG dropped its Hot AC format in favor of and 80's and 90's based Pop Adult Rock format.
In 2001, Nassau agreed to buy Oldies 99.9 WODE and Sports 1230 WEEX in the Lehigh Valley market from Clear Channel Communications. But when Clear Channel merged with AM/FM, they agreed to give Nassau WEEX and WODE plus some cash in exchange for WNNJ, WNNJ-FM, WSUS, and WHCY. Clear Channel also would get management contracts to run WDLC and WTSX. Nassau would keep LMA's for WVPO, WSBG, and WPMR (now WPLY) (and eventually buy them back outright).
So in February of 2001, the Sussex County cluster of stations would become Clear Channel stations. Nassau also sold the Monmouth County stations including WBBO, WJLK, WADB, and WOBM-AM-FM to Millennium Radio Group, LLC, which also owns WKXW New Jersey 101.5, a Talk station weekdays and a 70's based Oldies format on weekends.
Also in 2001, Nassau signed on WCHR FM in Monmouth County. That station employed a Classic Hits format but was eventually also sold to Millennium Radio Group, LLC. Nassau was down to WHWH, WJHR, WCHR, WNJO, WPST, WVPO, WPMR, and WSBG. Except for WPST, Nassau's FM stations all had Rock based Classic Hits formats of some sort. AM stations had formats such as talk, oldies, or sports. WPST was and still is a CHR station.
In 2004, former Citigroup Media investment banker Tristram Collins joined Nassau as its Sr. Executive Vice President to help Mr. Mercatanti grow and operate the Company through a series of acquisitions. Nassau expanded significantly through acquisition in 2004 in New England. Nassau first acquired stations in Maine and New Hampshire in early 2004, and later that year, Nassau added more stations in New Hampshire and also in Vermont. Nassau quickly became one of the largest broadcasters in New England with 37 stations in the region. In 2005, Nassau expanded its East coast footprint to include Maryland through a purchase of two FM and an AM station in Frederick and Hagerstown Maryland. Nassau also added stations in Cape Cod, MA through a purhcase of three FM stations from Qantum Communications in 2005.
In 2006, Nassau entered into an LMA and option agreement with WDAC broadcasting to operate and acquire WBYN FM, a religious format station in Reading, PA. Nassau agreed to maintain the religious format and moved the format to one of its local AM stations which was renamed WBYN AM. Nassau then launched its new classic hits format FRANK FM and renamed the former WBYN FM to WFKB FM.
Nassau has also recently made a number of changes in the Trenton, NJ market. In 2005, The Company swapped formats on its two Trenton FM stations (WPST, CHR Format and WTHK, Classic Rock format). During this time period, by changing the city of license on 97.5 FM and making application to the FCC for a change of transmitter location, the Company received approval from the FCC to move its 97.5 FM signal (which became WTHK FM after the format migration) to become a metropolitan Philadelphia radio station (vs. a Trenton, NJ station). Nassau sold 97.5 FM WTHK to Greater Media, Inc. in exchange for cash and Greater Media's station WKLB 99.5 FM in Boston, MA. Nassau also received the Boston Classical music format of WCRB as part of the transaction and Nassau migrated this classical format onto 99.5 FM. 97.5 FM Philadelphia became Smooth Jazz WJJZ, a format abandoned on 106.1 by Clear Channel.
Nassau also had sales pending to Access.1 Broadcasting of WVPO, WPLY, WSBG, WWYY, WODE, WEEX, WBYN, WTKZ, and WFKB. In December, 2006, this sale had not been consummated and was cancelled.
[edit] Current List Of Nassau Owned Radio Stations
MAINE 11 Stations FM - 9 AM - 2
Call Letters Frequency Name Location Format
- WFNK - FM 107.5 Frank FM Lewiston Classic Hits
- WTHT - FM 99.9 The Wolf Portland Country
- WHXR - FM 106.7 The Bone North Windham Classic Rock
- WHXQ - FM 104.7 The Bone Kennebunkport Classic Rock
- WBQQ - FM 99.3 WBACH Kennebunkport Classical
- WBQW - FM 106.3 WBACH Scarborough Classical
- WBQX - FM 106.9 WBACH Thomaston Classical
- WBQI - FM 107.7 WBACH Bar Harbor Classical
- WBYA - FM 105.5 Frank FM Islesboro Classic Hits
- WLAM - AM 1470 ESPN Lewiston Sports Talk
- WLVP - AM 870 ESPN Gorham Sports Talk
MARYLAND 3 Stations FM - 2 AM - 1
- WAFY-FM 103.1 Key 103 Frederick AC
- WWEG-FM 106.9 The Eagle Hagerstown Classic Hits
- WARK-AM 1490 WARK Hagerstown Talk
MASSACHUSETTS 4 Stations FM - 4
- WPXC-FM 102.9 Pixy 103 Hyannis Active Rock
- WFRQ-FM 101.1 Frank FM Mashpee Variety Hits
- WFQR-FM 93.5 Frank FM Harwich Port Variety Hits
- WCRB-FM 99.5 WCRB Boston Classical (formerly Country station WKLB owned by Greater Media which moved to 102.5 where WCRB's intellectual unit has been)
NEW HAMPSHIRE 11 Stations FM - 9 AM - 2
- WWHQ-FM 101.5 The Hawk Meredith Classic Rock
- WLNH-FM 98.3 WLNH Laconia Hot AC
- WNNH-FM 99.1 WNNH Concord Oldies
- WFNQ-FM 106.3 Frank FM Manchester Classic Hits
- WLKZ-FM 104.9 WLKZ Wolfeboro Oldies
- WJYY-FM 105.5 WJYY Concord Top-40
- WNHW-FM 93.3 The Wolf Belmont Country
- WWHK-FM 102.3 The Hawk Manchester Classic Rock
- WHDQ-FM 106.1 Q106 Claremont Classic Rock
- WTSV-AM 1230 The Score Claremont Sports
- WEMJ-AM 1490 WEMJ Laconia News/Talk
NEW JERSEY 3 Stations FM - 1 AM - 2
- WPST-FM 94.5 WPST Trenton CHR
- WCHR-AM 920 WCHR Trenton Religious
- WNJE-AM 1040 WNJE Flemington ESPN Sports (Simelcast of WEPN New York)
PENNSYLVANIA 8 Stations FM - 3 AM - 5
- WSBG-FM 93.5 Lite 93.5 Stroudsburg Adult Contemporary & Alternative
- WWYY-FM 107.1 The Bone Allentown Rock
- WODE-FM 99.9 The Hawk Allentown Classic Hits
- WVPO-AM 840 WVPO Stroudsburg Talk
- WPLY-AM 960 WPLY Mt Pocono Talk
- WEEX-AM 1230 Sports Monster Allentown ESPN Sports
- WBYN-AM 1160 Alive Allentown Religious
- WTKZ-AM 1320 WTKZ Allentown ESPN Sports (change to oldies rumored)
- WFKB-FM 107.5 Frank FM Reading Classic Hits
VERMONT 12 Stations FM - 9 AM - 3
- WORK-FM 107.1 FRANK FM Barre Classic Hits
- WWFY-FM 100.9 Froggy Berlin Country
- WWOD-FM 104.3 Oldies 104.3 Hartford Oldies
- WPLY-FM 96.3 WPLY Walpole Oldies
- WXLF-FM 95.3 The Wolf White River Jct Country
- WZLF-FM 107.1 The Wolf Bellows Falls Country
- WEXP-FM 101.5 The Fox Brandon Classic Rock
- WTHK-FM 100.7 The Fox Wilmington Classic Rock
- WMOO-FM 92.1 WMOO Derby Center Adult Contemporary
- WSNO-AM 1450 WSNO Barre Talk
- WNHV-AM 910 The Score White River Jct Sports
- WIKE-AM 1490 Stereo 1490 Newport Country
[edit] Former Nassau Stations
NEW JERSEY
- WNJO/WTHK 94.5 (until 2005) 97.5 (2005-2006) Trenton Classic Rock (now Smooth Jazz WJZZ owned by Greater Media)
- WNNJ 1360 Newton - Standards (now Oldies and owned by Clear Channel)
- WNNJ-FM 103.7 Newton Classic Hits (now owned by Clear Channel and Classic Rock)
- WSUS 102.3 Franklin AC (Now Owned by Clear Channel)
- WHCY 106.3 Blairstown CHR (now Hot AC and owned by Clear Channel)
- WOBM 1160 Long Branch Standards (Now owned by Millennium)
- WADB 1310 Asbury Park Standards (Now Country and owned by Millennium)
- WCHR-FM 105.7 Toms River Classic Hits (Now owned by Millennium)
- WBBO 98.5 Toms River CHR (now Country and owned by Press Communications)
- WJLK-FM 94.3 Asbury Park Hot AC (Now Owned By Millennium)
- WOBM-FM 92.7 Toms River AC (Now Owned by Millennium)
- WRDR 104.9 Egg Harbor Country 2003-04, Smooth Jazz 2004-05, Classic Hits Since 2005 (now owned by Millennium)
NEW YORK - These stations were LMAs and never owned by Nassau outright
- WDLC 1490 Port Jervis Oldies (Owned by Sunrise and Sports)
- WTSX 96.7 Port Jervis Oldies (now owned by Sunrise and Country)
[edit] External References
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