BANGOR — Author Stephen King’s longtime Bangor radio stations WZON and WZLO went quiet at the end of last year after King decided to shut them down, along with his third station WKIT, citing the stations’ financial losses and his age.
A buyer was quickly found for WKIT, but WZON and WZLO were left behind.
Now, they have a new owner to bring them back on the air.
Jay Hanson’s Mix Maine Media recently bought the stations from King’s Zone Corporation for 125,000 dollars, and some of that money is going towards helping the community.
Hanson said $75,000 of the purchase price will be donated to local nonprofit Heart of Maine United Way.
Shirar Patterson, President & CEO of Heart of Maine United Way, said the funds will be used to help fight food insecurity in the six Maine counties they cover.
“We have more and more people than ever reaching out to us and our partners to receive support,” said Patterson. “This funding is going to, for one, shine a light on the issue, but [also] allow us to help and serve even more people in our communities.”
Once the sale is finalized, Patterson said Heart of Maine will receive the money over a period of three years.
“It’s exciting to see that level of community support and being able to shine a light, not only on heart of Maine United Way, but the importance of non-profits to our communities,” said Patterson.
King’s third station, WKIT, was already saved from going off the air back in December when it was purchased by businessmen Jeff Solari and Greg Hawes.
King owned the stations for over 40 years before deciding to sell.
“No matter who owns the stations, I think it’s got a strong future,” said Hanson.
Moving forward, Hanson said he wants to keep the stations focused on the community, comparing the approach to his work at Augusta-based radio station 107.9 The Mix.
“I always think there’s opportunities in markets like these to have people reconnect with local radio. The way we do it in Augusta, we have all local talent, much like Stephen King’s philosophy in Bangor, he wanted it to be as live and local as possible,” said Hanson.
Hanson said he expects the two Bangor stations will continue to focus on adult programming, but he said it’s too early to determine whether or not there will be any genre changes.
No matter what, he said there will be local content.
“It will definitely be locally owned, home-grown programming with local people,” said Hanson. “I just think markets like these deserve to have connections with their listeners. We should give them a voice; we should be accessible.”
Hanson said the deal still needs to be approved by the FCC. He expects this process will take between 60 and 90 days, but he said it could take longer.
