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Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

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Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by Thunderstorm » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:36 am

Michigan – Michael Chires and Norman L McKee’s Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3) from Grenax Broadcasting. Black Diamond Broadcast Group will operate the station under a time brokerage agreement until closing. It already owns nine stations in the Traverse City-Petoskey-Cadillac, MI region but only classic hits WUPS, Harrison, MI (98.5) will overlap with WCFX. Source: Inside Radio



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by Ben Zonia » Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:36 am

Buying WCFX would put the station back under the same ownership as WCBY and WGFM. All were founded by Richard Hunt. All were bought out by Fabiano Strickler, until Reynolds Communications bought WCBY and WGFM.

WCFX finally took off when they moved their TL from a short AM tower near Clare to near Rosebush, where it became a quasi College Town station, much to the consternation of WCEN and WCEN-FM. Both the associated AMs turned in their licenses many years ago.
Last edited by Ben Zonia on Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:43 am, edited 2 times in total.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by TC Talks » Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:41 am

I thought WCFX was owned by Midwest Family for a while.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:40 pm

Is 95.3 CFX actually Hot AC? I thought they were still CHR/Pop?
...but only classic hits WUPS, Harrison, MI (98.5) will overlap with WCFX.
Inside Radio is wrong; they are forgetting about 97.7 in Beaverton, which certainly delivers a usable signal to Mt. Pleasant and a very good signal to Clare.



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by 48125er » Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:24 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:40 pm
Is 95.3 CFX actually Hot AC? I thought they were still CHR/Pop?
...but only classic hits WUPS, Harrison, MI (98.5) will overlap with WCFX.
Inside Radio is wrong; they are forgetting about 97.7 in Beaverton, which certainly delivers a usable signal to Mt. Pleasant and a very good signal to Clare.
Its kinda inbetween like 102.3 in Big rapids, CFX's website looks straight out of 2004.



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by Ben Zonia » Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:49 pm

I was just looking at the WCFX History Card. WCFX (then WRNN-FM) had applied in late 1979 to change their COL to Rosebush, with a TL near Weidman Rd. and Crawford Rd., which was four miles further South, probably too far to put a 70 dBu signal back over Clare with the 3 kW/300 feet maximum at the time, necessitating a COL change to Rosebush to do it. Central Michigan Broadcasters, owners of WCEN, filed a Petition to Deny and the change was dismissed. WCFX settled on a site four miles North, where it is today, which put a 70 dBu over Clare with 3 kW/300 feet, and part of Mt. Pleasant. Later, when 6 kW/100 meter Class As were approved, WCFX was upgraded to the new Class A maximum. But the signal was good enough with 3 kW/300 feet from Battle Rd. and Lincoln Rd. for a Contemporary Hit Format to begin to have a sizable impact in Mt. Pleasant.

Every History Card tells a story. Sometimes it's a little difficult to figure out, but you can reconstruct long forgotten Historical details.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:20 am

The stationality on WCFX - other than a recent change in V/O artists - certainly sounds a lot like it did twenty years ago.

$500k seems a little pricey to me. Mount Pleasant isn't quite as over-radioed as a place such as Marquette or Traverse City, but for a signal whose 60 dBu only reaches 150,000 people at most, it seems expensive.



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by bmw » Sat Apr 17, 2021 9:52 am

At least on the east side of their coverage area, their signal over-achieves. Back in my college days they were on my car presets and on the trip from Saginaw to Tawas, I could pick them up very well between Bay City and Standish and even pretty good all the way to even the first passing lane north of AuGres before the signal pretty quickly deteriorated. Based on that, I presume they put a very good signal into Midland - it would be interesting to know how many listeners they have there as well as Bay City - both of which have larger populations than Clare and Mt. Pleasant.

And MW is right - their sound has changed very little over the past 20 years, though their new voice-overs are I would guess 5 years old now. Musically they are pretty close to a CHR, though they do play considerably more variety than most CHR stations. Last time I gave them a listen earlier this year I heard a lot of barely-charted stuff from 2020 and even a few early-2000s hits.



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by tvbobn » Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:52 am

MWmetalhead wrote:
Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:40 pm
Is 95.3 CFX actually Hot AC? I thought they were still CHR/Pop?
...but only classic hits WUPS, Harrison, MI (98.5) will overlap with WCFX.
Inside Radio is wrong; they are forgetting about 97.7 in Beaverton, which certainly delivers a usable signal to Mt. Pleasant and a very good signal to Clare.
Beaverton is only an LMA. It doesn't belong to Black Diamond.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by Colonel Flagg » Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:07 am

Ben Zonia wrote:
Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:36 am
Buying WCFX would put the station back under the same ownership as WCBY and WGFM. All were founded by Richard Hunt. All were bought out by Fabiano Strickler, until Reynolds Communications bought WCBY and WGFM.

WCFX finally took off when they moved their TL from a short AM tower near Clare to near Rosebush, where it became a quasi College Town station, much to the consternation of WCEN and WCEN-FM. Both the associated AMs turned in their licenses many years ago.
Hunt's flagship station was WPTW Piqua, OH, his hometown. Man, that's a long haul to Clare, let alone Cheboygan. WCRM Clare (later WRNN, Rock 99) had several owners over the years, including, but not limited to, Jim Sanzone, a guy named Schwartz, who's name I can't remember, and Reed Prior, who may or may not have been from the east coast (my memory is getting fuzzy on some of this stuff) not to mention, legendary consultant Paul Christie, John Danaher, and probably a couple others.

I believe the station had a couple fires in the 70's, one where the place burned to the ground. On the good side, a lot of talent passed through there, on 990 and 95.3.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by Ben Zonia » Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:00 pm

As I recall, there were quite a few unfortunate incidents at the 990 AM site. I don't remember all the details.

I talked to Reed Prior once on the phone, when he was consulting WFLT, when it was MOYL.

By moving 4.5 miles toward Mt. Pleasant, and going from 160 feet HAAT to 300 feet HAAT, still 3 kW, they increased their signal in Mt. Pleasant by 12 dB, equivalent to increasing the ERP by a factor of 16. Even though they didn't get what they set out to do, it was the turning point for the 95.3 station.

I also talked to Paul Christie when he was at 102.7 Mt Clemens, forget what the call letters were then. I told him that WABX 990 could be upgraded due to the US Canada Agreement being modified. He said he wasn't interested. That Agreement also allowed what is now WDEO to move from 1520 to 990, and 1520 Toledo (now WPAY Rossford, OH) to go to a single site. If they had used all the DA proofs and measured radials, WABX and WDEO probably could have both used 990. The conductivity is terrible near Clare, and much less than M-3 Northwest of the Clark Rd. site in Ypsilanti. Notice almost all of these stations have had so many call letters that it's difficult to keep track of them.

That wasn't Ed "Chicago" Schwartz, was it? 990 in Clare DID once have the call letters WSDM, which was also once the Chess Brothers' call letters on 97.9 Chicago, later WLUP, which Schwartz reportedly had a long running feud with.


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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by organman95 » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:24 am

What does Black Diamond plan to do with it? Simulcast WGFM?



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by ftballfan » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:04 pm

organman95 wrote:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:24 am
What does Black Diamond plan to do with it? Simulcast WGFM?
I think BD will keep CFX as is. They left the Northern Star stations mostly alone (was it still Northern Star or had BD taken over when WGFM re-added the simulcast on 95.5?)



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:12 pm

Ben Zonia wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:00 pm
I also talked to Paul Christie when he was at 102.7 Mt Clemens, forget what the call letters were then. I told him that WABX 990 could be upgraded due to the US Canada Agreement being modified. He said he wasn't interested.
WKSG?



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Re: Black Diamond Broadcast Group has filed a $500,000 deal to buy hot AC WCFX, Clare, MI (95.3)

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:12 am

One thing I will say for WCFX, they are definitely not cookie cutter. But they also are not Hot AC. They played Megan Thee Stallion when I was in the area this past weekend.
Production-wise they seem a bit stuck in the '90s. Especially referring to the music sweeps as "All Hit Power Plays." But that, to me, is part of their charm.



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