seashoreCM
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Radio Disney was launched in late 1996, and would become a network of several dozen AM and FM stations aiming at children and teens with current hit music and a little Mickey Mouse Club flavor. One of the stations was 50,000 watt WQEW 1560 in New York City. WQEW was one of the AM nighttime powerhouses and reached most of the east coast, the mid south, Great Lakes and southeast Canada. (The center of the U.S. was a no-man's land at night given the way WQEW shared 1560 KHz with a station in California.)
Radio Disney leased WQEW full time in late 1998 and bought it for $41M in early 2007. In 2014 Radio Disney started to sell off the radio stations and concentrate on internet streaming for their programming. In early 2015 WQEW was sold for $13M to Family Radio, a nationwide network with some of the same characteristics but with a religious theme.
AM radio stations require a lot of land for their transmission systems and towers. In recent years, many went off the air because their land was more valuable than their broadcast licenses. In early 2021 Family Radio sold WQEW's (now WFME's) five acres just east of Manhattan for $51M. The land will be developed for shipping and logistics, think: Amazon distribution warehouse. Family Radio does intend to keep the station, most likely by renting and sharing another station's towers.
Disney took writeoffs (losses) on other radio stations as well. Radio Disney finally discontinued radio broadcasting in early April 2021.
We are not sure of the tax consequences. New York City is one of the highest taxed parts of the U.S. Family Radio is a non-profit and does not run radio advertising. So the windfall from the land sale will among other things be gradually dissipated in operating their various network radio stations.
source: Wikipedia
Radio Disney leased WQEW full time in late 1998 and bought it for $41M in early 2007. In 2014 Radio Disney started to sell off the radio stations and concentrate on internet streaming for their programming. In early 2015 WQEW was sold for $13M to Family Radio, a nationwide network with some of the same characteristics but with a religious theme.
AM radio stations require a lot of land for their transmission systems and towers. In recent years, many went off the air because their land was more valuable than their broadcast licenses. In early 2021 Family Radio sold WQEW's (now WFME's) five acres just east of Manhattan for $51M. The land will be developed for shipping and logistics, think: Amazon distribution warehouse. Family Radio does intend to keep the station, most likely by renting and sharing another station's towers.
Disney took writeoffs (losses) on other radio stations as well. Radio Disney finally discontinued radio broadcasting in early April 2021.
We are not sure of the tax consequences. New York City is one of the highest taxed parts of the U.S. Family Radio is a non-profit and does not run radio advertising. So the windfall from the land sale will among other things be gradually dissipated in operating their various network radio stations.
source: Wikipedia
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