In 2012, veteran Empire State broadcaster Joe Reilly teamed up with five other individuals to become the 25% owner and President of Empire Broadcasting Corp. Among the company’s assets was an FM translator serving New York’s state capital, Albany.
In May 2018, Reilly’s empire went dark. An FCC filing cited financial difficulties at Empire’s three AM stations and the FM translator. The Albany, N.Y. Times Union received a PDF copy of an email from EVP Joe Tardi, who had been an air personality in the market, sent to COO Neerav Patel and two other Empire staffers. It directed them to tell any media or press that “the partner who was managing the stations has retired and the other partners have companies to run.” It added that “Empire Broadcasting is exploring all options of future broadcasting.”
Empire has just decided what to do with that Albany translator.
