WCTZ-FM is going from Cox Media Group to noncom religious outfit Educational Media Foundation for $15M, and it comes complete with a CP to move closer to the overwhelming area media magnet, New York City. But don’t expect the station to become the toast of Broadway or anywhere else downtown.
The CP will leave the station licensed to Port Chester NY, but will nevertheless take it about 16.5 miles from its current home in Stamford CT to New Rochelle NY, the very real town that was the fictional home town of Rob Petry, as portrayed by iconic Dick Van Dyke back in the early days of television. Petry used the town as a springboard to his job in downtown New York – but he was not using a Class A signal to make it into town.
That is what WCTZ will be working with, and it will bring the station’s signal into contact with a very high number of suburbanites, many of whom are quite well-to-do.
The signal will effectively serve a good bit of the Bronx, but that will pretty much be the extent of its penetration into the five boroughs. According to engineer David Schutz of Hoffman Schutz Media Capital, the tall buildings and associated electronics that the signal will confront will prevent it from effectively serving the concrete canyons famously prevalent in the market.
According to American Media Services, which brokered the deal, the station is to be sited on the Trump Tower in New Rochelle. The FCC records show that it will add both power and altitude when it moves to its new location. It will upgrade from 3 kW @ 328’ HAAT at its present location to 3.1 kW @ 472; HAAT in New Rochelle.
Commenting on the deal, EMF’s president, Mike Novak, said, “We are excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to bringing contemporary Christian music programming to Southern Connecticut as well as portions of Long Island and the New York City area.”
