Urban radio about to return to Pittsburgh

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Tim Martz and his Radio Power Inc. are just about ready to return the African-American programming to the Pittsburgh radio dial on a regular basis. He struck a deal for WPYT-AM Wilkinsburg late last year and is planning to provide the kind of programming that has been absent since WAMO AM-FM went noncom Catholic.


Martz got the station for $290K. It earlier had been sold to local businessman Eddie Edwards for $490K in a deal filed during the fall of 2009, but ill health forced Edwards to abandon the deal.

The seller was Langer Broadcasting.

The station is WPYT is a Class D licensed to Wilkinsburg PA, with 1.4 kW coming from a non-directional stick. It has to clear off the air at night to protect New York’s iconic Sports franchise WFAN-AM.

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the station does an excellent job of covering the market during its daytime hours of operation, and will get help when the sun goes down from an FM translator on 100.1 MHz that is licensed to Pittsburgh proper.

Martz told the newspaper that the Urban format was a no-brainer. “When you go into a market with a station, you look at who’s doing what. WAMO had a big audience. Nobody has filled the void. It’s an attractive format.”

According to the newspaper, various stations were filling the void left by WAMO on a part-time basis.