WGHQ was donated by Pamal Broadcasting to Tri-State media over the New Years Holiday. Originally signed on in 1955 as WSKN in Saugerties, NY, WGHQ had been struggling to hang on over the last few years. The station had been on a syndicated satallator automation format with the only local show being Kingston Community Radio, airing weekday mornings from 6-9 am. In the end, it was either go dark or donate the station.
Tri-State Media is the owner/operator of WHDD AM/FM and WLHV, which are NPR affiliates. They also simulcast on WBSL-FM, owned by Berkshire High School, when the students and faculty are not on the air. A look at the program schedule shows a variety of music, local and national news and talk.
Over the last five years or so, several AM stations have been donated to community oriented groups and organizations, most notably the MMTC. Often, these stations are in rough to very rough technical condition and many are silent. It is noted that WDTW no longer has a transmitter site and KWHN was suffered severe damage due to flooding. Those stations donated to the MMTC often find themselves LMA’d to a local group to run for a while before ownership is transferred.
| Call Letters | City of License | From | To | Frequency | Power D/N |
| KWOD | Salem, OR | Entercom | MMTC | 1390 | 5,000/690 |
| WGHQ | Kingston, NY | Pamal | Tri-State | 920 | 5,000/78 |
| WSHU | Westport, CT | Graham | Sacred Heart | 1260 | 1,000/9 |
| WKRT | Cortland, NY | Saga | Bible Broadcasting | 920 | 1,000/500 |
| WDTW | Dearborn, MI | Clear Channel | MMTC | 1310 | 5,000/5,000 |
| KFXN | Minneapois, MN | Clear Channel | MMTC | 690 | 500/4 |
| WMNY | McKeesport, PA | Renda | Pentecostal Temple dev | 1360 | 5,000/1000 |
| WGBN | New Kensington, PA | Salem | Pentecostal Temple dev | 1150 | 1,000/70 |
| WNRR | North Augustsa, GA | Clear Channel | MMTC | 1380 | 4,000/70 |
| WHJA | Laural, MS | Clear Channel | MMTC | 890 | 10,000/- |
| KWHN | Ft. Smith, AR | Clear Channel | MMTC | 1650 | 10,000/1,000 |
| WTOC | Newton, NJ | Clear Channel | MMTC | 1360 | 2,000/320 |
| WBHA | Wabash, MN | Clear Channel | MMTC | 1190 | 1,000/- |
There may be other stations that were donated to various other groups, but this is all I could find using Google. I notice several of them are on the current list of silent stations. I wonder how many are currently on the air and successful. Are they being locally programmed? If so, how has the reception been in there respective communities? What remediation was required for the technical facilities and how much did it cost?
Saga Communications donated WKRT 920 in Cortland, NY to Bible Broadcasting.
If anyone has any others to donate… I have a few noncomm clients that would be interested!!
It’s sad that this is what’s become of local AM radio, but I’d rather see this than the licenses turned in and stations going dark. If they’re non commercial, then they really will sink or swim based on listener response.
The Graham family donated the former WMMM 1260AM to the WSHU Public Radio Group back in 1997. I have this documented on my Westport Connecticut Radio tribute site located at http://www.ctradiohistory.org/wmmm/
Thanks, I added those two to the above chart.
WKRT is now WYBY Cortland and going strong still.