Connoisseur Starts Building Next Radio Empire

Jeffrey Warshaw

The station break is clearly over for Jeffrey Warshaw and the other executives of Westport-based Connoisseur Media, which has surged onto the scene with $100 million in radio acquisitions in the last nine months.

Warshaw, 48, has a long history in radio, having built his first station at age 19 and following that up with Connoisseur Communications in 1993. That company eventually grew to 39 stations and was sold to Cumulus Broadcasting in 2000 for $258 million.

Today, writes Bob Varnon at ctpost.com, Warshaw is joined by his former Connoisseur Communications partners Michael Driscoll, chief financial officer, and David Bevins, chief operating officer, is again growing a radio empire, this time under the Connoisseur Media brand.

"We've seen great opportunity," Warshaw, said. "It's a special time. There are tons of stations for sale. These (the Connecticut ones) are great stations with great heritage in the market and great facilities."

Last week, Connoisseur announced a deal to buy WPLR, Star 99.9 and WFOX, the Fox, from Cox Media.

Warshaw and Driscoll had been working primarily on the investment side of media during the five years between radio gigs.

An 18-year resident of Westport, Warshaw said it's nice to own stations in his own backyard.

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