Plattsburgh-Burlington Radio: WNBZ Sold, Off Auction Block

Plattsburgh, NY area radio station WNBZ 1240 AM, has been sold to the owners of a Lake Placid radio station for $6,000, according to a filing at the FCC.

In a concurrent development, “Radio Park,” two adjacent properties on Santanoni Avenue associated with WNBZ, has been taken off an Essex County tax auction list, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

An application was filed Nov. 24 with the FCC to transfer WNBZ-AM to North Country Radio, co-owned by Jonathan Becker and Gregory Gallacher. North Country Radio operates WSLP 93.3 FM, Lake Placid. Seller Ted Morgan of Saranac Lake Radio signed the application, but the buyers have not yet.

The application also includes a right of first refusal on the sale of WLPW, which Morgan’s company used to broadcast from Lake Placid at 105.5 FM. Should Morgan revive WLPW, North Country radio could buy it for $25,000 within 30 days.

Morgan’s WNBZ-FM operates out of the Gateway Building on Durkee Street in Plattsburgh and broadcasts on Translator W290AT 105.9 FM in Plattsburgh and 106.3 FM in the Saranac Lake area.

On June 17 this year, Morgan applied to the FCC for permission for the station to go silent since a transmitter was broken. The FCC granted Morgan permission, allowing him to retain the broadcast license until June 2018.

Of the five frequencies associated with Saranac Lake Radio, only WNBZ’s FM version continues to broadcast, with an automated playlist. The others have gone silent. Morgan bought the 1240-AM and 106.3-FM operations from Jim and Keela Rogers in 1998, and he later bought WIRD-AM, WLPW-FM and WRGR-FM (broadcast from Tupper Lake) from the Nardiello family of Lake Placid.