FL Radio: WYKE Has Gone Country

Effective midnight this morning, WYKE 104.3 FM in Inglis, FL flipped from sports to country under an LMA Agreement between licensed-owner Key Training Center and WGUL-FM Inc.

Melissa Walker, the Key Training Center’s executive director, announced last week the station entered into a three-year limited marketing agreement (LMA) and option-to-purchase agreement with WGUL-FM Inc.

WGUL will make monthly and annual payments to the Key Center that will be applied to the radio station’s agreed sale price of $340,000 to take place in the third year of the agreement, reports
chronicleoneline.com.

WGUL will have the opportunity to buy the station outright at that third-year mark.

Walker said WGUL will bring radio operational experience and efficiency to WYKE and will allow the Key Center to step away from the day-to-day challenges and expenses of running a radio station while still maintaining control of the license.

Steve Schurdell, managing partner for WGUL-FM, said the new call letters, pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission, will be WXZC 104.3 FM.

“The sports format was liked but it couldn’t get the widespread support they needed to keep it profitable,” Schurdell said. “Country is the number one format in the country.”

WYKE 104.3 FM (6 Kw) Red=Local Coverage

WGUL is a family-owned company that operates four FM radio stations on Florida’s Gulf Coast, which include WGHR HITS 106; WXCV Citrus 95.3; WXCZ Naturecoast Country 103.3; and WXOF Classic Hits 96.7. It serves communities in Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, and Levy counties. Their three Nature Coast stations are all co-located in a station-owned studio/office building in Lecanto.

“Today’s radio marketplace is facing historical technological and lifestyle challenges and is competing against new media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Sirius and others, which can be especially challenging for small market stations like WYKE FM,” Walker said.