The owners of News/Talk WDEL, CHR WSTW, and eight other radio stations have agreed to sell to Pennsylvania's Forever Media for $18.5 million, pending approval of the Federal Communications Commission.
According to delawareonline.com, the deal marks the latest shakeup in Delaware's small media and newsgathering landscape, of which The News Journal is a part. Last year, owners of WBOC-TV in Salisbury bought WRDE, an NBC affiliate based at the Delaware Beaches.
Upon the closing of the deal, Delmarva Broadcasting Company, the seller of the stations, will temporarily terminate all employees, according to the sales agreement document. Forever Media will then "offer employment to substantially all employees of sellers," the document stated.
"The buyer of each respective station shall provide written notice to sellers as to which employees of sellers it will not make offers of at-will employment," the agreement stated.
Potential job cuts at WDEL would add to a decade of layoffs at newsrooms nationally, including those controlled by Gannett, the owners of The News Journal.
WDEL employs 12 people on its news staff and three anchors. The station plays a larger role in newsgathering than many stations in comparably sized markets outside Delaware. That is, in part, because there is little competition from broadcast television news in the state.
More than a decade ago, another Delaware radio station was acquired by an out-of-state conglomerate. When Clear Channel purchased WILM 1450 in 2004, it drastically changed what was then one of the last, family-run, all-news broadcasters in the nation.
Today, WILM relies heavily on nationally syndicated content.
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