Atlantic City Radio: iHM Expected to Close Soon On Equity Stations

Gary Fisher, owner and president of Equity Communications of Atlantic City, and his business partner, Steve Gormley, first started thinking about selling his four radio stations in 2019.

“2019 was a great year for radio, a great year for Atlantic City, and we thought it would be a great time to exit. We were experiencing a great deal of engagement from small and large companies alike and were hopeful of getting a deal done sometime in the fourth quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020,” Fisher said.

Similar to most plans worldwide, the negotiations for the radio stations — WAYV-FM 95.1, WZXL-FM 100.7, WZBZ-FM 99.3 and WTTH-FM 96.1, which are headquartered in West Atlantic City — were scuttled in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The Press of Atlantic City reports Fisher’s discussions with iHeartMedia, picked up steam last year and continued into this year to the point where the announcement was made over the summer that Fisher was selling his four Equity radio stations to iHeartMedia in a multimillion-dollar deal. The sale is expected to be completed later this fall.

After serving as the first general sales manager of New York top-40 station Z100, Fisher started buying radio stations in 1995. With the Equity sale, he is leaving the radio station ownership business.

Besides Fisher’s Equity stations, he also sold his classic oldies radio stations WMID-AM 1340 and WCMC-AM 1230 in Cape May. The former is a simulcast of the latter. They are being sold to Rick Brancadora, a local broadcaster, who owns WIBG-FM, Fisher said.

Additionally, 93.1 WMID-FM is being sold to EMF, a large Christian broadcaster, Fisher said.