The northern New England radio landscape changed drastically when 30 radio stations in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine were sold at a May bankruptcy auction.
But now that the sale has become final, Windham County radio listeners won't see - that is, hear - any changes.
The 30 stations, once owned by Nassau Broadcasting, were sold in May to Bill Binnie of WBIN Media Co., Inc., and Jeff Shapiro of Great Eastern Radio, LLC for a total of $12.5 million.
The sale was finalized earlier this month.
Binnie, a New Hampshire politician turned businessman, also owns WBIN-TV in Derry and a half-dozen low-power television stations and transmitters that together gives his company access to 90 percent of the state's TV viewers.
He kept 17 of the stations, including WZLF-FM 107.1 in Bellows Falls, which simulcasts WXLF-FM (“The Wolf”), a country station in White River Junction.
Shapiro's Great Eastern Radio, based in Lebanon, N.H., picked up the other 13 stations for $4.4 million, including WTHK-FM 100.7 in Wilmington, which simulcasts WEXP-FM ("The Fox”), a Rutland classic rock station.
Shapiro, the one-time CEO of the now-defunct Vox Radio Group, already owns WKKN-FM 101.9 in Westminster, which simulcasts WXXK-FM (“KIXX Country”) in Lebanon, N.H., and WEEY-FM 93.5 in Swanzey, N.H., which simulcasts Boston sports talk radio station WEEI.
Nassau, based in New Jersey, owned radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region before entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011.