Zone Corp., Stephen King’s radio station company, announced Monday that
it will cease operations at the end of this month.
The general manager of Zone Corp., Ken Wood, said that the company’s
multiple eastern Maine radio stations, including popular classic rock
station WKIT 100.3 FM, along with WZLO 620 AM and WZON 103.1 FM, would
stop broadcasting on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years.
King, who first bought WZON in 1983 and later came to acquire WZLO and
WKIT, said in a statement that while he remains in good health, he is
“feeling his 77 years,” and said it’s time to “get his business affairs
in better order.” For him, that means saying goodbye to Zone Corp. and
the other stations he’s “personally kept afloat and on the air all
these years.”
“While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate
broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all
these years,” King said. “I’ve loved the people who’ve gone to these
stations every day and entertained folks, kept the equipment running,
and given local advertisers a way to connect with their customers.
Tabby and I are proud to have been a part of that for more than four
decades.”
According to King and Wood, the stations have consistently lost money
over the decades, and while King has covered the losses over the years,
they have been significant.
King has been a lifelong rock-and-roll fan, and said he bought the
stations out of his love for music and as a longtime listener in the
Bangor area. The first station he purchased in 1983 was called WLBZ at
the time, but King had the call letters changed to WZON as a reference
to King’s book “The Dead Zone.”
Wood, who has served as general manager for the past decade, said he
was proud of what Zone Corp stations had done over the past 40 years.
“Independent, locally owned radio stations used to be the norm.
There’re only a few left in Maine, and we’re lucky we had these three
as long as we did,” Wood said.
The company said it would issue no further comments or communications
on the closure.
Emily Burnham is a Maine native and proud Bangorian, covering business,
the arts, restaurants and the culture and history of the Bangor region.
[1]More by Emily Burnham
References
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https://www.bangordailynews.com/author/emily-burnham/
