Evansville-based South Central Communications has officially divested itself of WIKY 104.1 FM and eight other radio stations.
In May, the audio/visual and marketing company announced plans to sell its radio holdings stations to Wisconsin-based Midwest Communications.
The deal included four Evansville stations: WIKY, WSTO-96.1FM, WABX-107.5FM and WLFW-93.5 (also known as “The Wolf”). It also included five Tennessee stations: two in Nashville and three in Knoxville.
Jeff McCarthy, vice president of programming at Midwest, confirmed that the deal had closed on Tuesday.
Neither the station’s employees, nor listeners, should notice any changes, McCarthy said.
“It’s business as usual.”
McCarthy said the transition went smoothly because both companies share a similar culture as Midwest-based family-owned media companies.
Midwest Communications now has 72 stations, including those recently acquired from South Central.
In announcing the deal this spring, South Central chief executive officer J.P. Engelbrecht said his company was getting out of the radio business because it had too few holdings to remain competitive in the industry.
South Central was founded as a radio company by Engelbrecht’s grandfather, John A. Engelbrecht, in 1948. WIKY was its first station.
On Tuesday, Engelbrecht said it felt “really weird” not to have radio as a part of his family’s company any more.
He said South Central hosted farewell parties for station employees in Evansville, Knoxville and Nashville over the past few weeks.
“We wanted to say goodbye.”
One final radio divestiture is still in the wings.
Engelbrecht has a business interest in Boonville Broadcasting Co., which owns WEJK 107.1 FM.
WEJK was not included in the Midwest Communications sale because of Federal Communications Commission rules about how many stations an operator can own in a market. WEJK had been grandfathered in under that rule.
Engelbrecht has reached an agreement to sell WEJK to Vincennes-based The Original Company.
That deal should close in the next two months or so, Engelbrecht said. In the meantime, The Original Company is operating the Boonville station under a lease agreement.
WEJK changed from a “Jack” format to a “classic hits” format this week.