Shock as NY radio station WVIP 93.5 FM is sold

NEW YORK:

Radio broadcasters on WVIP 93.5 FM in New York, listeners and Jamaican businesses who rely on the station to market and promote their products and services are reeling in shock by news that the entity has been sold.

The New York-based, brokered radio station that boasts a concoction of Jamaican/Caribbean music and talk, has reportedly been sold for US$8.15 million to Hope Media Group, owners of the Christian AC Way FM network and Spanish Christian Vida Unida network. WVIP was owned by the late Bill O’Shaughnessy, who died in May 2022 at age 84.

The Westchester County station reaches thousands of Jamaican/Caribbean nationals in the tri-state area, who reside in Mt Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Ardsley, Elmsford, Yonkers, Bronx, Queens, Nassau County in New York and Bergen County, New Jersey.According to a 2021 US Census Bureau/American Community Survey, approximately 1.3 million residents in the USA are Jamaicans. In New York, Jamaican Americans comprise about 1/2 a million residents, which is approximately 1.6 per cent of the state’s population.

Bobby Clarke, CEO of Irie Jam media group, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary on WVIP, was alarmed about the sale.

“This is sad news,” Clarke said in an interview on WVIP last week, a few hours after news of the sale became public. “This leaves a major void in the community... . We are hoping that there might be a way to continue our services to our community here, but right now we are not sure,” he shared.

Clement ‘Ras Clem’ Hume, Groovin’ In The Park executive and host of Groovin Radio, which also broadcast on the WVIP platform, told The Gleaner that he was at a loss for words.

“This is shocking news! I still cannot believe it,” he confessed.

Independent broadcasters on WVIP spend between US$500 to US$1,000 per hour for airtime on the station.

Community initiatives

Community advocate Irwine Clare, CEO of Caribbean Immigrant Services and host of Fact Of The Matter that is heard on the WVIP platform, spoke about community initiatives that independent broadcasters at the station have supported that benefited Jamaicans at home.

“We had a 12-hour radio marathon with a collective of broadcasters on this platform from Irie Jam radio, Squeeze (Linkup radio), Carl B Moxie and other individuals,” he said.

The initiative raised US$10,000 on September 14, 2004 to help in the relief effort for Hurricane Dean which damaged sections of the island on August 19.

This is not the first time that Caribbean radio broasters in New York have been broadsided by a station sale. In 1997, WNWK 105.9 FM closed its doors on reggae and the Jamaican community when a change in FCC regulations allowed its then founder and chief executive Arthur Liu to sell the station (along with another smaller station) to Heftel Broadcasting, the nation’s largest Spanish language radio group, for US$135 million.

Among the popular radio personalities from Jamaica who will be impacted by the sale are former Prime Minister Bruce Golding ( Jamaica Live); Reverend Ronnie Thwaites and Chief Pearnel Charles ( Public Eye); Richard ‘Richie B’ Burgess ( Up & Go) and Elise Kelly ( Un-tengle), who currently simulcast their respective programmes on WVIP from The Bridge 99 FM in Jamaica.