Note: This story was updated on Jan. 9 to correct an error about the founder of Brewer Media.
Chattanooga's biggest locally owned radio station operator is selling two more of its stations to a Lakeland, Florida-based nonprofit that plans to bring more contemporary Christian music to Chattanooga's airwaves to replace ESPN and Big Hits radio.
Brewer Media, which in April 2021 sold another pair of its local radio stations to American Family Association for $610,000, filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission last week to sell "ESPN Chattanooga" 95.3 WALV-FM and Classic Hits "Big 106.9" to the Radio Training Network for $900,000. Once approved by regulators, the buyers plan to bring their JoyFM Christian music format to Chattanooga as the nonprofit expands into Tennessee for the first time.
"Just like any other business, we have to evaluate our operations and make upgrades and changes in our missions," said Kira Brewer Headlee, a vice president president for Brewer Media and granddaughter of the company's founder.
In a telephone interview Monday, Headlee said she is downsizing the size of the company and relocating its studios into small facilities in East Brained once pending sales of the two stations and Brewer Media's headquarters are completed later this year. Brewer Media will continue to operate its most popular station, WJTT Power 94.3, and its Latino-oriented station, Tu Radio 92.7FM, as well as G-93 WMPZ 93.5, which is also an "urban" format station.
Brewer Media also will maintain a digital version of its weekly Chattanooga Pulse newspaper and its Chattanooga Traffic Network service.
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The sale of the two Brewer stations to Radio Training Network comes three years after Brewer sold the signal that previously housed the ESPN Sports format, now 105.1 WUIE (then WALV-FM), to American Family Association, which reprogrammed the stations for its nationwide religious broadcasting network.
In the latest sale, Radio Training Network emerged as the top bidder for the two FM stations being sold by Brewer Media, Headlee said.
Jim Campbell, a Dyersburg, Tennessee, native, started in the broadcast industry more than a half century ago and, along with his wife Ruth, organized a faith-oriented nonprofit that acquired their first radio station in Lakeland, Florida, in 1975. Over the past four decades, the Radio Training Network has started or acquired radio stations and translators across a half dozen states and will enter Tennessee with the two Chattanooga stations if the FCC approves the purchase as expected in the next few months.
"My whole goal is to reach people for Christ through the medium of radio," Campbell said in a video explaining his life-long broadcast ministry.
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In a telephone interview Monday, Campbell said his stations preach biblical messages through song, along with spoken words, and the ministry is supported by donors across the South.
"I love Tennessee and have always loved Chattanooga, driving through the city over many years," Campbell said. "This opportunity just came open and, while we weren't looking at Chattanooga, I think it's a great area, and we think this should work and help us spread our message of Christian joy."
The local stations will be a part of the syndicated JoyFM music service, but Campbell said there will be a market manager and production and engineering support staff in Chattanooga. There will not be a local radio studio, however.
Along with the planned license transfer of the two stations, Headlee said the Brewer Media's current headquarters at 1305 Carter St. in downtown Chattanooga is being sold. Brewer Media moved into the 55-year-old building nearly three decades ago, but Headlee said the company no longer needs all of the 11,085-square-foot office, adding that building sandwiched between Highway 27 and the Chattanooga Convention Center downtown is a prime site for redevelopment.
"I'm the last one of my generation and getting older, and I felt like it was time to make some changes and downsize our operations, but I still believe in radio, which continues to reach more people than any other medium," Headlee said. "While we will have fewer signals, we are no less committed to our stewardship of the Chattanooga community for which we have been a part of for the last 42 years."
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While Headlee said she continues to believe in the power of radio and its community service, a number of radio broadcast companies have struggled in recent years to maintain their previous operations in the face of growing competition for advertisers from social media and for listeners from the growing number of podcasts and streaming audio services.
The internet radio conglomerate Audacy said Sunday it is filing for bankruptcy to restructure $1.9 billion of debt. Cumulus Media, one of the nation's biggest radio networks that owns radio stations KZ-106 and WGOW in Chattanooga, also filed for bankruptcy in 2018, although Cumulus reorganized its finances and emerged from bankruptcy by 2022.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Staff Photo by Dave Flessner / The downtown studio and offices of Brewer Media, shown here Monday, are being sold as the family-owned Chattanooga broadcast company prepares to sell two more of its radio stations. Brewer Media plans to relocate to a smaller office in East Brainerd once the sale of its downtown facility at 1305 Carter St. is complete.