journal news
By CHarles Sowell | staff
Cox Media Group plans to sell its radio stations in the Greenville market to SummitMedia as soon as federal regulators at the FCC approve, said Steve Sinicropi, vice president and general manager of the stations. “This is part of a restructuring of a large corporate media company,” he said. “Essentially, we’re selling all of our radio stations that are located in markets where we don’t own a newspaper or TV station.” WJMZ-FM and WHZT-FM will be sold to SummitMedia once the FCC approves the sale, a process that usually takes about 90 days, Sinicropi said. Other Cox stations in Connecticut, Alabama, Hawaii, Kentucky and Virginia will also be sold, Sinicropi said. The Greenville sale will actually involve four stations, including Chuck FM
and X98.5, which are spinoffs from JMZ and HZT created since the digital revolution in broadcast. Those stations broadcast on high-definition signals that are captured and then rebroadcast on regular FM. “The process essentially doubles our presence in the market,” Sinicropi said. “WJMZ is the top station in this market, based on the latest book (surveys).” According to industry website Inside Radio, Summit Media is a newly formed group led by 16-year Cox Birmingham market manager David DuBose and former Heftel Broadcasting executive Carl Parmer. The broadcast realignment is part of CMG’s strategy to focus on larger markets, cross-media collaboration, and heightened impact in fewer markets, Cox said in a company statement. Contact Charles Sowell at csowell@communityjournals.com.
Community honors Warth photos by Greg Beckner / Staff
Cox Media to sell 4 Greenville radio stations
Russell Stall welcomes everyone in attendance at the Kroc Center to the Charlie Warth Day celebration. For more than seven years, Warth has been executive director of the Allen Temple Community Economic Development Corporation and has led the effort to build 50 single-family rental homes for the low-income families in Greenville and beyond.
The conference room at the Kroc Center was close to capacity for Charlie Warth Day. Warth has been fighting lung cancer since 2011.
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University of Dayton president Daniel Curran talks about Charlie Warth’s college life and the fact that Warth left the college a few credits shy of graduating. President Curran was in Greenville to present Warth with his diploma, giving Warth his remaining credit hours for what he accomplished during his life. In 2010, Warth received the Max Heller Award for Excellence in Community Development, and last year was named the Affordable Housing Developer of the Year by the South Carolina Affordable Housing Coalition.