Centennial Broadcasting is a small market radio broadcasting company based in Clemmons, North Carolina.[1] The company is led by President and CEO Allen B. Shaw.[4] Shaw began his career in 1959, at the age of 15, at radio station WRWB in Kissimmee, Florida.[5]
History
1997–2000
Centennial purchased Las Vegas–based KQOL from American General Media for an undisclosed sum on May 13, 1997.[6] Two months later, on July 22, 1997, the company bought another Las Vegas station, KJUL, also for an undisclosed amount.[7] In March 1998, Sinclair Broadcast Group sold three New Orleans–based stations to the company for $16 million.[8] The stations included two FMs, WRNO-FM and KMEZ, and one AM, WBYU.[8] In April of the same year, Centennial purchased Las Vegas station KKLZ from Apogee Companies for $21 million.[9] The company sold all six of its stations to Beasley Broadcast Group in late 2000 for $113.5 million.[10][11]
Since 2004
The company would re-enter the radio business, this time in Virginia, with the purchase of Lynchburg, Virginia-area stations WZZI (then at 101.5) and WZZU from Travis Media LLC on August 31, 2004, for $4.146 million.[12] In 2005, the company purchased WLNI from 3 Daughters Media for $4.4 million.[13] Centennial filed suit on 3 Daughters Media and owner Gary Burns in 2006 for violating a five-year non-compete agreement.[13] The case was heard in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.[14] U.S. District Judge Norman Moon ruled 3 Daughters Media "could not operate a station with a Talk format until the five-year non-compete" had ended on August 4, 2006.[13][14] Burns appealed to United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which upheld the previous court's ruling.[13][15] In March 2005, Cumulus Media sold WBWR and translator W247AD-FM to Centennial for $1.9 million.[16][17] The deal closed in April of the same year.[18]
On May 17, 2007, Centennial announced it was buying WINC, WINC-FM, WWRT, and WWRE in Winchester and WBQB and WFVA in Fredericksburg from Mid-Atlantic Network Inc. for $36 million.[19] Later reports had the price of the sale at $35.972 million.[20] Shaw, commenting in a Winchester Star interview on the sale, said he had been considering buying the stations for several months.[19] The sale closed in August 2007.[19]
In April 2008, the company agreed to purchase four stations from Univision Radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for $24 million.[21] The sale included stations KIOT, KJFA, KKRG, and KKSS.[21] For unknown reasons, the sale was never completed and the stations remain owned by Univision.[22]
On February 1, 2011, WVMP was sold to CityWorks Community Broadcasting LLC for $500,000.[12] Centennial sold WZZU and WZZI (now on 106.9MHz), then airing an Active Rock format, to WVJT, LLC. for $523,000 on August 27, 2012.[23][24] Mel Wheeler Inc. purchased W247AD-FM from Centennial for $75,000 on April 4, 2012.[25] A year later, Centennial sold WLNI to Mel Wheeler Inc. on January 12, 2013, for $1.025 million.[26] That sale was delayed due to a "petition to deny" filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[27] Gary Burns, owner of 3 Daughters Media, contented the sale would give Mel Wheeler Inc. control of too many stations in one market.[27][28] The FCC disagreed and denied the "petition to deny" in August 2013.[27][29]
On October 6, 2020, Centennial sold WINC-FM operating on 92.5MHz from Winchester, Virginia, to Educational Media Foundation (EMF) for $1.75 million.[30] WINC-FM's existing music programming moved to the co-owned WXBN (105.5 FM) and WZFC (104.9 FM) ahead of the sale;, and Centennial retained the rights to the WINC callsign and branding.[31] On December 29, 2020, after the sale of the 92.5 FM channel closed, Centennial transferred the WINC-FM callsign to 105.5MHz.[32] WZFC continued to simulcast WINC-FM's programming.
Stations
Centennial Broadcasting currently owns and operates two stations in Fredericksburg, Virginia:[2][3]
