The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / The Horror! Author Stephen King To Shut Down All 3 Of His Radio Stns.

**Posted by RadioActive** December 2, 2024 12:14 pm

You probably know Stephen King for his classic horror novels. You may not know he owns three different radio stations in his hometown of Bangor, Maine. But now a business he's been in for decades is about to meet its end, not because of some arch villain, but due to something much more common - old age and business losses.

King says the stations have collectively lost millions and now that he's 77, it's time to leave them behind. As a result, all three are being shut down. The stations are WKIT-FM, which has a rock format, WZLO-FM, which plays Adult Alternative and AM 620 WZON, described as "Retro Radio," an oldies station.

He may have been a prolific author, but he apparently wasn't very good at radio. He says the stations have lost millions over the years and he simply can't afford to run them anymore.

"Flagship station WZON, which first went on the air in Maine in 1926 as WLBZ, was purchased by the Kings in 1983. The call letters were changed to WZON, a nod to Stephen King’s best seller The Dead Zone and a rock and roll format was instituted. The station never made money and for a time, even surrendered its commercial status to become a donor supported enterprise. In 1990, the station was sold, only for the Kings to re-acquire it three years later and bring back the commercial model."

The guy who wrote the book on which "Stand By Me" was based will not be standing by the stations nor will they "Carrie" on. They're due to go silent on Dec. 31st.

Stephen King’s radio stations to sign off for good at month’s end

**Posted by turkeytop** December 2, 2024 1:33 pm

In his novel, Christine, there was a fictitious, oldies station in Bangor, WDIL.

Last edited by turkeytop (December 2, 2024 1:34 pm)

**Posted by betaylored** December 2, 2024 2:07 pm

https://youtu.be/qxJp_VQ5VUk?si=FIl9ordwgXqI-nj-

Above is the trailer of the movie they made in the 80's of Stephen King's The Dead Zone, a story about a man who sees via his terrifying supernatural powers that a popular U.S. Presidential candidate is not a good guy to put it mildly and if he wins the election will bring great evil into America. He decides he must assassinate the candidate to save the world.

The movie of the book was pretty well done and the special effects were the old school kind before the flatness of CGI was overused.

There's a terrific cast including Christopher Walken as the hero, Martin Sheen as the evil Presidential candidate and Herbert Lom (which can be tricky if you remember his hilarious Pink Panther character in the middle of a scene).

When Trump was first elected, I immediately thought of The Dead Zone and how prescient Stephen King had been in a bookish sort of way...

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a reboot in the future for obvious reasons.

Last edited by betaylored (December 2, 2024 2:09 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** December 2, 2024 9:39 pm

It's not often you see this, but a jock from another station in Bangor, WQCB-FM, a country format owned by Townsquare, penned a nice farewell to his competitors. Stations that are in competition with one another for ears generally never mention anyone else. That's what makes this gesture so unusual.

The author notes that King had a great rep. as a station owner, regularly handing out bonuses and praise, rare in the industry, especially when the stations are losing money. And then they concluded with this:

"To the on-air staff and those who have worked behind the scenes for the past four decades at Zone Corporation, we send out our best wishes to our radio colleagues in whatever comes next for them. The airwaves are going to sound a little thinner without those guys and gals doing what they've done for decades."

A class act.

Legendary Rock & Roll Station To Sign Off At Year's End

**Posted by mic'em** December 3, 2024 8:00 am

Couldn't he sell the licenses ? I am surprised he would just shut them off.

**Posted by RadioActive** December 4, 2024 7:24 am

mic'em wrote:
Couldn't he sell the licenses ? I am surprised he would just shut them off.

I wondered about this, too, but if you read the story, King says the stations have been losing millions of dollars for a long time. Not sure who would want to buy an admitted money drain in a small town with little hope for growth.

**Posted by RadioActive** February 5, 2025 1:49 pm

The last two of the three remaining Stephen King stations have finally been sold and are expected back on the air. They went silent on Dec. 31st, after the author decided he couldn't continue to lose money on them and that he was getting too old to keep running them.

And for music stations, they went for a song!

Bangor radio stations WZON, WZLO have new owner

**Posted by newsguy1** February 5, 2025 3:21 pm

I have worked for a couple of radio stations in past years that would have Stephen King shaking in his boots.
The horror... the horror.

Last edited by newsguy1 (February 5, 2025 3:21 pm)

**Posted by Shorty Wave** February 6, 2025 7:19 am

RadioActive wrote:
The last two of the three remaining Stephen King stations have finally been sold and are expected back on the air. They went silent on Dec. 31st, after the author decided he couldn't continue to lose money on them and that he was getting too old to keep running them.

And for music stations, they went for a song!

Bangor radio stations WZON, WZLO have new owner

Did they ever go for a song!

**Posted by RadioActive** March 28, 2025 7:22 am

I suppose this will conclude this thread once and for all, but the tower for one of Stephen King's now silent radio stations came down on Thursday, and if you've ever wondered what it looks like when an antenna falls to the ground, here's your chance to see it. The structure has been there since 1937, and many of the station's ex-employees came to witness the end of an era in their lives. It's a sad sight, but still fascinating to watch.

Radio tower for former Stephen King radio station taken down