Speculation continues to mount on who “St. Joseph’s Mission” is

Here is some scuttlebut we’ve heard in the last few days.

• St. Joseph’s Missions is a lay-Catholic group from Latrobe. That’s what today’s Tom Taylor on Radio-Info says. We’ve heard some speculation that it’s someone with deep pockets and a deep Catholic faith trying to do what was recently done on WZUM – but perhaps on FM.

Other items to note.

• Some call the $8.9 million sale price for WAMO and sisters a “fire sale” for the three stations – especially when recalling the $14 million that SFX Broadcasting paid to Sheridan in 1996 to swap FM frequencies for a new station called “The X” which was operating on 106.7. (As an aside, I recall being in an AIP classroom with an instructor who was working at ‘DVE at the time – it made for an interesting class discussion that day!) Others think the price was fair.
• Eventually Sheridan would purchase Greensburg’s WSSZ (107.1) to try a simulcast of 106.7 which, as near as we can tell, never came to fruition. The Greensburg station was sold a few years ago to Renda Broadcasting.

Monday’s Taylor on Radio info says:

• The sale comes just a few months before the Portable People Meter becomes the norm. And, despite improvements in the ratings, Sheridan was getting nervous about the PPM readings.