Entercom returns to Pittsburgh

One-time owners of WDSY-FM (107.9), Entercom returned to the market on Friday. (Entercom also owned 104.7 FM – initially as WXRB “The Rebel” and eventually switching to Smooth Jazz WJJJ.) Once again the company owns WDSY, but now has WBZZ (100.7) and KDKA-AM & FM (1020 and 93.7 respectively) after merging with CBS Radio.

Of course this means that for the first time in 97 years and 15 days, KDKA-AM has its first “new owner”. Regarding that, Scott Fybush had this to say:

A friendly reminder as we enter the Entercom era:

The longest legacy that was ended at midnight was not that of “CBS,” which had been under several owners in its 90 years as a radio brand (and which lives on in the form of the radio news network, which is still the gold standard.)

The longest legacy that ended at midnight was that of Westinghouse. KDKA, WBZ and KYW never changed owners from their very first days in 1920-1921 until just now. Because while it’s often forgotten, it was Westinghouse that bought CBS in 1996, and while Westinghouse changed its corporate name to “CBS,” when you scrape off the paint there was still a big red “Group W” under the Eye.

To meet ownership regulations, Entercom had to sell and trade stations in certain markets, including one Fybush mentioned. WBZ-AM in Boston, a Westinghouse original, has been traded to iHeartMedia.