WVKO is gone

Columbus progressive talker WVKO (1580AM) is no more, as the owner of the station has sold the frequency to a religious group, according to Ohio Media Watch and the station's website.

The talk format left the air at midnight this morning, but will continue via the station's website for now. The new programming comes via St. Gabriel Radio, which owns two other stations outside of Columbus.

Currently, Cowtown Communications, which had leased the station from outgoing owner Bernard Radio, is shopping for another signal in the market, but that may be a bit difficult. The radio industry is currently suffering due to low ad revenue and Cowtown Communications ran WVKO on a "below shoestring" budget. They are, however, eyeing another WVKO - the FM operation at 103.1, also owned by Barnard, which puts a rather poor rimshot signal into Columbus. However, FM signals, bad signals or not, are typically more desirable than AM, so this may be out of monetary range. We shall see...

In the meantime, WVKO is still operating their webstream, albiet with syndicated programming replacing local shows. Thom Hartmann will replace Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes' show has been added, in addition to web-only shows The Young Turks and Sam Seder/Marc Maron.

WVKO had recently celebrated its first anniversary.