A Connecticut AM station is temporarily silent after the broadcaster providing its programming fell behind on payments to the station’s owner, WSHU in Stamford.
WSHU’s owner, Sacred Heart University, had sought to sell 1400 AM WSTC last year due to low listenership, according to WSHU Communications Director Janice Portentoso. It entered into an arrangement in May 2016 with Stamford’s VGR Radio Agency to broadcast music, traffic reports and local news on the station.
But after months of no pay from VGR, WSHU terminated the agreement Sunday, According to a release, it had repeatedly tried to collect on the debt and negotiate new opportunities with VGR.
In the release, WSHU GM George Lombardi said, “We could no longer continue with this arrangement when VGR was not honoring the financial terms of our agreement.”
Mike Raub, director of operations for WSTC, announced the license termination in a post on the station’s Facebook page Sunday.
WSHU expects WSTC to remain dark for about a week as it determines what to do with the station long-term, according to Portentoso.
WSHU owns three other stations throughout Connecticut and Long Island and has licensing agreements to operate two additional stations.