Local broadcaster buys Calais radio station

CALAIS – A Las Vegas broadcast giant has sold a 100,000-watt Calais radio station, WCRQ-FM (102.9), to a local broadcaster.

WQDY-FM (92.7) station owner Billy McVicar bought the station from Citadel Communications.

Terms of the sale were not released, but McVicar said Thursday that the sale was completed on Monday.

McVicar, 39, has been in broadcasting for about 15 years, the last seven as owner of WQDY-FM.

The signal of the newly acquired station reaches all of Washington County as well as Charlotte County, New Brunswick.

WQDY-FM has been a mainstay in Calais since the late 1970s and carries the local moniker “Hometown Radio.”

At one time there were two stations, WQDY-AM and WQDY-FM, but McVicar said the terms of the sale required him to get rid of the AM side of the business. “The [Federal Communications Commission] will only allow you to own so many signals in a market,” he said.

On Wednesday the staff had to move WCRQ’s studio a short distance from its location at 117 Main St. to WQDY’s main office at 281 Main St.

McVicar said WQDY’s staff would operate both stations. WQDY employs 10 full- and part-time people. “We’ll just use the current resources we have in terms of people,” he said. During this transitional period, McVicar said, programming on WCRQ would remain the same. He said his staff was looking at new programming options.