STANDISH – After six years operating out of his home in Standish, WJZF 97.1 FM station manager, owner and all-around radio buff David Patterson has announced the Lakes Region’s only community-based, non-commercial radio station is set to hit the big time.
Patterson and veteran radioman Ron Malone, who owns community stations in Sanford and New Hampshire, are pooling their financial resources to start a new station, WRKJ 88.5 FM, and have secured a license to install a 2,000-watt transmitter on a 400-foot tower on Finn Parker Road in West Gorham.
The new transmitter, which will sit at 700 feet above sea level and broadcast at 20 times the wattage of WJZF, will broadcast a new, beefed-up WRKJ signal to most of southern Maine, including Portland, the Lakes Region, and Biddeford/Saco area.
Patterson said WJZF will stay in existence, as will Malone’s WSEW 88.7 FM in Sanford. However, content from WJZF and WSEW will simulcast on the new WRKJ 88.5 FM.
“We are looking forward to having a nice coverage area,” said Malone. “And we’re hoping to get it on air by Oct. 1 at the latest.”
Malone, 63, got into radio while serving in the U.S. Navy and was chief engineer at WHOM 94.9 in Portland. He spent more than 20 years in the Portland radio scene before venturing out on his own with stations in Sanford and New Hampshire. In addition to WSEW in Sanford, Malone owns WWPC 91.7 FM out of New Durham, which transmitted at 100 watts for its first 15 years but last year went to 3,200 watts. Malone hopes to increase its power to 10,000 watts in the near future. Much of both stations’ lineup consists of Christian talk and music programming.
Malone’s motivation for combining forces with Patterson is to enter the Portland market with an alternative to commercial radio.
“Dave and I share a similar conservative, Judeo-Christian philosophy, and we both want to make sure there’s an alternative for listeners,” Malone said.
He added that WRKJ won’t be duplicating content found on local Christian stations such as WBCI 105.9 FM, but declined to get too specific on programming, saying it would consist of “conservative talk and local music.” He did say, however, that most of the content will be Patterson’s responsibility and will not be Christian-based.
Over the last six years, Patterson – who got bit by the radio bug while serving in the U.S. Air Force, with DJ stints on the American Forces Philippines Network as well as aircraft carriers Saratoga and Kennedy – has built up a collection of local contributors for his station. They include such diverse shows as “The Fred Miller Show” (musical oldies) and “Let’s Do Broadway” (Broadway music classics), as well as political talk shows hosted by local personalities such as Brian Thompson of Gray. Patterson fills in with nationally syndicated shows as well.
Using his own money, Patterson started WJZF after the Federal Communications Commission in 2000 approved low-power, non-commercial FM stations. Patterson started the Standish Citizens Educational Organization in 2002, and he received a construction permit in 2003 for a transmitter broadcasting from atop a tower behind the Standish Town Office on Route 35. The station went on the air in January 2005. However, the 100-watt signal is limited in its range, so Patterson welcomes the new merger.
“It’s absolutely fantastic,” Patterson said. “We’ve got a great relation with Ron. He’s a gentleman and a good engineer.”
As part of the planned expansion, Patterson and WJZF personality Fred Miller, of Portland, are shopping for studio space in Portland. The two met with commercial real estate agent Jonathan Leahy of CBRE/The Boulos Company at a prospective space at 175 Lancaster St. in Portland on Monday. The new studio would allow a place for program hosts for the new WRKJ station to tape or record their shows live. The new studio would be linked via the Internet to Patterson’s Standish studio, which will relay to the existing tower behind the Standish Town Office as well as the new West Gorham transmitting tower.
The 69-year-old Miller, in the radio business for 53 years, expects to run his program live out of the new Portland studio if all goes according to plan. Miller, on WJZF for the last three years, played a key role in development of WRKJ, having linked Patterson and Malone.
“Ron and I go way back,” Miller said. “Ron was my chief engineer at the (now-defunct) WDCS 106.3. Originally, we were trying to boost the signal of WJZF by purchasing a translator from Light of Life (Radio Ministries) but we couldn’t agree on a price. So we either had to stay low-power or do something else. I happened to go to Ron’s website and put a call into him and told him of our situation.”
Since the radio stations aren’t allowed to run commercials, Malone and Patterson are hoping to find businesses or organizations willing to underwrite programming as a way to pay for the venture. Miller said the ideal sponsor is a group “which is looking for a big tax write-off.” But expenses are low since the station doesn’t have a sales staff or management expenses. Equipment costs and the lease for the Portland space are the bulk of the ongoing operational costs.
(Editor’s note: Reporter John Balentine hosts a program on WJZF, “Classical Classics.”)
WJZF station owner David Patterson, left, and WJZF program host
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