Stephen King to Shut Down His 3 Radio Stations in Maine

(Anyone else think that Stephen King is leaving the country, it sounds like such a casual statement, but it’s not. He knows he can’t get a pardon.)

The author, who owns the small independent stations in Bangor, said that the decision was prompted by a desire to get his business affairs in order.

By Derrick Bryson Taylor Dec. 3, 2024, 12:11 p.m. ET

Stephen King, the horror author whose books have sold hundreds of millions of copies, inspired classic films and disturbed untold nights of sleep, has long played another role closer to his home in Maine: local media magnate.

For more than four decades, King, an enthusiastic rock fan, has owned small independent radio stations in Bangor, Maine. It began in 1983 when he bought WLBZ and changed its call letters to WZON, in a nod to his best seller “The Dead Zone.” He added WZLO and WKIT, which bills itself as “Stephen King’s Rock ’n’ Roll Station.”

But now King, 77, is getting out of the radio business, having covered steady losses that the stations said had run into millions of dollars over the years. The stations are expected to sign off for the last time on New Year’s Eve and then shut down.

“While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all these years,” King said in a news release in which he noted that he was in good health but that he had been feeling his age and was trying to “get his business affairs in better order.”

“I’ve loved the people who’ve gone to these stations every day and entertained folks, kept the equipment running, and given local advertisers a way to connect with their customers,” he said in the release from the Zone Corporation, his radio company.

King said that he and his wife, Tabitha, were proud to have been a part of the business for so long. A representative for King did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Small radio stations across the United States have been in flux as big media companies have expanded their empires: iHeartMedia owned 870 stations across 151 markets in 2023, according to data released this year by BIA Advisory Services. Audacy owned 227 stations in 46 markets, the survey found.

In Bangor, WZON’s “Downtown With Rich Kimball” show opened on Monday on a somber note, with Kimball noting that the coming weeks would be bittersweet.

“I feel a bit sad for us and for me, but, you know, much worse for the folks who work here at the station full time who now need to find something new with relatively short notice,” Kimball said.

Cara Pelletier, the chair of the Bangor City Council, said in an interview that King’s stations were a lifeline to the community and that she had seen “quite a bit of grieving” online.

“I don’t think you can overstate the importance of these stations and by extension, the importance of Stephen King’s legacy here in Bangor,” she said.

The King family, she added, is “revered as people who have invested in the city. From their donation to the library to things like this that I think nobody knew they were doing personally, but they do because they love the city of Bangor.”

The stations have played a big role in community affairs over the years…

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Stephen King Net Worth | Celebrity Net WorthAugust 2, 2024 - Stephen King net worth: Stephen King is a prolific American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, and fantasy novelswho has a net worth of $500 million. To date, his books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide.Yahoo! Finance