Waypoint Media is a confederation of

holding companies A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

that own and operate radio and television stations mostly in small cities in the United States. Primary owners of the various companies include Mike Reed, William Christian and Paige Christian (William's wife).

History

Vision Communications and Sound Communications

Waypoint Media was originally owned by Reed. The Christians had previously operated as Vision Communications and Sound Communications (which operate television and radio stations respectively in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

and the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York (state), New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County, New York, Delaware County and geographically situ ...

). In February 2014, the station announced the acquisition of the remains of Pembrook Pines Media Group, which includes the Cattaraugus County-based cluster of

WMXO WMXO (101.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to and located in Olean, New York. The station broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format. The station is currently owned by Seven Mountains Media. History WMXO has been broadcasting since November 1, ...

WOEN WOEN (1360 AM) is a radio station. Licensed to Olean, New York, United States, the station serves the Olean area. The station is owned by Seven Mountains Media. The station was formerly known as ''WMNS'' until ca. 2000 when the station changed ...

in Olean and

WQRS WQRS (98.3 FM) is a radio station in Salamanca, New York in the Olean, New York broadcasting area. The station broadcasts a classic rock format, with its license owned by Seven Mountains Media, the dominant commercial broadcaster in Cattara ...

/ WGGO in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Her ...

. A sister company, Great Radio LLC, was to own Pembrook Pines' remaining assets in order to comply with ownership caps (such an arrangement would have left the Christians with control of most of Elmira's radio stations). Days before the sale was to close, Vision Communications and Great Radio withdrew their bid for Pembrook Pines, after a previous bidder (Randy Reid's Titan Radio) and Vision's primary competitor in both markets (

Community Broadcasters, LLC Community Broadcasters, LLC is a Watertown, New York based radio holding group that owns radio stations in its own market and surrounding areas. It was founded by media executives Bruce Mittman and Jim Leven, and started out in 2006 by buying st ...

) raised objections to the Christians'

concentration of media ownership Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...

in the Elmira market. A revised plan submitted in August 2014 will see the Christians follow through with their purchase of the Cattaraugus County cluster while Gordy Ichikawa, who specializes in the ownership of radio broadcast towers, buys the disputed Elmira-Corning assets. The sale closed September 10, 2014. The company then bought another former Pembrook Pines station, WZKZ in Alfred, in February 2015. Pembrook Pines owner Robert Pfunter continues to own one radio station,

WQRW WQRW (93.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format. Licensed to Wellsville, New York, United States, the station serves the Olean area. The station is currently (as of 2021) owned by Robert Pfunter and features progra ...

in Wellsville. Great Radio (controlled by Bill Christian and his son Jeffrey) continued to hold one radio station, AM station WCBA, until its license was cancelled by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

on August 11, 2022.

Merger with Waypoint Media

Mike Reed had established the original Waypoint Media in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meri ...

. In 2018, Bill Christian partnered with Waypoint to form Star City Broadcasting to operate stations in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, Indiana, West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home t ...

. Bill Christian purchased a stake in Waypoint by 2019. It purchased the assets of the former Independent News Network in June 2019 with plans to keep INN's office in Little Rock open under the name News Hub.

Divestiture and closedown

In November 2019, Christian and Reed announced an agreement to sell all their remaining broadcast assets to

Standard Media Standard Media Group is an American broadcast and digital media company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media was founded by Deborah A. McDermott, who serves as the company's CEO. Previously, McDermott was the chief operating officer of ...

in a deal that was forecast to close following regulatory approval in early 2020. Although the acquisition by Standard Media was approved in February 2020, the consummation is on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

and in January 2021, Waypoint filed with the FCC that the sale would not move forward. The following month, news emerged that the Christians would be exiting the upstate New York market and selling Sound Communications to Seven Mountains Media, with stations being spun off to

Family Life Network The Family Life Network is a Christian radio network simulcasting via FM stations across Western and Central New York, as well as northern Pennsylvania from flagship station WCIK. It is owned and operated by the larger Family Life Ministries o ...

to comply with FCC ownership rules. The moves, along with the concurrent shutdowns of standalone competitors WGWE and WLNL, would leave Seven Mountains as the dominant commercial broadcaster in the Southern Tier. In July 2021, Waypoint announced the sale of all of its remaining stations to Coastal Television, stating that with increasing

, small-market companies could not compete with the

economics of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...

provided by larger conglomerates.

Television stations

Presently-owned stations

WBGT-CD WBGT-CD (channel 46) is a low-power, Class A television station in Rochester, New York, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. Owned by Vision Communications, the station has studios on Buffalo Road (NY 33) in the town of Gates (with a Ro ...

(MyNetworkTV),

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...

* WHPM-LD (Fox),

Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...

WVMA-CD WVMA-CD, virtual channel 17 (UHF digital channel 22), is a low-powered, Class A Antenna TV- affiliated television station licensed to Winchendon, Massachusetts, United States (which is technically part of the Boston television market), but ...

(Antenna TV),

Winchendon, Massachusetts Winchendon is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,364 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Waterville and Winchendon Springs (also known as Spring Village). A census-designated place, ...

Formerly-owned stations

* KJNB-LD (Fox/CBS),

Jonesboro, Arkansas Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the ...

KSWL-LD KSWL-LD (channel 17) is a low-power television station in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting alongside MyNetworkTV/MeTV/Telemundo affiliate KWWE-LD (channel 19). Both stations s ...

(CBS),

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasi ...

KWWE-LD KWWE-LD (channel 19) is a low-power television station in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV, MeTV, and Telemundo. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting alongside CBS affiliate KSWL-LD (channel 17). Both stati ...

(MyNetworkTV/MeTV), Lake Charles, Louisiana * WGBC (Fox/NBC),

* WJKP-LD (MyNetworkTV),

Corning, New York Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,551 at the 2020 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company ...

* WMDN (CBS), Meridian, Mississippi * WNBJ-LD (NBC/The CW), Jackson, Tennessee *

WPBI-LD WPBI-LD (channel 16) is a low-power television station in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, affiliated with Fox and NBC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC alongside ABC affiliate WPBY-LD (channel 35). Both stations s ...

(Fox/NBC),

WPBY-LD WPBY-LD (channel 35) is a Low-power broadcasting, low-power television station in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company Limited liability com ...

(ABC), Lafayette, Indiana * WVTT-CD,

Olean, New York Olean ( ) is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is one of the principal cities of the Souther ...

* WYDC (Fox), Corning, New York

Radio stations

Lafayette, Indiana

* WBPE * WSHY * WYCM * WAZY-FM

Corning, New York

* WCBA (operated separately by Great Radio, LLC)

References

{{Waypoint Media Radio broadcasting companies of the United States Television broadcasting companies of the United States Mass media in New York (state)