Zone Corporation, Stephen King’s radio station company, announced on Monday that it will cease operations at the end of this month.
The general manager of Zone Corp, Ken Wood, announced Monday that the company’s multiple eastern Maine radio stations, including popular classic rock station WKIT 100.3 FM, along with WZLO 620 AM and WZON 103.1 FM, would stop broadcasting on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years.
King, who first bought WZON in 1983 and later came to acquire WZLO and WKIT, said in a statement that while he remains in good health, he is “feeling his 77 years,” and said it’s time to “get his business affairs in better order.” For him, that means saying goodbye to Zone Corp and the other stations he’s “personally kept afloat and on the air all these years.”
“While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all these years,” said King. “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. Tabby and I are proud to have been a part of that for more than four decades.”
According to King and Wood, the stations have consistently lost money over the decades, and while King has covered the losses over the years, they have been significant.
King has been a lifelong rock and roll fan, and said he bought the stations out of his love for music and as a longtime listener in the Bangor area. The first station he purchased in 1983 was called WLBZ at the time, but King had the call letters changed to WZON as a reference to King’s book “The Dead Zone.”
Wood, who has served as general manager for the past decade, said he was proud of what Zone Corp stations had done over the past 40 years.
“Independent, locally owned radio stations used to be the norm. There’re only a few left in Maine, and we’re lucky we had these three as long as we did,” said Wood.
The company said it would issue no further comments or communications on the closure.
