Super Bowl Update

Recently, both WTHI-TV 10 and WTHI-Hi99 FM (99.9 FM) moved to new homes ― in different locations ― in downtown Terre Haute, and the stations' old home at 918 Ohio Street is now in the process of being torn down.

WTHI-TV has a gallery of photos of the teardown in progress, and you can see the pictures by clicking here.

The 918 Ohio Street building was built in 1906 and was originally a garment factory.  It was renovated and repurposed for WTHI's TV and radio operations in 1954.  Emmis Communications moved WTHI-FM and WWVR-FM to a newly-constructed building at 925 Wabash Avenue back in August, and WTHI-TV moved to its own brand-new building at 800 Ohio Street in late October.

When demolition is completed, it's expected that the site will become a parking lot for the new 925 Wabash Avenue building which is located immediately behind 918 Ohio.

Midwest Communications has eliminated the operations manager position at its Terre Haute-area radio stations, and the move has put Bill Cain out of a job, All Access reports.

Cain, who was born in Evansville and raised in Rockville, got his start in radio in Terre Haute, and also worked at several Evansville-area stations (WYNG, WKDQ, WJPS, WABX and WIKY), as well as in Indianapolis; Champaign, Ill. and Missoula, Mont. before returning to Terre Haute in 2008.

Since that time, he's served as market manager, general sales manager and operations manager for Midwest's four stations in the Terre Haute market, which became six when the company acquired WDWQ-102.7 FM and WBOW-1300 AM from Crossroads Investments earlier this year.

"I have been blessed in my career that it has taken 21 years for this to happen," Cain told All Access. "I have truly enjoyed my 4 1/2 years working back in my home town and wouldn't trade it for anything. Over the last 6 months, we have built one of best programming staffs I have ever had the privilege of working with and I wish them the absolute best as they continue to build this cluster."

Evansville and Terre Haute are a little higher on Arbitron's totem pole for the fall ratings period.

The radio ratings company's new list was published on Wednesday, and it shows that Evansville, which was formerly #165 on the list of radio markets, has climbed three spots to #162.  Terre Haute went from #210 to #207.

Other cities around the region held steady, with St. Louis remaining at #22, Indianapolis at #40, Nashville at #45 and Louisville at #54.

Evansville and Terre Haute radio stations have two ratings periods each year, in the spring and fall.

Emmis Communications has rebranded and separated the programming of its two newly-acquired Terre Haute-area radio stations.

WSDM-92.7 FM, formerly broadcasting as a simulcast with sports WSDX-1130 AM, is now playing a variety hits format and is known as "92.7 Bob-FM."

WSDX will get new call letters - WFNF - and be known as "1130 The Fan," much in the way that WFNI-1070 AM in Indianapolis (the former WIBC, also owned by Emmis) is "1070 The Fan."  It will continue to air ESPN Radio programming, but a locally-produced afternoon show is in the works.

Emmis paid $335,000 to Crossroads Investments for the two stations, both of which are licensed to Brazil, Ind.  They now operate from Emmis Terre Haute's new headquarters on Wabash Avenue in downtown Terre Haute, alongside WTHI-99.9 FM and WWVR-105.5 FM.

Nielsen released the list of television market rankings for 2012-13 today, and the big story is that, while the overall estimated number of TV homes across the country dropped again, the drop didn't make enough difference to change the rankings for any of the markets in our part of the country.

Nationwide, the number of TV households stands at 114,173,690.  That's down nearly a half of million - or less than 1% - from last year's 114,649,310.

So how did the markets in our neck o' the woods fare?  Let's look at them from largest to smallest:

Despite not losing position, all of the stations, as you can see above, lost TV households - some more than others.  Among the three larger markets in the region, Indianapolis was the biggest loser, shedding 20,270 households in just the past year.  St. Louis lost the next highest number, at 10,430.  Nashville was third with a decline of 9,650.  Louisville's loss was least at 3,170.

Among the mid-sized markets, Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg shed the most at 4,990; Evansville lost 3,840.

The smaller markets lost even less:  Terre Haute lost 3,180 households, with Bowling Green losing 1,110.

UPDATE, 1:40 p.m. THURSDAY:  All Access reports that Emmis is paying $335,000 for the two stations.  That amount wasn't made public when the deal was announced Wednesday, but was revealed in the FCC filings.

PREVIOUSLY: The last of Crossroads Investments' radio stations in the Terre Haute market have found a buyer.

Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications, which owns WTHI-99.9 FM (HI-99) and WWVR-105.5 FM (105.5 The River), announced this morning that it's buying Crossroads' ESPN Radio-affiliated stations WSDX-1130 AM and WSDM-92.7 FM, which are both licensed to Brazil, Ind.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Until the FCC approves the purchase, Emmis will operate both stations under a local marketing agreement beginning Sept. 1.

"We are excited to add the ESPN brand to the Emmis-Terre Haute cluster of stations," said James Conner, Emmis Vice President/Terre Haute General Manager. "We will continue to serve the listeners of Terre Haute, Brazil and the surrounding communities with quality programming and our continued commitment to community service."

Crossroads has been slowly divesting itself of its radio properties over the past few months.  The company sold what is now WDWQ-102.7 FM and WBOW-1300 AM to Wisconsin-based Midwest Communications (a sale which was approved by the FCC last week), and is in the process of selling Rockville, Ind. station WAXI-104.9 FM to Washington, Ind.-based DLC Media, which is owned by Indiana's Democratic 8th District Congressional candidate, Dave Crooks.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/08/22/4206323/emmis-terre-haute-to-acquire-wsdm.html#storylink=cpy

If you're up in the northern part of the Tri-State this morning, you can tune in to WTHI HI-99 FM (99.9 FM) and hear some changes on the air.

No, the folks at Terre Haute's longtime #1 station haven't made a format change or anything like that, but the station is on the air from its new home on the top floor of a brand-new building at 925 Wabash Avenue in downtown Terre Haute, after 58 years in the old building at 918 Ohio Street.  That building is set to be torn down once HI-99, its radio sister station WWVR-FM and its former TV sister station WTHI-TV relocate to their new quarters.

And for the first time, the three stations won't be together.

The radio stations are owned by Emmis Communications, which is leasing the new office space on Wabash from Terre Haute development company Thompson Thrift.  LIN Media owns WTHI-TV, and the CBS/Fox affiliate is preparing to move within the next few weeks to a brand-new building of its own at the corner of 8th and Ohio streets, a little more than a block west of the old studios.

The station moves were announced in March of last year.

Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications is awaiting the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker in a suit filed by the company's preferred shareholders to block a vote on eliminating their dividends.

Those dividends are worth millions of dollars, and the shareholders have accused the company's CEO, Jeff Smulyan, of trying to take Emmis private, as he tried and failed to do twice before, in 2006 and 2010.  Smulyan told the court that is simply not the case. “I’m worn out from two years ago,” the chairman and chief executive officer said. “I just don’t want to do it. I can’t foresee a situation in which that would change.”

One of the intentions of the plaintiffs was to stop a scheduled Aug. 14 shareholder meeting where, they claim, the dividend wipeout would be approved.  They've succeeded in postponing the meeting, as Smulyan has now pushed it back until after Judge Barker rules.

Emmis is trying to reposition and refashion its business, which includes a number of radio stations in Indianapolis and Terre Haute (see below), and as part of that process, the company is also trying to cut its debt load.

Judge Barker said she would rule by Aug. 31; she closed Wednesday's proceeding by suggesting the parties work together to come up with a plan that would compensate the shareholders fairly while also allowing the company to get its financial house in order.

There's no word on whether talks between the two sides have been scheduled.

DLC Media of Washington, Ind. announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to purchase WAXI-104.9 FM in Rockville, Ind. from Crossroads Investments LLC.

Dave Crooks, president of DLC Media, said that he plans to relocate the station's studio back to its original home south of Rockville.  Under Crossroads' ownership, while WAXI has been licensed to Rockville, it has actually broadcast from a studio in Terre Haute.

“I’m excited about investing in Parke County and I’m looking forward to providing great local programming and jobs to the community,” Crooks said.

WAXI recently changed its format from classic rock to "The True Oldies Channel" format, which plays music from the 1950s through the 1980s. In addition, following the transfer of control of the station to DLC, WAXI will add a new morning show with local personalities and an extensive package of news and information.  The station will also continue to air Chicago Cubs baseball games and Parke County high school sporting events, and more local programming is expected to be added later.

Crooks said that he plans to hire at least six new employees when WAXI's return to Rockville is completed. 

DLC Media also owns Washington radio stations WAMW-107.9 FM and WAMW-1580 AM and 95.9 FM.  The company operates Vincennes' WFML-96.7 FM, which is owned by the Vincennes University Foundation, along with several websites including HoosierEmployment.com.  Crooks, the Democratic nominee for Indiana's 8th District Congressional seat in this year's election and a former Indiana State Representative, has been in the radio business since 1981, and once worked for WAXI as an account executive.

WAXI is the third station Crossroads has sold in recent months.  In April, the company agreed to sell WBOW-102.7 FM and WBOW-1300 AM to Midwest Communications, which has since changed the stations' formats and, in the case of WBOW-FM, its call letters (to WDWQ).

I've been telling you recently about big changes in Terre Haute radio, and it looks like another one has taken place.

Just a month ago, Midwest Communications, which is in the process of upping its holdings to six radio stations in the TH market with the purchase of sports WBOW-1300 AM and country WDWQ-102.7 FM (formerly adult contemporary WBOW-FM), announced that former WTHI HI-99 news director Mark Jaynes would become brand manager of Midwest's country WPRS-1440 AM and news/talk WIBQ-98.5 FM (both licensed to Paris, Ill.).  Jaynes also was given the title of news director for the entire six-station cluster.

Now, Jaynes is out, leaving next week for a job outside the field of radio, and another WTHI HI-99 alum, Frank Rush, will take over as WPRS/WIBQ brand manager and news director.

Rush had been with Terre Haute's longtime #1 station, which is owned by Emmis Communications, for a number of years.

No word yet on who will replace Rush at HI-99.