Cumulus/EMF Drop-Dead Date: June 1

• Last week Cumulus Hot AC WPLJ/New York became the first of the six Cumulus stations being sold to Christian broadcaster Educational Media Foundation (EMF) to formally announce that Friday, May 31 at 11:59pm will mark the end of the station’s legendary 48-year run as it prepares for its transfer of ownership and inevitable change of format.

We are now getting word that midnight, May 31/June 1 is the date when the other Cumulus stations involved in the $103.5 million dollar sale to EMF will also sign off and enter into an LMA — Hot AC WRQX (Mix 107.3)/Washington (home of The Jack Diamond Morning Show), WYAY (Talk 106.7)/Atlanta, 97.7 KFFG/San Jose (simulcast partner of KFOG/San Francisco), Classic Rock WXTL (105.9 The Rebel)/Syracuse, NY and Hot AC WZAT (102.1 The Sound)/Savannah, GA. The transaction is expected to formally close sometime during the second quarter of this year.

While we expect that the programming content of most of these stations will cease on that date, we did learn of one bright spot — WXTL/Syracuse PD Dave Frisina took to Facebook to announce that “Rebel Radio will evolve into a fully dedicated 24 hours of music, streaming station through our website, www.therebelrocks.com.” He added, “Thanks to Cumulus Syracuse, I’ll be programming the station using the same studio, resources and sales team that we currently use.”