John Garabedian Buying WJIB/Boston
• We are pleased to report that New England radio icon John Garabedian is on his way back into the ranks of radio ownership, as RAMP has confirmed that Garabedian’s RCRQ, Inc. is in the process of purchasing WJIB-AM 740/Boston “The Memories Station” and companion translator W267CE at 101.3 from the estate of Bob Bittner, who passed away in May 2023. The purchase price is $575,010 [Ed. note: that price includes the value of the translator, which was set at $10.00].
Bittner (pictured, left) was a fellow New England broadcast legend and the owner/operator of the Memories Radio Adult Standards network that was carried on five regional radio signals: WJIB, WBAS-AM-1240/West Yarmouth (Cape Cod), and three AMs servicing the Portland, Maine region: WJTO-AM 730/Bath, WLAM-AM 1470/Lewiston, and WLVP-AM 870/Gorham.
Garabedian’s most recent ownership venture — a four-station group on Cape Cod — Classic Hits WFRQ (Frank FM), Top 40 WHYA (Y101); Mainstream Rock WPXC (Pixy 103) and Soft AC WKFY (Koffee FM) — was sold to Steve Chessare‘s Coxswain Communications in September 2021.
Garabedian’s lengthy New England media history includes his stint as PD of the original WMEX/Boston in the 1970s (taking it to No. 1), his partnership with the late Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg in the pioneering video channel WVJV-TV (V66), and his longtime role as the creator and host of the nationally syndicated Open House Party. Garabedian’s Jamchannel, LLC currently produces the nationally-syndicated Top 40 night show, Liveline and Party Songs Weekend.
Explaining his interest in the WJIB purchase, Garabedian (pictured here with Engineer Grady Moates), told RAMP, “This is a very unique radio station with a very unique, passionate, and dedicated audience who actually support the station with cash contributions during a fundraising for a couple of months each year. It’s a commercial station, but runs no commercials. The music is ‘adventurous’ Soft AC which Bob launched 20 years ago, and the 101.3 FM translator has a superb signal over Boston.”
The WJIB deal was brokered by Dennis Jackson of Sun Signals, LLC, a longtime Bittner family friend and spokesman for Bittner’s widow, Raisa Bittner. Jackson told RAMP, “Raisa was of one mind with Bob regarding the music, how the stations should operate, and in general, the way people should treat one another. Raisa said that Bob wanted to pay forward the good fortune he felt life had brought to him, and the stations were one of the ways he did that.”
In a post on the private “Friends and Lovers of WJIB” Facebook fan page, Jackson said of Garabedian, “John has deep respect for what Bob accomplished with the Memory Stations, and what it means to listeners. His love of the music and his professional experience, not to mention his deep, mellifluous voice, will enable him to keep the stations on an even keel honoring Bob’s legacy for the foreseeable future. We look forward to welcoming John to the helm of the Memories Stations some time this coming Spring.”
