Stephen King’s Stations Going Dark

• Zone Corporation, the Maine-based radio company owned by author Stephen King, announced Monday that it will soon “hit 2 and lower,” ceasing operations of his three Bangor, Maine-area radio stations at the end of this month. As reported by The Bangor Daily News, Ken Wood, General Manager of Zone Corp., announced that the company’s multiple eastern Maine radio stations — Classic Rock 100.3 WKIT/Brewer, ME, Triple A WZLO/Dover-Foxcroft, and Classic Hits WZON-AM 620 (Z62)/Bangor would sign off on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years.

According to the AP, King, now 77, announced that its time to bid farewell to the stations that have been bleeding money. King said he has kept the stations afloat for decades, noting that he and his wife, Tabitha, are proud to have kept them going for so long.

King entered the radio business in 1983 with his purchase of WLBZ 620AM/Bangor, flipping it to Rock and rebranding it as WZON after his book, The Dead Zone. The station was financially unsuccessful, and after a equally challenging period as a non-commercial enterprise, King sold the station in 1990. In 1993, a bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of the station back to King. After several format permutations, WZON is currently operating as Classic Hits Z62, “Retro Radio.” King acquired WKIT in 1995 and WZLO in 2001.

In a statement, King said, “While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all these years. 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.”

So far there’s been no indication that an 11th hour buyer for the stations could emerge.