WLNG Gets New Owner

WLNG — the Sag Harbor radio station known for its chatty disc jockeys, corny jingles, and oldies format — has been sold.

         Gary Sapiane, WLNG’s station president and general manager, said on October 30 that the station has been sold to Bark Out Loud Dogs Media LLC for $3.9 million, pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

         The company is owned by Sandra Foschi, a physical therapist, and the wife of Bill Evans, who has been a meteorologist with ABC-NY for nearly 30 years.

         WLNG has been owned for the last eight years by a family trust of the late Robert King, the former owner who purchased the station in 1969. “It couldn’t remain in a trust forever,” said Sapiane. “We were just waiting for the right person to come along.”

         Sapiane said Foschi, who owns a home in Sag Harbor, approached him last summer about buying the station, and a deal was soon struck.

         He said Foschi had assured him the station would remain pretty much the same, with the same staff and format. “They appreciate it,” he said of Foschi and her husband.

         Although Foschi does not have a radio background, she owns a physical therapy practice, Health SOS Physical Therapy, which has locations in New York, Long Island, and Connecticut.

         She could not be reached for comment.

         Sapiane confirmed published reports that said Foschi would pay approximately $3.2 million for WLNG’s studio on Redwood Road in Sag Harbor, $125,000 for the station’s tower on Millstone Road in Noyac, and another $525,000 for its broadcasting license.

         WLNG was launched by Fitzgerald Smith in August 1963. He sold the station six years later to King, who lived in Montauk and also owned Montauk Caribbean Airlines.

         Over the decades, the station has become a staple of Sag Harbor life, with live broadcasts from its mobile station (a converted bus), extensive storm coverage, and a host of disc jockeys with distinct personalities and a heavy dose of reverb. Besides its oldies format, the station is known for giving out cheerful birthday greetings, homemade public service announcements, postings of lost and found pets, and the on-air rummage sale “Swap and Shop.”

sjkotz@indyeastend.com