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Radio station WDYT-AM (1220), which went silent this year because of a lack of advertising, is being sold to a High Point religious broadcaster who will operate it in Spanish.
According to a regulatory filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Iglesia Nueva Vida will pay $425,000 for the station, which has its transmitter and tower in Gaston County.
Danny Fontana, a Charlotte investment adviser and former WBT-AM personality whose CRN Communications Ltd. purchased the station for $975,000 in 2005, tried to make WDYT succeed as a conservative talk voice, featuring such names as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.
But with reception problems and the collapse of the advertising market during the recession, WDYT foundered and went through a series of layoffs, finally falling silent in January.
"It was a noble effort in a difficult economic time," said Fontana. "I wish I'd never done it. I lost a lot of money. It was ill-timed."
Fontana still has media presence: a daily business program on the cable Inspiration Network and as contributor to Fox Business Channel.
It will be the second station operated by Iglesia Nueva Vida, which purchased WGOS-AM in High Point last year.
Under the sales agreement, CRN Communications gets $265,000 cash at closing and will hold a note on the balance of $160,000. Until the closing, Iglesia Nueva Vida has the option of renting the signal for $4,000 a month. Fontana said he expects federal regulators to approve the sale within 60 days.
