UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE TURNS ITS BACK ON PUBLIC MEDIA, SELLS WUEV-FM TO WAY-FM • THE WAY-FM STORY

Despite hopes that the University of Evansville (UE) would seek a public radio option for campus station WUEV 91.5 FM, the university decided to exchange the asset for cash.

UE sold the license to a Colorado-based radio syndication vendor, WAY Media.  WAY has no apparent ties to Evansville. 

Programming will originate from Nashville.

WAY Media operates WAY-FM [link], a satellite-delivered, 24/7 Contemporary Christian (CCM) that is heard on approximately 100 stations and translators nationwide. UE confirmed the sale on Friday (5/17) while most students were away from campus.

When we first reported on the pending sale of WUEV in October 2018 [link], we urged the university to continue talks with Tri-State Public Media, the licensee of PBS affiliate WNIN-TV and NPR station WNIN-FM.

A WUEV DJ in happier days

An executive of Tri-State, who asked to remain confidential, said they discussed either a purchase of WUEV's license or a Public Service Operating Agreement (PSOA). 

A PSOA would have provided Evansville with a second public radio station at no cost to UE. 

WNIN radio currently has a dual format of NPR News and Classical music. 

The proposed agreement would have allowed UE to maintain ownership of the FCC license and the benefit of promoting the university on two popular public radio stations.

The university walked away from the discussions several months ago.

When the time came to decide fate of WUEV, the university chose money over the opportunity to serve the citizens of Evansville. By selling to WAY Media, the University of Evansville sold an asset they have owned since 1951. It is doubtful the WAY Media will ever produce any programming in Evansville.

Ironically, the purchase agreement with WAY Media stipulates that the WUEV call letters will remain the property of  UE.

WAY-FM: “The first top-40 Christian radio station in America”

MAP of WAY-FM Stations

Many people confuse WAY Media, Inc. with WAY International, a cult-like, non-trinitarian church based in New Knoxville, Ohio. 

We found no link between the two organizations.

WAY Media owns and operates over 100 noncommercial FM stations and translators and a handful of commercial stations. 

WAY-FM claims it has 95 employs according to the company’s page on LinkedIn [link]. The organization is also heavily involved in concert and event promotion.

According to WAY Media’s FY 2017 IRS 990, the organization’s annual revenue was approximately $15,000,000. Most of the money came from unspecified contributions and grants. About half of WAY Media’s expenses were salaries and benefits.

Morning DJ Gary Wallace

WAY Media pays its executives well.   

During FY 2017 CCO Lloyd Erdvig received around $180,000, and Development Director Billy J. O’Neal received more than $210,000. 

Morning DJ Gary Wallace received around $170,000.

Bob and Felice Augsburg

To understand WAY-FM, you need to know the story of the founders Bob and Felice Augsburg. 

The story was told by Amy Bartlett of Wireless Age magazine in 2007.

It is now posted on WAY-FM website [link]. 

Ironically, Wireless Age magazine ceased publication in 1925.

In 1982 the Augsburg’s lived in Fort Myers, Florida. Bob Augsburg was working at WSOR-FM, a “religious teaching” station. The couple enjoyed going to local Christian Rock concerts.

Bob decided to do a weekly show on WSOR on Saturday nights that featured Christian Rock music. The program – Lifeline – gave Bob Augsburg a big idea, He told Bartlett:

“We were endeavoring to create the first top-40 Christian radio station in America.”

Around the same time the Augsburg’s met a local broadcast engineer who was familiar with FCC proceedings. The unnamed engineer told the Augsburg’s that there was an un-built FM construction permit in the Fort Myers area. Apparently the owner of the permit did not have the money to build the station. The Augsburg’s then acquired the permit.

The permit became WAYJ-FM, a 100,000-watt station that covers most of southwest Florida. WAYJ went on the air in 1987. The Augsburg’s likely built and operated WAYJ in its earliest years using funds from Christian Contemporary music companies and concert promoters whose music they wanted to have played on WAYJ.

Then, CCM music industry associates urged the Augsburg’s to bring WAY-FM to Nashville. The Augsburg’s acquired a frequency that became WAYM in 1992. As a way of saving money, the Augsburg’s put WAYJ’s programming on a satellite channel and fed it WAYM. At that point, WAY-FM began building a national network. Much of WAY-FM’s programming now originates from WAY Media's studio in Nashville.

Bartlett’s article quotes Bob Augsburg saying:

There was no industry model to follow. No model at all, successful or unsuccessful, in the entire country that would enable us to say, ‘it works in this city; here are the ‘numbers.’

Current WAY-FM fundraising promotion

That statement simply is not true. 

By the late 1980s and early 1990s the Education Media Foundation (EMF) had several K-Love affiliates on the air. 

WGTS in Washington, DC, KSBJ in Houston and KTIS in the Twin Cities were established successful CM stations. 

It is untrue and disingenuous to say WAY-FM was first station of its type because it wasn't.

WAY-FM Management Team Summit at Glen Eyrie, CO (left to right) Senior VP Dusty Rhodes; Huntsville, AL GM Thom Ewing; COO Lloyd Parker; Nashville Regional Manager Matt Austin; Wichita, KS GM Paul Anthony; Longview, WA GM Danny Houle; Tallahassee, FL GM Steve Young; Ft. Myers, FL GM Jeff Taylor; Denver, CO GM Zach Cochran; Florida Regional Manager Jim Marshall; CHRSN GM Faron Dice (image soured: WAY-FM)

Bob Augsburg today in Colorado

As the years passed, WAY-FM was increasingly successful. 

The operation became more structured. Bob Augsburg left day-to-day operations and was named the CEO of WAY Media, Inc. 

The company moved its headquarters to Colorado Springs, where it remains today.  

Life is good for the Augsburg’s. 

According to WAY Media’s FY 2017 IRS 990, that year Bob received over $215,000 in salary and benefits.