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A new owner intends to breathe new life into Ely’s long-dormant radio station.
WELY has been sold to Civic Media, a Wisconsin-based company that owns 21 radio stations in its home state.
Silent since late-2022, WELY FM 94.5 and AM 1450 could be up and running again this year, pending FCC approval of the sale and clearing several technology hurdles.
“We are planning to bring it back to hopefully its former glory,” said Kory Hartman, Civic Media’s vice president of broadcasting. “We’re committed to keeping the local flavor of WELY and we understand how important a station like WELY is to the community.”
Hartman was in town this week to test the current broadcast signal, meet with prospective staff and gather more information about WELY’s history.
He arrived as word of the sale became public.
Civic Media purchased WELY from Mike Oberg, who bought the station from the Bois Forte Band two years ago but never returned the station to the airwaves.
Property tax records show Oberg sold the land and the tower near Beacon Hill for $560,000 in July of 2023 to Swift II Investment Company Towers II after buying it for $130,000 in April of 2023.
According to a news release, Civic Media plans to resume broadcasting “as quickly as possible” and officials say they recognize the connection between the station and the local community.
“From personal and emergency messages for the Boundary Waters, to high school sports, WELY was a key part of people’s lives in this region for nearly 70 years,” said Sage Weil, Civic Media’s CEO. “We intend to build on that unique history while adding new shows and features and modernizing operations and distribution channels to reach residents and visitors in the 21st century.”
Civic Media operates news/talk, country, oldies and adult hits format stations across Wisconsin, including a cluster of stations near Hayward, and Hartman cited his familiarity with issues that resonate locally.
“I grew up in the UP of Michigan, with mining, hunting, fishing, wilderness, tourism, logging,” he said. “Those were all things that were a part of my growing up.”
Hartman said technology remains a hurdle in bringing the station back to the airwaves, but he pointed to progress last week - aided in part by an area resident.
“We brought one of our engineers up here and he had his eyes on the (transmission) tower and there was snow up to his chest,” said Hartman. “But one night at the lounge at the lodge, he was talking to somebody about it and the next morning at 10 a.m. here comes a Bobcat and the snow went away. Those are the types of ways we can tell that this station means a lot.”
A first round of testing showed that the “AM is doing OK but the FM has some major technical difficulties,” Hartman added. “The FM is going to take more time. We really don’t want to launch until we have both ready to go.”
He also indicated that the story of WELY “had made its way around the industry” and has resulted in help.
“We’ve heard from people that have said ‘I know a tower guy,’ or ‘I have this piece of equipment,’” said Hartman.“People are calling us to give us information, encouragement and time.”
According to the news release, listeners should expect stronger signals and popular music formats featuring local news, weather, sports, and information, Trading Post with Trader Craig, the polka show, Twins baseball, a new website, a station newsletter, podcasts, social media interaction, and the ability to listen everywhere on the Civic Media App and on smart speakers like Alexa.
“We want to be on when the people flock to the area,” said Hartman. “That only makes sense. We also want to make sure that the Twins are a huge part of it. We want our summertime team on the air.”
Hartman said that WELY is looking for space in town that could house a broadcast studio and a sales office.
He also envisions local programming including a morning show.
“We are not bringing in a satellite dish,” he said. “We may bring in voices from outside the area but that will not be in prime time. We are hoping for sure we will have a local morning show. We will have Trader Craig. We want the polka show back, right, the key things that WELY was known for. The personal and emergency messages. One of two stations in the entire country that I am aware of that has a waiver from the FCC to use the public airwaves for personal reasons, and that is a huge thing. That does not happen anywhere else in the United States, to my knowledge.”
Civic Media is inviting anyone who would like to share stories of what WELY means to them, or who is interested in helping refresh and support the stations, to email [email protected].
The Bois Forte Band owned and operated WELY for 17 years, before ceasing operations on Dec. 1, 2022.
Bois Forte cited financial losses of roughly $1.7 million when it announced its intent to close the station in June, 2022. The band later agreed to operate the station for another six months while efforts were made to find a buyer.
A sale to Oberg, who owns a group of small radio stations in western Wisconsin, was announced when WELY went off the air. Efforts to resume broadcasting were first stalled by the transfer of federal broadcasting licenses and repairs to WELY’s broadcast tower.
Plans that WELY would resume operations by broadcasting from an Ely area residence never advanced, and the local radio airwaves have been silent ever since.
WELY was first broadcast in October of 1954 and for decades operated on AM 1450 and from a station “on top of the hill” on Central Avenue across from the golf course.
It shut down twice previously because of financial struggles, once in the late-1980s and again in 1995.
WELY was revived in mid-1995 when CBS Broadcaster Charles Kuralt bought the station just months after the second closure and operated it until he died in 1997.
An FM signal was added and later moved to 94.5 on the dial, and WELY later moved downtown to Chapman Street and Bois Forte purchased it from previous owner Janice Erickson in 2005.
The radio station operated for two decades from Chapman Street, where radio talent has been known to wave to folks walking past the station.
While the station maintained some local programming including a morning show, the Trader Craig Show and a Saturday night request program, automation now commonplace in the radio industry had resulted in less local and live programming.
