Dirk Nadon completes purchase of local radio stations

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL, LACONIA DAILY SUN

GILFORD — A former Lakes Region broadcaster has completed the purchase of a local sports talk radio station, a Wolfeboro-based rock station, and a Hillsborough-based talk and sports station.

Dirk Nadon, owner of Lakes Media, closed on the purchases Tuesday and he said he has entered into an agreement to sell one of them, WTPL “101.7 The Pulse,” which serves the Manchester area, to Binnie Media.

Nadon plans to retain ownership of WLKZ “104.9 The Hawk” and WZEI 101.5 “The Lakes Region’s WEEI SportsRadio” affiliate, and Nadon said the stations will be based in new office space at Village West in Gilford.

Federal regulators approved the purchase on Tuesday, allowing the sale to go through.

Lakes Media purchased the stations for $2.6 million from Great Eastern Radio, based in Hanover, which also owns 13 other radio stations in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Binnie Media owns radio stations across Maine and New Hampshire and Nadon has served as vice-president of engineering for the company.

Nadon, a Gilford native who now resides in Laconia, got his start in broadcasting as the evening host at Laconia radio station WEMJ in 1981 and 1982. From 1982 to 1984, he was afternoon host and staff engineer at WLNH in Laconia. After leaving the area to work at other radio stations, he returned to the Lakes Region in 1988 and, with his stepfather, Bill Forbes, and partner Gary Howard, launched Meredith’s WMRO FM 101.5, now WZEI 101.5.

“I feel like it is a coming home for this station and for me,” he said when the sale was announced.

“I am very excited to return to ownership in New Hampshire radio, which began when my father and I originally put on the air the 101.5 frequency,” he said.

WLKZ serves the Lakes Region with a rock music format and offers the syndicated “Greg and the Morning Buzz” program for I-Heart Media in Portsmouth.

WZEI features the sports talk format of WEEI in Boston and offers Red Sox coverage for the Lakes Region.