There's a $2 million price tag for one of the largest privately owned shortwave radio station in the United States, WSHB in South Carolina, on the block for some time. The $2 million figure is about a third of the asking price two years ago.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, plans to sell WSHB in South Carolina to LeSea Broadcasting Corp., which airs non-denominational Christian programming. Church officials said LeSea has agreed to keep most of WSHB's staff.
The Christian Science Publishing Society has used the station near Savannah, Ga., for shortwave broadcasts since 1989; it was one of several such stations it had owned at one time. Officials say they now realize they don't need to own broadcast facilities in order to distribute programs.
Station officials told Radio World in 2002 that WSHB cost $19 million to build but that the asking price at that time was $6.5 million.
WSHB has two 500-kilowatt transmitters, operating independently into high-gain curtain antennas that serve audiences worldwide.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.