(Feb. 13, 2009) QUINCY,ILL.: Quincy Newspapers, the family-owned multimedia company in the eponymous Illinois city, has purchased WBIJ-TV from the widow of the late Dennis Selenka for $1.55 million. The station, located in Crandon, Wis., is an affiliate of FamilyNet, the religious TV network originating in Atlanta, Ga. Crandon is in the Wausau-Rhinelander designated market area, where Quincy also owns WAOW-TV, the ABC affiliate, and WYOW-TV, a satellite to WAOW. It has asked the FCC to allow it to run WBIJ as a satellite of WAOW as well, as two stations have no city-grade overlap.
FCC documents indicate that Quincy was the only bidder for the station, which Selenka had put up for sale before he passed away last September. His widow, who inherited the license, could not afford to complete construction of the station’s DTV facilities in accordance with FCC rules, and recently filed for a six-month extension.
Quincy owns 13 stations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
