WKIT 100.3 FM, the long-running Bangor-area classic rock radio station formerly owned by Stephen King, is set to move out of its longtime studios on Broadway sometime next week.
The station, purchased by local business owners Jeff Solari and Greg Hawes just a week before it was set to go off-air forever, will begin moving into a new studio at 115 Franklin St. in downtown Bangor by the end of February. The owners expect to be fully operational there by early March.
The old building, located at 861 Broadway, was the home of Zone Radio for more than 30 years. Zone Radio, which comprised WKIT as well as WZLO 103.1 FM and WZON 620 AM, was owned by King for more than 40 years. On Dec. 2, 2024, King announced that he would be shutting the stations down due to the business consistently losing money for many years. Dec. 31 was set to be their last day.
On Dec. 23, 2024, Solari and Hawes managed to strike a deal with King to purchase WKIT from Zone Radio and operate it as their own, under the name Rock Lobster Radio. The station has remained on air, virtually unchanged and with nearly all of the same staff, to the relief of ardent fans that have listened for decades.
Earlier this month, WZON and WZLO were sold, separately, to marketing agency Mix Maine Media.
Solari said that moving the station to downtown Bangor is a kind of homecoming. Before moving to Broadway in the early 1990s, WKIT operated out of the Pearl Building at 8 Harlow St., at the bottom of State Street hill. Prior to that, when the station operated under the call letters WGUY, it broadcast out of 1 Main St., the building that now houses Umami Noodle Bar.
“It definitely feels like a kind of full-circle moment, coming back downtown,” Solari said. “It’s a new start for all of us. We’re getting a big equipment upgrade as well, so we’ll be operating on new, state-of-the-art stuff. I’m sure there’ll be a little learning curve, but we’ll be up to speed in no time.”
The old building at 861 Broadway is under contract to be sold to a local business owner, though Solari declined to name the buyer because the sale has not been completed. While the old building’s tall, eye-catching Zone Radio sign has been a Broadway landmark for years now, it’s likely going to come down in the coming weeks or months.
Solari said that the feedback he’s received from decades-long listeners to WKIT has been uniformly positive.
“The feedback has been tremendous. There are people who have listened for 40 years. Dump truck drivers. Lifelong Mainers,” he said. “We’re not changing a thing. It’s still going to be rock n’ roll.”