Greg Hawes, left, and Jeff Solari have agreed to purchase WKIT from Maine native Stephen King. Photo courtesy of Jeff Solari
Two local Bangor businessmen are stepping in to save one of Stephen King’s Maine radio stations just a week before it was set to go off the air.
Jeff Solari and Greg Hawes announced this week that they worked out a deal with King to purchase the rock ‘n’ roll station WKIT, with plans to preserve the staff and sound, for just $500,000 — far below the asking price.
King, who has performed as a rock musician in addition to his storied literary career, announced in early December that the three Zone Corp music stations he has owned for decades would go off air on New Year’s Eve. The 77-year-old said he decided to sell because of the cost of sustaining the stations, and his own age.
Solari said in a phone interview Thursday that he and his business partner, Hawes, reached out to King about two weeks ago with an interest in buying WKIT. But they weren’t alone — he said the station received two dozen inquiries from state and national media companies looking to buy.
Just over a week ago, Solari put in their offer for half a million dollars, which he said was several hundred thousand below King’s asking price, and a lower offer than King was receiving from national media companies like iHeartRadio.
“We were just very honest with Stephen King and his team. We said, ‘We’re not going to come close to any dollar figure anybody else is going to offer.’ However, he has always prided himself on keeping local people in the building, serving the community and keeping it a live local station,” Solari said. “We said we’re going to keep the staff and keep the format, and keep serving eastern Maine, and I guess he agreed to that because he took our offer.”
King was born and raised in Maine and still splits his time between the Bangor area and Florida. He’s known for making charitable donations to local causes through the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, including a $25,000 grant for middle school library books he awarded to Portland Public Schools this fall.
Solari said the on-air sound and programming won’t change at all when the station switches ownership with the new year. However, Solari and Hawes didn’t buy the building, so they’ll be looking for a new home in the coming months, which Solari confirmed will remain in the Bangor area.
The men are local restaurateurs who together own Smoke & Steel BBQ and Axe Throwing in Bangor, as well as Rock Lobster Radio LLC, the company they used to purchase WKIT. Solari also owns Kosta’s Restaurant and Bar in Brewer, but before becoming a businessman, he was a longtime member of the radio industry.
Solari said he always had a love of radio, keeping it turned on upstairs at his parents’ house, he had his first radio job at 17, then studied journalism at the University of Southern Maine where he worked at the college’s station. He went on to work in sports talk radio.
“It’s kind of in your blood. I’ve done other stuff, but as I approach retirement, to sort of book end my career here, starting in radio and ending in it, is pretty appealing,” he said.
Hawes is also the owner of Stompers Beverage in Holden, G&M Family Market in Holden, multiple locations of the dispensary Brothers Cannabis locations and the forthcoming Lincoln Tap House, according to a press release.
WKIT celebrated the purchase on its Facebook Tuesday night.
“Call it a holiday miracle! It’s been hard to imagine a world without the legendary WKIT! After news broke that Zone Radio would cease operations on December 31st, 2024 an unbelievable outpouring of support came ‘rockin’ and rolling in,” the post reads. “Now we don’t have to worry about life without The Rock of Bangor!”
Solari wants the community to know that he’s not planning to mess with WKIT, just to sustain it, which is what King wanted.
“He chose local over dollars, for sure,” he said. “Community over dollars.”
King’s other Zone Corp stations, WZON-AM and WZLO-FM, still appear to be set to close by the end of the year. King’s publicist could not be reached Thursday for an interview.
