A former executive with Milwaukee radio stations WTMJ and WKTI has launched a new company with plans to acquire local radio stations and digital platforms in small markets in several states, including Wisconsin.
Broadcast executive veteran Tom Langmyer has formed Great Lakes Media Corp., a Milwaukee-based company that is seeking properties to acquire in smaller independent markets in Great Lake states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Langmyer, who is president and CEO of Great Lakes Media Corp., said he’s motivated by the current media environment, in which local outlets are increasingly being acquired by large national brands.
“The media landscape has changed to the point where a lot of the bigger national media brands are relatively generic; they serve a great purpose but they aren’t as granular as I think people would like them to be,” Langmyer said. “We’re looking to operate in a different space. And that’s the space of hyper-local content.”
Langmyer is currently meeting with investors, brokers and others who are interested in specific markets, he said. He expects the company will make acquisition announcements in 2019.
Most recently, Langmyer was vice president and general manager of WTMJ and WKTI and was national vice president of news/talk/sports programming for Scripps Media. Previously, he was vice president and general manager of Tribune’s WGN Radio in Chicago, as well as CBS Radio’s KMOX in St. Louis.
Great Lakes Media Corp. is interested in signals in smaller cities and towns that have their own “unique and separate community ecosystem,” rather than suburban areas within larger metro markets, he said.
Langmeyer said the company won’t be competing with national media brands, but rather will serve an entirely different purpose.
“We have a new generation that has a hunger for local connection with where they live,” he said. “This is not only an opportunity for us to work within communities and provide a gathering place on a multi-platform basis, but I also think it’s a great time to rebuild journalism in these places. I think that’s important to us in our world. We live in a world that is quite fluid now when it comes to how people receive their information. And reliable sources will prevail. We just have to help make that happen.”
