As the clock struck midnight on January 1, Oregon’s Yaquina Bay Communications ceased operation. The company was foreclosed on in August, following a lawsuit from Oregon Coast Bank. The litigation sought recovery of outstanding loan balances of around $532,000, initially drawn in 2009 and 2016.
The bank was the sole bidder at a sheriff’s sale on December 5, acquiring the radio station headquarters and two tower properties. Owner David Miller negotiated to keep the stations running until the end of the year.
The closure impacts five stations: KNPT-AM and KNCU in Newport, KBCH-AM and KCRF in Lincoln City, and KWDP-AM in Waldport. The company’s eight full- and part-time employees, were informed of the closure and their impending job loss through an email from Miller. Miller and his wife Linda operated the stations from Yaquina Bay’s Newport office.
In June 2023, the Federal Communications Commission canceled the license for Yaquina’s KYTE after unauthorized broadcasting from an unlicensed transmitter location.
Miller told YachatsNews that the group never fully recovered from the pandemic and expressed his desire to retire and spend time with his family in an August interview.
