John Fuller's a local radio station owner with an eager eye toward expansion.

In an era of increased corporate ownership of radio stations and other media holdings, Fuller owns a handful of FM stations, primarily serving southeastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island - and just this month he increased his holdings by acquiring a Hartford-area station.

Fuller heads the Ledyard-based Red Wolf Broadcasting. He's been in Ledyard for some 17 years, running WBMW "Soft Rock" 106.5, WWRX "Jammin' 107.7," and now WMRQ, a rock station that serves mostly the Hartford and New Haven areas, although its signal can reach from Norwalk to New London and north to the Springfield, Mass., area. In addition, Fuller owns several radio towers in southern Rhode Island and has an FM country station in Burlington, Vermont.

He acquired WMRQ from the giant Clear Channel Communications for nearly $8 million after the Federal Communications Commission gave the deal a green light this past month. The deal, first announced in February, was finalized earlier this month.

"This reverses the trend," he says, "back toward local ownership."

An upbeat appraisal

Fuller relishes his latest acquisition outside of his primary radio market in southeastern Connecticut. "My niche," he says, "is going up against the big companies in the radio business by really focusing on the local community, by getting involved with the local business community especially."

He says that despite this deep recession, now is a good time to grow a business. "This is the time to expand, as long as you're not incredibly in debt. It's a good time to jump ahead of your competition."

"And you hear all this gloom and doom," he says. "To be honest, I'm going to break even the first month I run this station."

Fuller is a familiar face in local broadcasting circles. Besides his role as owner of Red Wolf, Fuller also takes on many radio-related tasks, including his high-energy voice overs on commercials, especially for car dealerships.

"I keep my hand in everything," says Fuller. "I spend the bulk of my time, probably 75 percent, selling and working with local businesses and also helping my sales people."

But other times, you'll find Fuller working on radio programming, doing promotions for his stations and handling engineering-related tasks. Red Wolf employs about 35 full- and part-time staffers, from local radio personalities to sales and technical staffers.

"I like to do crazy ads that are high energy. You're out of breath by the time you're done (doing voice overs) with those ads," says the longtime radio entrepreneur.

Fuller got his first taste of local radio when he was 19 with his local AM radio station WJJF serving the Hope Valley, R.I., market. When he turned 21, he ran the station for 18 years.

"I've been in the radio business coming on up to 24 years," says Fuller, who is turning 45.

Through his decades of radio ownership, he remains a proud and steadfast booster of the medium. He says that satellite radio, once thought to be the death-knell of local "terrestrial" radio stations, has stagnated. "There's something like 248 million who listen to terrestrial radio stations," says the radio enthusiast. "And 92 percent of the people are reached by local radio. Satellite radio still hasn't caught on (to those numbers)," he claims.

Growth potential

Fuller says that his acquisition of WMRQ comes at a good time for his company. Clear Channel had to sell off some of its local stations to remain on the sunny side of FCC regulations regarding radio ownership rules.

The newest Red Wolf holding (formerly known as WURH) plays a mix of alternative rock, says Fuller, and its target audience is primarily in the mid-20s to mid-40s age range. As part of the acquisition, the Hartford station has moved its offices to Glastonbury. Fuller says he expects the station, which employs about 10 staffers, will grow. He also says he'll increase the station's outreach to its local communities and businesses.

Fuller says he's confident about WMRQ's potential within the Red Wolf family of radio holdings. "We're out there selling it, manning it and building an audience."

Even with this deep recession taking its toll on business, and advertising, Fuller remains confident about Red Wolf's radio holdings.

"We're doing pretty well," he says. "We also work very hard. I have a great staff, with very little turnover. I always expect a lot of my people, but they always come through."

a.cronin@theday.com