Commerce Lexington’s Salute to Small Business awards presentation has gone through a few changes over the years. In 1986, three types of entrepreneurs were honored: an independent professional, minority business and small business, with “of the year” added to the winning title. In 2010, the independent professional category was deleted and a handful of other awards were added, including Green Initiative, Nonprofit and Phoenix.
The only broadcast media group that calls Lexington home, LM Communications, is the 2014 winner of the Business Success award. LM owns and operates five stations in central Kentucky and seven others in South Carolina and West Virginia. The company is owned solely by Lynn Martin.
Martin attended the University of Virginia in his home state before transferring to the University of Toledo. At the school in Ohio, he was a political science major. He also wanted to be a pilot. Needing a part-time job to fund flying lessons, he landed a summer job in the sales department at a radio station. That was in the early 1970s, and he hasn’t left the radio industry since.
“I like this business,” Martin said. “My goal was to become an owner at 30.” He had already become a general manager by the age of 24. After working at stations in Toledo and in Flint, Mich., throughout the ’70s, Martin moved to West Virginia in 1981, where he and a partner put together a purchase deal for a station. A few years later, the radio station was doing well and Martin decided to expand, but this time on his own.
“I came to Lexington, found a little station licensed to Paris and bought it in 1984,” he said. Martin kept the beautiful music format of “Nice 97” for about six months before switching the format to adult contemporary. He changed the call letters to WCOZ and later to WGKS, with the nickname 96.9 Kiss FM. A year after purchasing his first FM station in central Kentucky, Martin bought 1300 on the AM dial, which was WTKC at the time. He renamed it WLXG, and today it is ESPN Sports Radio 1300.
“I picked Lexington because it is a wonderful combination of intellectual things to do, wonderful sporting events and entertainment,” he said. “It is a great place to raise a family, which I did. People still have respect for what life should be and how to live your life.”
When the Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted certain restrictions about the number of radio stations under local ownership, Martin started acquiring more properties in Lexington and in Charleston, S.C. He even created a new frequency in Lexington at 92.1 FM for a classic rock station. In addition to 1300 AM and 96.9 FM, LM Communications owns three other stations in Lexington, at FM dial positions 92.1, 96.1 and 106.3. Last year Martin bought his first television station, WBKI, the CW affiliate in Louisville. This year his company is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
In 2000 LM Communications’ studios and offices moved from the transmitter site on Greendale Road to Victorian Square, which was rebranded as The Square earlier this year.
“Downtown is a very cool place to be,” Martin said. “We’re sort of in the hub of what’s going on.”
Martin is quick to credit employees of his radio stations for the company’s achievements, including the Business Success award from Commerce Lexington, admitting he is just one piece of the successful puzzle.
“Everybody here is fired up about how we operate,” he said. “Our goal is to be the place where anybody in broadcasting wants to work, because we’re the best.”
Several employees have been with the company for 15 years or longer. Accountant Pam McCarty, for example, has been with LM Communications from the beginning in 1984.
“We have a lot of people here who believe in what we do, that local broadcasting is important and reflects the local community,” Martin said. “We get involved with charity organizations; anything like that is what we want to be involved with here.”
LM Communications has added a digital component to its business model, streaming each station online and offering mobile and social advertising to advertisers. The company is also creating mobile apps so listeners can pick up any LM station on their phones.
“It’s a work in progress,” Martin said of keeping up with technology. “Business today is challenging for a lot of people, including us. We are making sure we take care of our employees, because without our employees, we’re nothing.”
UPDATE FROM THE PRINT EDITION
LM Communications won the overall Small Business of the Year during a Sept. 26th Commerce Lexington luncheon.