CHAPEL HILL, NC – Rudd Media, LLC, has closed on ownership of WCHL Radio and Chapelboro.com, and principal Mr. Leslie Rudd has announced a partnership agreement with four local businessmen who have formed an owner/operator group that has bought into the two local media properties, pending their approval by the FCC.

Chris Ehrenfeld, Jim Kitchen, Mark Vitali and Aaron Wright, together with Rudd, own 100 percent of the AM/FM radio station and website that serves the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and surrounding communities and is the flagship station of the Tar Heel Sports Network.

Jim Kitchen spoke with WCHL’s Ron Stutts on the WCHL Morning News. Listen Below:

 

Leslie Rudd

Leslie Rudd on new WCHL local ownership group: “This was the plan I hoped would take place.”

“This was the plan I hoped would take place,” Rudd said after accepting the offer made by the group. “In our other investments, we depend heavily on local ownership that knows the market and is well-known and respected. Each new owner has an impressive record of professional accomplishment in his own right and together will make an outstanding leadership team.”

Ehrenfeld owns Domicile Realty and Bold Construction in Chapel Hill. The Pittsburgh native graduated from UNC and remained in the area to build his business portfolio. Domicile Realty, which owns Governors Club Realty, lists and sells commercial and residential property, and Bold Construction builds custom homes and develops unique commercial space in Orange and Chatham Counties. Ehrenfeld and his wife Jana have twin sons, Max and Mason, three years old.

Kitchen arrived in Chapel Hill as a UNC student in 1982 and built and sold a successful travel company that was headquartered on Franklin Street. After receiving a Masters in Management and MBA, he now teaches entrepreneurship at Kenan-Flagler Business School and works tirelessly to improve the community. He started the business incubators LaUNCh Chapel Hill and 1789 in 2013. Kitchen and his wife Susan have two children, Kenan, 16, and Karsen, 12.

Vitali moved to Chapel Hill in 1982 with his wife Fai and, since 1993, has amassed one of the largest Nationwide Insurance businesses in the United States. Vitali currently owns ten agencies in Burlington, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Eden, Graham, Hillsborough and Raleigh. He speaks across the country on how to build a business from the ground up. Vitali also owns and develops commercial properties. Their son Nick, 25, works for Nationwide corporate.

New WCHL owners

From Left to Right: Jim Kitchen, Aaron Wright, Mark Vitali, Chris Ehrenfeld

Wright is from Franklinton, NC, and a second-generation UNC alumnus. He is a graduate of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and has started two different healthcare companies, building successful sales teams and organizations. Wright and his wife Lisa have three children, Peyton, 14, Cole, 11, and Lyndon, 10. He has served on the UNC Board of Visitors, the Eshelman School Foundation Board and, like his new partners, is an avid Tar Heel fan.

The current WCHL and Chapelboro staff will continue day-to-day operation of the radio station and website, which will also be airing and publishing news and feature stories, columns and commentaries from all of their regular and part-time contributors.

As long-time WCHL listeners, the local ownership group knows the value of the radio station to the community and said its goal is to improve programming and service with the help of feedback from the public. Comments and suggestions are welcomed by emailing WeListen@wchl.com.