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Two FM radio stations and one AM station in Carroll County are changing ownership. WVHR-FM, a 25,000-watt station, broadcasting at 100.9 Mhz from Huntingdon, WDAP-AM, a 1000-watt station broadcasting on 1530 Khz from Huntingdon, and WAJJ-FM, a 1,000-watt station broadcasting on 89.3 Mhz from McKenzie, will change owners, subject to Federal Communications Commission approval.

Jim Freeland of Benton, Kentucky, is buying WVHR for a price of $650,000 from Milan Broadcasting Company. Freeland owns Kentucky stations WCBL-AM and FM in Benton, and WCCK in Calvert City.

"I feel like I am coming home," said Freeland, who with his brother, Mike, once owned WKTA-FM in McKenzie. Mike started WHDM-AM in McKenzie, and then WKTA in 1964, years before many radios had an FM dial. Jim worked at WKTA and lived in McKenzie from 1964 to 1969, when he moved to Benton.

"We were ahead of the curve on FM," said Jim. "Mike and I have worked together in many situations."

WVHR will continue its classic, country music format and the staff, including manager Jerry Vandiver, will remain with the station.

WVHR's studio and transmitter are located on Baker Road, Huntingdon.

WDAP is owned by Mark Charles Johnson of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. WDAP's studio will soon relocate to The Dixie in downtown Huntingdon. Chris Lash, station manager, is buying the station.

"We are in what is called an LMA (local marketing agreement) of this radio station, where we operate all aspects of the station, but don't hold the license," said Lash. "However, we are finalizing papers right now to close the sale of the station."

Lash, a Pennsylvania native who says he moved to Tennessee to avoid the harsh winters of the north, moved to Huntingdon in December 2004, where he encountered an ice storm.

Lash has 28 years in the radio business, buying his first station in Ebensberg, Pennsylvania, at age 28, selling it two years later and temporarily retiring. He built the first of two Christian FM stations in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and the second in Zephyr Hills, Florida, which he sold in March 2005. Lash was looking for an AM station in the Mid-South when he found WDAP listed for sale on the Internet. He and Johnson put together the deal to buy the station from Ed Perkins of McKenzie. Lash also bought a daily newspaper and started two free weekly newspapers in towns that had lost their papers.

WAJJ-FM 89.3 in McKenzie is transferring ownership from Heartland Ministries of Hardin, Kentucky, to Madisonville Baptist Temple, Inc. of Madisonville, Kentucky. Darrell Gibson of Heartland Ministries said the transaction is awaiting FCC approval.

A Christian rock station, WAJJ-FM broadcasts from an antenna situated on the Charter Communications tower in McKenzie. The studio is located in Kentucky.

According to the FCC Web site, Gary Hall of Madisonville; George Woodward of Robards, Kentucky; Steve Pleasant of Greenville, Kentucky; and Wayne Smith of Providence, Kentucky, will be principals in the station. The new ownership group is seeking a location for a studio in McKenzie.

The new owners will join McKenzie AM station WHDM, which operates at 1440 Khz and is owned primarily by Mr. and Mrs. Gary Benton of Paris, where the studio is located. The transmitter is located on Hamilton Street, McKenzie.

McKenzie Special School District Superintendent James Ward announced last week that eleven new teachers will make their marks on McKenzie schools this fall. Five elementary, three middle school, and two high school teachers have been employed, with one special education teacher position remaining open following the resignation of Rebecca Childress, who recently accepted a position in the Dresden school system in Weakley County.

"She is an excellent teacher, I hate to see her go," said Ward, who noted Childress resides in Weakley County where her children are enrolled in school.

At the elementary level, new hires include two seasoned teachers and three graduates:

* Angie Maddox is the new guidance counselor. She previously worked in the South Carroll school system and has six years of experience teaching English in grades seven-12 and six years experience as a guidance counselor for grades K-12.

* First grade teacher Debbie Frye, formerly from Jackson, is the wife of new Middle School principal Jon Frye. She has been teaching for 19 years and taught in grades K-4 before relocating to McKenzie. Ward said she received a "very strong recommendation" from her previous school system.

* Three new kindergarten teachers include UTM graduate Courtney Williams of Huntingdon, who comes on board after student teaching in McKenzie last year; Kristie Brown, a resident of McKenzie and graduate of UTM; and Bethel graduate Jana Bradfield of McKenzie.

New middle school teachers include two graduate teachers and one with prior teaching experience:

* Fifth grade teacher Gretchen Boucher taught previously in a self-contained fifth grade classroom in Gibson County, meaning the students did not change classes throughout the day but were taught all classes by one teacher, a situation McKenzie begins for fifth graders with the start of the new school year. She has three to four years of experience and "had some pretty good writing scores at her school," said Ward.

* Beth French, a UTM graduate and resident of Carroll County, will teach sixth grade reading classes.

* Mark Stenberg will teach eighth grade social studies. Stenberg, from Trezevant, is a non-traditional graduate with a degree from Indiana, who worked previously in the manufacturing industry. Ward said Stenberg is completing his master's degree at Bethel, where his son, Josh, plays football.

Both teachers hired to begin teaching at McKenzie High School have three years of teaching experience:

* Liz Gonzalez, who taught previously in Crockett County and lives in Greenfield, will teach English. She is the sister-in-law of Erica Cole, who previously taught Spanish at MHS and returns to the profession this fall in Weakley County.

* Jessica Hardy, from Benton County, will be teaching high school math.

Other changes noted by Ward include shifting Amy Cooper to the newly instituted pre-kindergarten class due to her pre-k endorsement. First grade teacher Lorrie Brown will focus on targeting at-risk students in order to serve early those with special needs and prevent the necessity for referral to special education, said Ward. He mentioned that, over the past four to five years, about 10 percent of students in kindergarten have been retained.

"What we're hoping to do is work with that group so retention won't be something we have to do," he said, noting that last year's TCAP scores reveal strengths and weaknesses in reading, language, and math skills that can be used to develop programs addressing students' specific needs. He said that, with the inception of the pre-k program, future targeting could prevent retention of kindergarten students as well.