Not long after his arrival, Baughman changed the call letters to WBEM and affiliated the station with the ABC Talkradio network, airing a mixture of both local and national talk.
Finding that building an audience would take too long and after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire an FM station, Baughman sold WBEM to Greater Johnstown Radio, Inc. in August 1986.
[6] WBEM had fallen on hard times over the years, largely due to the collapse of Johnstown's lucrative local coal and steel-based economy, which had a domino effect on retail business in the area.
Its studio building was then cleared out of all of its equipment, with all traces of a radio station's existence removed, including its broadcast tower.
Prior to selling both, Horvath had invested substantially in new directional antenna arrays, making them more palatable to prospective buyers.
Unlike its predecessor, the succeeding station would have been licensed to Geistown, Pennsylvania, located just east of the Johnstown city limits.