[5] In September 1980, Parnigoni sold WCNX to Radio Middletown, Inc.[3], a subsidiary of the Berkshire Broadcasting Company of Massachusetts;[7] the next year, the new ownership shifted the station from adult contemporary music to an oldies format syndicated by TM Programming, retaining the local air staff.

[10] Radio Middletown sold WCNX to Jan Peek Communications in 1984; the group included former general manager Edward Creem.

[13] Jan Peek responded that, prior to the sale, Radio Middletown had overstated the station's profit-making potential and misrepresented its reasons for selling.

[14] In 1993, a judge ruled in favor of the former owners; Jan Peek then announced it could not meet a deadline to pay $275,000 or lose WCNX.

In May 1995, federal authorities unsealed a 35-count indictment against Bloch and an arrest warrant for defrauding investors, including by selling "memberships" in WCNX.

[22] After Bloch was arrested, a court appointed Michael Eskridge, the founder of CNBC and a former NBC radio executive, as a receiver to manage the station's affairs, while Sonny's son Paul and the president of Independent Broadcasters formed a group that sought to acquire WCNX itself.