Brad Kava, former Merc writer who now has a blog on the local radio industry, reports that Santa Cruz stations KSCO-AM 1080 and KOMY-AM 1340 are for sale. Owner Michael Zwerling (pictured), 55, tells Kava that he’s frustrated with radio, saying it wasn’t producing enough revenue and he was working too hard. Kava writes:

A real estate investor who appeared on KSCO as a high school student, [Zwerling] bought the station 17 years ago for $600,000. He had been fired for making a fart noise on the air, and promised someday to own the station.

He bought [1340 AM] a decade ago and has experimented with a number of formats, including Air America, which he dropped, claiming he couldn’t get advertisers to sponsor it in one of the most liberal markets in the country.

(Photo credit: KSCO Web site)