Dame Media Inc. purchased WHRL, a 6,000-watt station, in 1996 from Regal Broadcasting, Inc. of Rensselaer. Dame Media paid $2.63 million. That year, Congress had enacted new ownership rules raising the limit in the market size of the Capital Region from four stations to seven. The enactment precipitated a seller's market. At the time of Dame Media's purchase, WHRL had a 1.7 percent share of listeners aged 12 and up putting it in 12th place in the area. In 1994, the station had a revenue of $500,000.