The author, who owns the small independent stations in Bangor, said that the decision was prompted by a desire to get his business affairs in order.

Stephen King is taking a big old ax to his Maine radio empire. The prolific author bought Bangor-based station WLBZ in 1983, renaming it WZON in honor of his 1979 novel, The Dead Zone, per Billboard.

Stephen King’s rock ‘n’ roll radio station is going silent at year's end. King, a 77-year-old rocker who used to perform with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band that featured literary icons, said Monday that it’s time to say farewell to his rock station and two others that have been bleeding money.