Court approves sale of Roanoke-Lynchburg indy

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GavelJones Broadcasting LLC will help improve the ranks of minority ownership when principle Greg Jones closes on his deal to acquire WEFC-TV Danville, part of the Roanoke-Lynchburg DMA. Millard S. Younts is the seller, acting as receiver.


The station was formerly owned by MNE Broadcasting, headed by Melvin Eleazer. It went to Younts pursuant to a court order dated 9/8/09; Younts signed an FCC application accepting role of licensee 7/2/10.

The price of the Channel 24 indy will be $1M cash.

Formerly known as WDNL, its recent transactional history falls into to all-too-common sign of the times category that has stagnated the station trading market for a period of several years.

Two earlier deals to spin the station failed to come to fruition. The first was a 3/7/07 attempt to sell it to Liberty University for $6M; the second was an 8/6/08 attempt to sell it to $5.25M.

The current transaction was approved by the US District Court Southern District of West Virginia, and was accepted by the FCC for consideration 3/14/12.

Jones is no stranger to owning and operating television stations in Virginia, but this will be his first chance to own a full-power facility. His other holdings include:
WAZT-CA Woodstock
WAZC-CA Luray
WAZF-CA Front Royal
WAZH-CA Harrisonburg
WAZM-CA Staunton
WAZW-CA/LD Winchester