Conservative talker and veteran broadcast executive Scott Hennen and partner Gary Emineth are betting almost $1M that they can make a go of it in Fargo ND-Moorhead MN with an O&O AM station. Documents filed with the FCC reveal terms of the deal Hennen alluded to last week.
Hennen and Emineth call their license company Bakken Beacon Media LLC. The company will pay $960K cash for the Dilworth MN AM station.
The seller, officially, is SMAHH Communications Inc., with Michael J. Hofer signing off on the deal. SMAHH is identified as a subsidiary of Great Plains Integrated Marketing Inc. It will continue on in the Fargo market with KEGK-FM and KQLX AM-FM.
An LMA for WZFG is scheduled to commence 5/1/12.
Bakken has another LMA in operation – it is running Gunn Enterprises’ KTGO-AM Tioga ND. The contract for the LMA indicates that negotiations have been in progress to turn that from a rental to a sale. KTGO is in unrated territory and does not have contour overlap with WZFG.
Hennen has been among a group that bought the station for $720K back in 2007. He was eventually ousted from an executive role in 2010 and an on-air role in 2011 – the current deal will allow him to resume both roles at the station. His talk program is syndicated in the area.
WZFG “The Flag” covers Fargo with a Class B 1100 kHz that boasts 50 kW-D and 440 W-N (it fires off a signal in the middle of those two ranges during critical hours).
