Educational Media Foundation, the parent company for the nationally distributed KLove Christian AC and Air1 Christian CHR formats, has acquired a Class A in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
The noncommercial facility presently airs a Christian AC format as “Promise FM,” and serves as a simulcast partner with KARM-FM 89.7 in the Visalia-Tulare-Hanford, Calif. market.
That simulcast will likely come to an end soon, with a confirmed switch to KLove.
EMF is paying $225,000 for KADV-FM 90.5, licensed to Modesto, Calif. The seller is Central Valley Christian Academy in nearby Ceres, Calif, where the transmitter for KADV is located.
According to a main studio waiver filed with the FCC, KADV will now be used as a simulcast partner of Class B KLVR-FM 91.9 MHz in Middletown, Calif.—located well to the northwest in the Napa-Sonoma wine region.
KLove presently uses 80-watt Class D translator K258AB at 99.5 MHz to cover Modesto with a city-grade signal. The translator retransmits the signal of Class B KLVN-FM 88.3 in Livingston, Calif., just east of Modesto.
“To ensure that KADV fulfills its local service obligations to the residents of Ceres, Calif., EMF will have a local public affairs representative, who may be a volunteer, available in the community,” EMF states in its waiver. “This local representative will, at least on a quarterly basis, conduct interviews and surveys of local community leaders and other residents to ascertain the interests, concerns, and needs of Ceres listeners.”
EMF will then address “the recurrent issues, problems, and needs of the residents of Ceres in KLove’s news and public affairs programming.”
EMF’s other presence in the market is with its Christian CHR Air1 format. Modesto-licensed Class D translator K270BE, at 101.9 MHz, to bring the signal of KRPW-FM 94.5 in Coarsegold, Calif.—well to the east in the Sierra Nevadas—to the market.
Other religious noncomms serving Modesto include “Your Christian Companion” KYCC-FM 90.1 in Stockton, Calif., a Class B.
Immaculate Heart Radio is set to move translator K224DA to Modesto, CA, placing it at 97.9 MHz to rebroadcast KMPH-AM 840. A construction permit was granted by the FCC on August 22.
Meanwhile, Spanish-language Christian broadcaster Radio Nueva Vida uses Class D K275CE, at 102.9 MHz, to fully cover the Modesto market.
Lastly, Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s low-power KGCO-FM 106.1, which operates as “Grace Radio,” enjoys a 100-watt signal that covers northern Modesto.
Central Valley Christian Academy does not known any other broadcast stations.
EMF is represented by David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. Attorney Donald E. Martin represented the seller in this transaction.
In related news, EMF has acquired a silent FM translator in Davenport, Iowa from Benjamin Shafer for $32,000.
K248CE is licensed for use at 97.5 MHz. It will be used to provide a Quad Cities signal for the Air1 format heard on Class C2 KAIP-FM 88.9 in Wapello, Iowa, near Burlington.
