The city of Williamsport, Pa., is known across the globe as the birthplace of Little League Baseball. In the radio industry, it’s become known as the home of a group of stations licensed to a company with a name that’s oh-so-similar to an entity once owned by Barry Drake.
Now, these stations have formally been sold to another entity, which also has a very similar licensee name but wholly different ownership.
Kalil & Co. served as the broker for one of these “Backyard” broadcast groups.
As TRANSACTIONS TODAY first reported on June 25, Backyard Broadcasting PA LLC is selling a group of stations serving Williamsport, Pa., to Backyard Broadcasting of Pennsylvania LLC.
It’s not a typo.
For $5.9 million, the seller — led by Daniel Farr — agreed to hand the following properties to an entity led by Van Michael:
WWPA-AM 1340 kHz, with 1 kW day and 1 kW night, Williamsport.
WILQ-FM 105.1 MHz, with 9.2 kW at 1,135” HAAT, in Williamsport.
WLMY-FM 107.9 MHz, with .0360 kW at 1,289” HAAT, in Williamsport.
WZXR-FM 99.3 MHz, with .0410 kW at 1,237” HAAT, in South Williamsport.
WCXR-FM 103.7 MHz, with .0950 kW at 801” HAAT, in Lewisburg, Pa.
WBZD-FM 93.3 MHz, with 1.7 kW at 1,221” HAAT, in Muncy, Pa.
W203BF-FX 101.3 MHz, with .095 kW at 1,102” HAAT, in Williamsport.
Kalil & Co. represented Farr as escrow agent and served as the exclusive broker in the deal, which also saw Francisco Montero of Fletcher Heald & Hildreth serve as the legal counsel for Farr’s group.
A. Wray Fitch of Gammon & Grange served as the legal counsel for the buyer.
The transaction represents Michael’s first radio station acquisition, and a small profit for Farr. In August 2013, he signed off on his group’s purchase of the Williamsport stations from the original Backyard Broadcasting — led by Drake — for $5.5 million. Kalil & Co. also served as the broker of that transaction.
Michael’s group is expected to assume a recently inked multi-year contract the former Backyard, under Farr’s control, signed with Nielsen Audio.
Backyard had sat out of Nielsen participation in the market, ranked No. 262, since the spring 2018 survey.
