As first reported on June 12, Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) noncomm network K-Love has found a home in Baltimore, and it is thanks to Diane Sutter — who has signed off on a deal brokered by Kalil & Co.
Information including the price Times-Shamrock agreed to in the asset sale is now available, courtesy of a Form 314 filing with the FCC.
As acting CEO of Times-Shamrock, Sutter last week signed off on the sale of WZBA-FM 100.7 in Westminster, Md., and FM translators W261CD in Baltimore and W298CG in Bel Air, Md.
Collectively, they’re known to locals as “The Bay: Baltimore’s Rock Classics,” and has been offering a variety of Classic Rock programming since December 1, 1999.
This will end, once K-LOVE, led today by CEO Tom Stultz, completes its just-announced $2.7 million purchase of the facilities.
A $540,000 deposit is being held by Todd Hartman at Kalil & Co., serving as escrow agent. The leading media brokerage represented Times-Shamrock in this transaction.
WZBA first emerged as a “Rock AC” akin to WMMO-FM in Orlando circa 1998, when it had an approach reminiscent of stations such as KNX-FM in the 1970s. Before that, it was Country and, prior to that, aired a short-lived Alternative format branded as “The X,” tied to its former WGRX call letters. From May 1987-December 1994, WGRX aired a conventional Classic Rock format.
WZBA has largely competed against Hearst-owned WIYY “98 Rock,” which remains a dominant FM in the Baltimore marketplace. In recent months, noncommercial Adult Alternative WTMD-FM has placed higher in the Nielsen Audio ratings for Baltimore than WZBA.
In the Mid-Atlantic Region, K-LOVE entered the Washington, D.C., DMA in a significant way with the respective acquisitions of WINC-FM in Winchester, Va., and WRQX-FM in Washington, D.C., in recent years.
