It’s a 44kw Class B FM with a coverage area extending south to Salinas and north into the communities surrounding San Francisco and Oakland. Over the years, it has been owned by Infinity, NextMedia Group, Digity LLC, Alpha Media and, as of today, Connoisseur Media.
Pending regulatory approval, K-LOVE Inc. is poised to become the new owner of this FM — but not the KBAY-FM or “Bay Country” call letters and intellectual property.
As RBR+TVBR first reported late Wednesday (7/8), Connoisseur has signed off on an agreement to spin the facility licensed to Gilroy, Calif., as KBAY-FM since September 2004 to the parent of dominant noncommercial Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) music network KLOVE and Worship Music-focused Air1.
A $2 million purchase price was agreed to by the parties — reflecting the current marketplace for a standalone facility minus the call letters, programming and accounts receivable associated with it.
Michael Bergner of Bergner & Co. was the exclusive broker on the transaction.
Connoisseur Media had legal representation by Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
The divestment comes even though Connoisseur won an FCC waiver to close on Bonneville International’s San Francisco-Oakland station group in May; the original version of this story noted that the KBAY sale was part of a requirement linked to that transaction.
Furthermore, the deal was prompted by overtures from K-LOVE.
“We were approached about selling our frequency to K-Love, who wants to expand their Christian offerings in the San Jose market with the addition of the 94.5 FM frequency,” says Connoisseur founder and CEO Jeff Warshaw. “We found a way to do that but retain our KBAY-FM country format. Stay tuned!”
The $10 million purchase of KOIT-FM, KMVQ-FM and KBLX-FM in the San Francisco market along with their numerous FM boosters, and KUFX “98.5 K-Fox” in the San Jose market from Bonneville creates a group of stations that will include Hot AC KEZR “Mix 106.5” in San Jose plus current KBAY simulcast partner KKDV-FM 92.1 in Walnut Creek and Adult Contemporary pair KUIC-FM 95.3 in Vacaville and KKIQ-FM 101.7 in Livermore, Calif.
The KBAY facility transaction is pending regulatory approval by the FCC and is expected to close in early autumn of this year.
The transaction, the company said on Wednesday, “reflects Connoisseur Media’s ongoing plan to refine its portfolio and best utilize its assets in priority markets like the Bay Area. The sale is a continuing element of the strategy established with the acquisition of the Alpha Media stations in September of last year, and the Bonneville San Francisco acquisition last month.”
Longtime South Bay radio listeners will recall the presence of KUFX on 94.5 MHz from March 1991 through the end of 1997. Before then, KBAY was at 100.3 MHz; that facility is now TelevisaUnivision’s KBRG-FM. Additionally, from early 1983 through March 1991, the 94.5 MHz frequency was home to Top 40 KWSS, which competed against both local and San Francisco stations through a format and economic downturn exacerbated by the Persian Gulf War’s commencement.
