As RBR+TVBR shared earlier this week, Beasley Media Group has agreed to sell a Top 40 radio station in Charlotte and the facility presently housing an Alternative FM serving Las Vegas to K-LOVE Inc.
Details including the sale price have now been disclosed.
While Beasley’s August 3 announcement noted that Educational Media Foundation was the buyer of WNKS-FM in Charlotte and KXTE-FM in Las Vegas, FCC filings made public on Wednesday (8/5) confirm that is indeed K-LOVE Inc. that is the purchasing party.
And, K-LOVE is paying $8 million for the facilities. A $400,000 deposit is being held by broker of record Kalil & Co.
A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE, YIELDING A KISS
For WNKS, which is celebrating three decades serving Charlotte after seven previous incarnations since its July 1962 debut, a carousel of owners have also been seen across its history. As progressive rocker WRNA in 1972, Belk Broadcasting was the owner. One year later, SIS Broadcasting acquired the station and changed it to WROQ “95Q,” ahead of a tweak to Top 40 “Q95” in 1984. Two years later, SIS sold the station to CRB Broadcasting. Then came ownership changes involving Adams Radio and, after that, Tenore Broadcasting.
Adams Radio would reacquire the station in late 1990, creating WGKL-FM and an Oldies format under the “Kool” brand. By October 1991, another change came, with WAQQ-FM call letters ushering in a new Top 40 era as “95 Double Q.” With Contemporary Hit Radio in a post-Persian Gulf War downward spiral, Adams Radio’s financial health suffered, leading to its March 1993 bankruptcy. That move would, ironically, give the 95.1 MHz facility in Charlotte much needed format and branding stability.
It all started with Pyramid Broadcasting, which made the station a sibling of its WRFX by creating WEDJ “The Edge.” While that was ultimately unsuccessful, Pyramid’s July 1995 merger with Evergreen Communications brought Boston radio branding and influence to the South. New call letters WNKS and the “Kiss 95.1” brand arrived at the end of May 1996.
After that, “Kiss 95.1” built its brand value as morning hosts Ace & TJ finally brought audiences to the signal that hadn’t been seen since the late Jay Thomas was heard on the facility in the 1970s. Still, ownership instability in the go-go era of the late 1990s continued to WNKS, with EZ Communications gaining the facility in a trade with Evergreen, ahead of EZ’s acquisition by American Radio Systems.
In September 1997, Steve Dodge sold ARS to Infinity Broadcasting, which would change its name to CBS Radio in December 2005. This brought nine years of calm to WNKS. Then, on December 1, 2014, an ownership swap was seen that put WNKS in Beasley’s hands.
‘X’ MARKS THE SPOT FOR CCM
Beasley’s ownership of KXTE began in fall 2022, as a result of an asset exchange with Audacy Inc. in Las Vegas.
It is a station that came to Audacy, formerly known as Entercom, through its ill-fated tax-free 2017 merger with CBS Radio — a transaction that ultimately led Audacy to declare bankruptcy and see the founding Field family exit the company it built in the late 1960s.
KXTE’s history is much more stable than that of its Charlotte sibling. It has aired a form of Alternative rock for three decades, established under ARS (which sold to Infinity). Before that, it was an Americom-owned Classic Rocker known as KFBI that secured The Howard Stern Show via syndication in morning drive. That 1993 market addition brought big ratings to KFBI in morning drive; afternoon performance was more challenged against former alternative KEDG and Rocker KOMP. Thus, ARS saw the opportunity for Alternative.
That format will live on at 107.9 MHz, presently the home of KVGS and its Hot Adult Contemporary format.
Ironically, the 107.5 MHz facility was brought to live in April 1986 as KLVV “K-Love.” However, it aired an Adult Contemporary format.
Now, history is repeating itself, albeit with a much different music mix and with a formula of underwriting support.
