In the Florida Keys, there’s a station called WKIZ. It’s a digital low-power TV facility, and is a sibling to a Class A digital TV facility also serving the Conch Republic. Paul Garber has been the Manager of the stations’ licensee.
Thanks to a deal finalized just before Christmas, a reorganization in the stations’ ownership is moving forward. This puts David and Penny Drucker in the driver’s seat.
With the FCC’s approval, WKIZ-LD 29 in Key West and W16CA-D in Key Largo, Fla., are being transferred from Cayo Hueso Network to the newly created WKIZ UHF TV LLC.
It is an internal reorganization of sorts, however Cayo Hueso is engaging in a sale of the stations for a total price of $100,000.
This puts Mr. and Mrs. Drucker, who are based in Colorado, squarely in charge of what the future plans are for the stations, which cover all of Monroe County.
Under the Cayo Hueso ownership, Garber had 10% equity interest. Some 45% was held by Penny Drucker and 45% held by Missouri-based Ibarra.
Garber is a technical consultant for the LPTVs but is likely better known for his role as the original manager for the first Christian Television Network (CTN) station. He was the Assistant to the President and CTN International Director, dating to 1978, and is largely retired.
David and Penny Drucker reside in Evergreen, Colo., and have been active TV station owners for decades. In 2002, they earned $5 million from the sale of WEYS-TV in Key West, Fla. — a “Franken FM” facility today used by Almavisión for Spanish-language evangelical Christian programming.
By 2011, the Druckers were active media owners in Southeast Alaska through their Seattle Streaming Radio LLC. Three years later, Penny Drucker sold a Denver TV outlet, KSBS-3. The selling continued in August 2019, with their Denver Digital Television earning $850,000 from the sale of KDMD-LD 6 in Tacoma, Wash.
