In August 2021, RBR+TVBR first shared details on the acquisition of two AM and three FM stations serving the Bozeman, Mont., market from court-appointed receiver Richard J. Samson.
The properties were once licensed to Reier Broadcasting Company and effectively ceased operations in June 2018 due to license renewal fee delinquency concerns.
Now, the purchase engineered some seven months ago by Cameron Maxwell has closed.
KBOZ-AM & FM, KOBB-AM & FM and KOZB-FM are now the property of Maxwell-led Desert Mountain Broadcasting.
Founded in 2018, Maxwell’s company has rapidly expanded through acquisitions to amass a stable of 12 stations and 3 translators in the Montana markets of Billings and Bozeman.
He’s operated the one-time Reier quintet under an LMA since last summer, with KBOZ-FM airing an Oldies format as “K-Bear,’ KBOZ-AM offering Classic Country and Agricultural News, KOBB-FM airing “Classic Blue Ribbon Hits” as “The River 93.7,” KOBB-AM offering a Talk format, and KOZB-FM in Livingston, Mont., airing “Everything that Rocks” as “97.5 The Zone.”
Citadel Broadcasting once owned the five stations, and it sold them to Reier in 1996. Poor health of the seller’s head, Bill Reier, contributed to their demise under his ownership.
The first transfer of control plan for Reier didn’t pan out. As RBR+TVBR reported in November 2020, the stations were released from receivership by the Montana Eighteenth Judicial District Court, serving Gallatin County. It formally put a close to Reier’s ties to the quintet. But intended owner Southwest Montana Media, led by Ted Austin, never closed on the transaction.
With Austin unable to move forward with the transaction, Maxwell came to the table.
Now, he tells the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, new studios for the stations are being built. “This is really a big deal to me to be able to get a chance to buy, take over and rebuild these stations,” Maxwell, who once worked for Reier Broadcasting, told the newspaper. “They were such a great set of radio stations it was sad to see them go away.”
Maxwell’s experience includes serving as GM of six radio stations in Billings, Mont., under Connoisseur Media ownership. Maxwell bought the stations from Connoisseur, led by Jeff Warshaw, in 2019.
