Updated at 11:30am PT
From the autumn of 2010 through early 2017, a company led by Charlie Banta and Sandra Miller owned a San Francisco Bay Area AM that had once been one of the biggest regional Mexican players in the region. It was sold for $6 million.
Now, the company that made that deal is spinning the AM. Did it make a profit or take a loss after six years?
Tron Dinh Do-led KLOK Media Inc. has agreed to sell KLOK-AM 1170 in San Jose, Calif., which will become a home of the Punjabi Radio USA network.
KLOK operates with 50kw by day and 9kw at night, from 4 towers. The station enjoys a city-grade signal over the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose DMA and much of the Monterey-Salinas DMA. It can also be heard across the northern San Joaquin Valley and across Wine Country.
But, like many AM radio stations, its valuation has considerably declined over the years, and Tron is selling KLOK for $2.85 million. The buyer is Punjabi American Media, a partnership between Balwinder Kaur Khalsa and Dilpreet Singh Khalsa — a South Asian format targeting Indians, Sri Lankans and Pakistanis.
A $570,000 downpayment has been made to KLOK Media, with the remainder payable in cash at closing. There is no broker associated with this transaction. Serving as legal counsel for the seller is Dan J. Alpert; for the buyer The Law Office of Dennis J. Kelly served as the legal counsel.
The brokered “Mirchi” South Asian format has aired on KLOK-AM via a time brokerage agreement since July 2021. This will end, as the Khalsas are associated with Punjabi Radio USA.
The addition of KLOK marks a big Bay Area entry for the “Punjabi Radio USA” service, which has grown in recent years through its presence on KIID in Sacramento; KOBO in Yuba City; KWRU in Fresno; KLHC in Bakersfield; and KCVR in Lodi, Calif., serving Stockton and Modesto. Meanwhile, Punjabi American Media is awaiting the closing of its purchase of KVIN-AM 920 & K22BX at 92.3 MHz in Ceres, Calif. and K296HL at 107.1 MHz in Manteca — along with “18 Acres of prime agriculture land in Modesto” from Threshold Communications. That transaction was announced in December 2022.
With KLOK selling for less than half of what KLOK Media paid for it six years ago, the price is perhaps emblematic of a broadcast band that’s experienced various challenges for commercial broadcasters across Northern California in recent years. While the end of Talk programming on once-dominant KGO-AM 810 in favor of sports wagering talk by Cumulus Media raised eyebrows, ethnic and religious programming has thrived on AM radio. One-time Top 40 KFRC-AM is today the home of Family Radio’s KEAR. Meanwhile, “The Sports Leader” KNBR-AM 680 fully simulcasts on 104.5 MHz (once the home of Adult Alternative KFOG) as KCBS-AM 740 fully simulcasts on 106.9 MHz, diminishing the kHz-band presence of these long-successful radio brands.
And while KLOK Media purchased KLOK-AM from Universal Media Access for $6 million, the Banta and Miller-led entity acquired the AM in June 2009 for $7.65 million. Then, there’s the sale of the property — along with much-more valuable KBRG-FM — conducted by Entravision Communications in August 2005. The valuation on that combo deal: $90 million.
As Punjabi American Media sees it, those challenges present an opportunity for operators such as theirs. Thanks to its purchase of struggling AM facilities in the Golden State, PAM says it will now have the largest network of Punjabi/South Asian radio station in California, a fast-growing area for this multicultural consumer group.
Serving as General Manager of Punjabi Radio USA is Rajkaranbir Singh.
