To the south of Chicago in the village of Bourbonnais, Ill., is a group of four FM radio stations and a FM translator that’s tied to a family-run broadcasting company.
Now, an asset purchase agreement has been filed with the FCC that reflects a shift in ownership of these stations.
For staff and vendors, there should be few if any differences in the operation of this cluster.
For a Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.-based investor with a name familiar to radio industry veterans, there could be more flights to O’Hare or Midway in the near future.
Also involved is the man who made the call letters “KGO” legendary over his 35-year run overseeing the San Francisco News/Talker.
The stations collectively branded as “River Valley Radio” that technically trading hands are as follows:
- WVLI-FM 92.7 in Kankakee, a Class A Oldies station
- WFAV-FM 95.1 in Kankakee, also a Class A, which airs a CHR/Pop format
- Class A Country WIVR-FM 101.7, licensed to Kentland, Ind., to the southeast of Kankakee
- Country Class A WYUR-FM 103.7 in Gilman, Ill.
- Class D translator W241BS at 96.1 MHz, licensed to Bourbonnais; this will rebroadcast WVLI.
These stations have been owned by Milner Broadcasting Enterprises, and they are now being assigned to Milner Media Partners as part of an asset purchase agreement that sees any Real Property being shifted to “Trust B Created Under the Lorin E. Milner Recovable Trust Agreement Dated Feb. 25, 1981, as amended and restated on Dec. 29, 1987.”
There is a transaction price: The amount to be paid for the station assets will be an
amount equal to 5.374 times the Adjusted Net Operating Income generated during a
measurement period of April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.
What if the Adjusted Net Operating Income at closing is less than $500,000? Either party has the right to terminate the agreement, with a $345,000 escrow deposit returned from agent Media Services Group.
Bob Heymann of the Chicago office of Media Services Group and George Reed of the Jacksonville office of Media Services Group represented Milner Broadcasting Enterprises in this family spin.
Closing is anticipated to occur by May 1.
Factored into the adjusted income statement are “any past due amounts” to Global Music Rights (GMR) and SoundExchange and legal fees paid to counsel Womble Bond Dickinson LLP for work performed for Milner Broadcasting Enterprises.
The seller is led by Timothy Milner.
The buyer is led by David Benjamin, who serves as VP of Carmel, Calif.-based Milner Media Partners.
Why does that name ring a bell?
Benjamin founded Triad in 1999, serving as President/CEO of some 50 middle-market radio stations across eleven states. The Alpha deal, which closed in May 2013, involved 32 stations in Fargo, N.D.-Moorhead, Minn.; Peoria, Ill., Biloxi, Miss.; Bluefield, W. Va; and Savannah, Ga.-Hilton Head, S.C.
From 1974-1997, Benjamin owned and operated another company — Community Pacific Broadcasting. That was sold in January 1997 to iHeart predecesor Capstar Broadcasting Partners, where he became Chairman/CEO of Capstar’s newly formed West Coast subsidiary in Q4 1997.
Community Pacific owned 6 FMs and 5 AMs in mid-sized markets located primarily in the western United States, including Modesto-Stockton, Calif.; Des Moines; and Anchorage, Alaska.
Benjamin has served as a board member of the NAB as well as the California Broadcasters’Association. He is a former president of the Oregon Association of Broadcasters and is currently a member of the board of directors of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).
Serving as the legal counsel for Benjamin and Milner Media Partners is Paige Fronabarger of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
So, is the Milner family still involved? Very much so, as Timothy Milner has signed an executive employment agreement that will allow him to retain operational oversight of the four stations.
This explains the name of the entity created by Benjamin.
A Board of Managers has been created for Milner Media Partners, and initially it will be comprised of our individuals. They include Benjamin and Milner, and Robby Markose of Samson Investment Partners.
The fourth individual is another well-known industry veteran: Mickey Luckoff.
Luckoff is the highly respected former President/GM of KSFO-AM 560 & KGO-AM 810 in San Francisco, who resigned in October 2010 from the role after blasting the company that acquired the formerly top-ranked Talkers from ABC Radio, the then-Farid Suleman-run Citadel Broadcasting, now a part of a fiscally challenged Cumulus Media.
RBR+TVBR
