It was briefly mentioned on Audacy Corp.‘s Q4 and year-end 2022 earnings call. A package of broadcast towers has been sold.
But, what company did Audacy sell them to? And, for how much?
While Audacy will only say that it earned $17 million from the deal, Lance Venta at RadioInsight.com reports that K2 Towers is the buyer.
Asked for comment, an Audacy spokesperson directed a reporter to the FCC’s public registration site and declined to offer any other information.
K2 Towers is headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and calls itself “a leader in wireless technology for over a decade.” As such, K2 is in the same business as SBA, American Tower Corp., Crown Castle and Vertical Bridge.
“K2 Towers is a national acquirer of wireless communication towers,” it notes. “Our team has invested in more than 5,000 communication towers over the past decade.”
Importantly, K2 is the acquisition company of Peppertree Capital Management, led by co-Presidents F. Howard Mandel and Ryan Lepene. Responding to an inquiry from RBR+TVBR, Lepene said it is K2’s policy is to not comment on these types of transactions.
As reported by RadioInsight.com, it is “Audacy Atlas,” created as a LLC apparently for divestment purposes, that is selling six tower properties.
They include the KROQ-FM in Pasadena, Calif., broadcast tower site situated on Tongva Peak above the city of Glendale, nestled between the 210 and 5 Freeways.
Also in the deal is the tower site for WLIF-FM in Baltimore, located on a bucolic parcel of land in Towson, Md.; for WLZL-FM in College Park, Md., in a residential community near Bowie called Gambrills, Md.; KFTK-FM in Florissant, Mo., with a tower site on a prime site for residential housing in the tony St. Louis suburb of O’Fallon, Mo.; WBEE-FM in Rochester, N.Y., with a tower site also in a prime residential area east of the city — Penfield, N.Y.; and the rural tower site for WLKK-FM in Wethersfield Township, N.Y., a Buffalo-market Country station formerly airing an Alternative format.
With wind generators dotting the landscape surrounding the WLKK tower, maintaining this and KROQ’s tower site for cellular towers is likely a priority.
For the other sites, a residential real estate play could be in the works, given their locales.
RadioInsight.com reports the transaction closed on March 6.
