In late August 2016, Beasley Media Group made headlines for agreeing to purchase an FM translator with a transmitter at the top of the Stratosphere tower on the Las Vegas Strip for a cool $700,000. On Thursday (6/1), Beasley flipped the switch on K268CS, and it’s bring a bright new “lite” to Southern Nevada.
K268CS operates with 250 watts at 101.5 MHz and enjoys a near city-grade signal over the entire metropolitan area from a transmitter site in the Summerlin residential district of Las Vegas.
Beasley purchased the translator from Southern Nevada Educational Broadcasters, which had been using the facility to bring an FM home to its Christian Talk & Teaching KKVV-AM 1060.
KCYE’s HD2 programming, which was Radio Disney, was used as a placeholder format for K268CS.
Now, it is the home of Adult Contemporary programming, as “Lite 101.5 FM.” The station’s launch is being overseen by Beasley/Las Vegas OM John Candelaria and Market Manager Tom Humm, in addition to Beasley EVP/Programming Justin Chase.
According to BIA/Kelsey, the purchase of K268CS by Beasley is the third-highest in terms of cash price ever paid for an FM translator.
W280EM, at 103.9 MHz in Chicago, was acquired by Windy City Broadcasting for $1 million—the highest sum seen yet for an FM translator. The facility is broadcasting the Smooth Jazz “Groove” presentation originating from WTMX-FM 101.9’s HD2 signal.
The second-highest FM translator deal to date is for K231BQ, a 250-watt facility at 98.1 MHz in Golden, Colo. used by iHeart Radio to bring its 50kw clear channel News/Talk KOA-850 to the FM dial.
Bob Heymann of Media Services Group’s Chicago office served as the exclusive broker for Beasley in this transaction. Robert Branch represented Southern Nevada Educational Broadcasters.
