Radio and Television Transactions

August has ended with a whimper for RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY, with just two deals involving Low Power TV stations to discuss. One is in Arizona. The other is in one of America's most popular destinations for outdoor enthusiasts.

Ravi Cherukuri has made a name for himself in North Texas and in other areas with a large South Asian population as a purveyor of radio stations offering a variety of religious and secular music and talk programming in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages. Now, one of the bigger AM stations he's been using will become a wholly owned entity for his operation targeting South Asians. 

HC2 Station Group, Inc., Max Media X LLC, and CMCG Puerto Rico LLC have agreed on the sale of two television stations in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Colon Johnston of Yazoo City, MS, (“Johnston”) and ZOO-Bel Broadcasting, LLC, a Yazoo City, MS, limited liability company (“Licensee,” and collectively with Johnston, “Seller”), and New South Radio Inc. (“Buyer”) of North Meridian, MS, have agreed on the sale of radio broadcast station WBYP(FM), Belzoni, Mississippi (FCC ID 28117) for $200,000.

Windy City Broadcasting LLC (“Seller”), and Future Vision Entertainment (“Buyer”), an Urban format broadcaster based in Chicago, have agreed on the sale of two FM radio co-channel translators, W236BG and W236CF, located atop Willis Tower and in the Elmwood Park neighborhood.

The lone deal of the day for TRANSACTIONS TODAY takes place in Florida over one of the state's Christian AM stations.

Toquerville, a city in Utah filled with history and wide open land that is about 30 miles south of Cedar City, has had a change in ownership for one of its radio stations. It's RBR+TVBR's lone deal of the day in TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

An FM station in the town of Keokuk, Iowa has been sold, along with an FM Translator. It's the lone deal of discussion for RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Wednesday, August 22.

A small city in Talladega County, Ala., is known as "The Marble City," owing to its proximity to fine white marble bedrock. It's an hour southeast of Birmingham and home to a 1kw Class C with 1 tower that's trading hands. It's our deal of the day in TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

A non-profit entity dedicated to Christian-based radio programming based in Lakeland, Fla., has built a healthy array of radio stations across the Sunshine State. A big addition of the Florida stations is a Class C2 facility covering the Jacksonville market. Until now, it's been owned by the No. 2 owner of radio stations in the U.S. That's just changed.

Here's a translator swap that's certainly going to attract a lot of attention. Educational Media Foundation is giving up a translator in a big South Florida city to Family Radio. In exchange, EMF is getting a facility that could bring Air1 to Western Pennsylvania's biggest population center. For Family, listeners to a major NPR member station may soon become irked at their upgrade plan.

Sometimes, the best buyer for a radio station owner looking to sell a property can be found from within. That's exactly what's just transpired in Nashville, where a longtime presence at a Class D AM has emerged as the new owner for a station with a rich history in Music City.

On June 8, RBR+TVBR reported on the sale of two Orlando stations by Bruce Maduri's Genesis Communications, in a deal brokered by Kalil & Co. The buyer is a non-secular operator of religious stations, and its deal to buy the AMs has just closed.

To the east of Erie and to the south of Buffalo is one of America's great diary lands. If you consume Kraft Foods or Welch's products, much of what they produce is from the area surrounding Jamestown, N.Y. Now, an Ohio player is going not "cross country," but a few hours' east to make a transaction that involves a Lakeland, Fla., operator. It also involves the second-largest licensee of radio stations in the U.S.

Of all of the potential buyers for the 19 remaining radio stations that The E.W. Scripps Company sought a buyer for, this one may have caught market observers off-guard. Scripps​​ has reached an agreement to sell its last group of radio properties, located in four markets, to the Carl Parmer-led SummitMedia.