Radio and Television Transactions

A "hometown" Class C3 facility in the Land of 10,000 Lakes is being sold, and the buyer is another entity based in the state of Minnesota. This deal includes a consulting fee and a promissory note, giving the owner possession of his second radio station. The other property is a small AM adjacent to the Twin Cities.

Some 45 miles northwest of Abilene, Tex., sits the broadcast tower for an unbuilt Class A FM station serving the town of Roby. The owner of this station has just invested in a Class A FM serving a small town FCC Chairman Ajit Pai may be familiar with: It's 66 miles to the east of Wichita and two hours' drive west of his stomping grounds of Pittsburg, Kansas.

Doug and Mary Martin have not only been busy arranging the sales of several radio stations in Tucson, but have also been working with broker Kalil & Co. on the sale of a broadcast tower. That transaction has just closed, for an undisclosed price.

There's a small town in rural Texas, to the southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, best known for the Billy The Kid Museum. Now, it will be the home of a brand-new radio station that Chisholm Trail Communications will be charged with signing on the air, thanks to this deal.

"With Jesus Nothing's Impossible." That's the motto and inspiration for the call letters of a Class B AM currently simulcasting the Gospel programming of a Class A FM serving a picturesque portion of the Carolinas. It's just been sold, and the owner is a Chicago-based non-secular broadcaster known for its "moody" take on inspirational audio content.

At first glance, the buyer of a Class D AM station with a pair of FM translators serving a city on Florida's suncoast might seem a bit odd. It's the parent of a school known for training the doctors, dentists and pharmacists of tomorrow. But, it already owns a radio station in Erie, Pa. Now, the school is adding a second property in a locale full of snowbirds from the Midwest.

A small market radio group serving North central and Northwestern Wisconsin has just gotten a little bit bigger. It is adding two FM stations serving the communities surrounding the town of Rhinelander, in a move it hopes will provide added "Results." Why? It already owns an AM/FM combo here.

As has been widely rumored, Lotus Communications has acquired Scripps' radio stations in the Tucson and Boise, Idaho markets. What hasn't been known was the price the company led by Jim Kalmenson would pay. All has now been revealed, and Kalil & Co. is the exclusive broker for this transaction.

As RBR+TVBR reported in November 2017, the future of the AM and FM stations in Upstate New York owned by a fiscally challenged owner and operator who sought Special Temporary Authority to keep an FM and an AM silent began to come to fruition. Among the stations being traded was a Class C2 FM licensed to Saranac Lake, N.Y. The new owners have closed on their purchase.

It's been a foregone conclusion that Bonneville International Corp. would be acquiring the eight radio stations it is already operating via a Local Marketing Agreement with Entercom Communications in two Northern California markets. Entercom pulled the trigger on the sale of the eight stations​ in these cities late Friday.

Doubling it up is turning out to be the hottest trend of the summer — and perhaps 2018. Loosened FCC television station ownership rules have led several companies to add a second station in a market where it already has a presence. Add Perry Sook's Nexstar Media Group to the companies taking advantage of this Commission "rule modernization."

A longtime owner of a Class C1 County station serving a rural portion of the Silver State is heading to a new owner. The buyer is a local player, and an LMA giving him control of the facility begins tomorrow (8/1). The seller is an 88-year-old based in Salt Lake City.

It's been a busy week for an Arizona-based company headed by Doug and Mary Martin and the broker they retained to sell several of their radio stations, Kalil & Co. A fourth station licensed to their company is being sold, and a change from "Pop Classics" is all but assured.

Two deals are in the spotlight in TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Friday, July 27. One involves a Class C3 FM northwest of Savannah, Ga., while the other puts us in Macomb, Ill., where an AM and its FM translator are being dealt.

The former flagship radio stations of the now-defunct Journal Communications, which ended up in the hands of The E.W. Scripps Co. following its April 2015 merger, are being sold by Scripps to a local owner with a familiar last name to radio industry executives and observers. Kalil & Co. is the broker, and is shopping around Scripps' other available properties.