Radio and Television Transactions

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.

There's been a lot of chatter among brokers, attorneys and industry observers regarding Alpha Media and its need to part ways with some of the stations it acquired from Digity LLC three years ago. On Thursday, the company made a move—and agreed to sell two FMs and an AM in the Midwest. Kalil & Co. is Alpha's broker ... and could be shopping around other stations.

A locally owned radio company based in Columbia, S.C., is adding to its stable of radio stations by acquiring a Class A facility that owes much of its success to its proximity to Lake Murray. One of the two owners is known by many for his years at the former B94 in Pittsburgh.

On July 20 TRANSACTIONS TODAY reported on the sale of a Class B AM covering the Tucson market. The "Good News" surrounding the deal, and its seller, came from broker Kalil & Co. ahead of a Form 314 filing with the FCC. On Wednesday, the filing was made — along with two others reflecting station sales to two well-known station owners.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spent Monday in Panama. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on Saturday Tweeted a photo from Vermont. It's summertime in D.C., and if you're sensing there's not a lot of activity right now, you're a smart dog. One itty-bitty translator deal is all we can share with you in TRANSACTIONS TODAY. There's also an iHeart STA that may be of interest to you.

Seven Mountains Media may be based in Kentucky, but it is purely a Keystone State operator. Its stations are in Pennsylvania towns such as Mexico, Huntingdon, Lewistown, State College, Selinsgrove, Wellsboro and DuBois. Now, this company has a bigger presence in a big Northeast Pennsylvania metro.

A Class B AM covering the Tucson market is trading hands. The buyer is a North Carolina-based company headed by Robert Wilkins, and we've got the scoop ahead of a Form 314 filing with the Commission next week. The broker is local: Kalil & Co.

It was a busy day — finally — for Form 314 filings with the FCC. Wednesday's deals involve an AM with an FM translator in Lubbock, Tex.; three TV stations in Illinois that are becoming Salukis; and the sale of an AM in Wilmington, N.C. We have the rundown for you in the latest edition of TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

The last radio station to be associated with the operator of a locally produced Classic Hits operation using the "Guess FM" brand has just been sold. The buyers are a husband and wife who are based in Southaven, Miss. The seller is an entity headed by property rehab specialist Ron Unkefer, and this station is a bit of a "Rebel."

Louisiana State University may be based in Baton Rouge, but it has a wide presence across the Bayou State. It's also present in Arkansas and in Texas, where it will gain a second market for not a satellite campus but a Class C3 commercially licensed FM.

A not-for-profit entity based in the city that is home to Virginia Tech University has agreed to take on the license of a 1kw daytimer with an FM translator that's presently dark. It's a donation, and the entity set to take over these facilities will likely be more pleased about the translator than the fully licensed AM it is being gifted. Why? Location, location, location.