Radio and Television Transactions

Nearly eight months ago, a company led by Paul Coates and Mike Huckabee had agreed to convert a LMA to outright ownership for their entity, now overseeing a cluster of stations in the Ozarks, plus a local online news hub and cable TV offering. On Thursday, the paperwork offering financial details of this long-awaited deal was finally filed with the FCC.

Polskie Radio has established itself as one of the nation's leading Polish-language broadcast media players and in recent years expanded from Chicago to New York. Now, Polskie Radio is saying so long to Long Island. Also in TRANSACTIONS TODAY: What BYU is paying to keep Classical 24/7 in Salt Lake City.

We all know iHeartMedia. But, there's another "heart"-filled owner of radio stations out there, and it has just acquired an FM radio station just to the north of the Magic Kingdom. It's the lone deal under the spotlight in TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

Following the July 2016 demise of a community radio station, a nonprofit group led by a local attorney created a crowdfunding website and sought donations for the expressed purpose of buying a new facility -- and bringing community radio back to one of Northern California's hipper communities. Did it work? Yes.

"Two Black Cadillacs" is the name of a ACM Award-nominated song released in late 2012 by country singer Carrie Underwood. It also happens to be the name of an Indiana not-for-profit company that is acquiring a pair of FM translators in the Hoosier State.

In one of the biggest media deals North America has seen in recent years, the owner of such stations as "93.5 The Move" and "Boom 97.3" in Toronto and "Z95.3" in Vancouver has just reached an all-stock deal with a multiplatform music and video services provider valued in U.S. dollars at $394,563,600. It's the lone item in TRANSACTIONS TODAY from RBR+TVBR.

An AM/FM combo located in Oklahoma is trading hands, and the seller has been operating with "Brute Force." That's the name of the entity under the spotlight in TRANSACTIONS TODAY from RBR+TVBR for Wednesday, May 2.

In late December 2017 the FCC sought public comment on whether or not exceeding the Commission's 25% foreign indirect ownership benchmark was OK, and in the public interest, as it pertained to two FMs in Arizona and California. A declaratory ruling just arrived.

Drivers who head between Southern California and Phoenix know the town of Blythe, Calif., and Quartzsite, Ariz., on the east side of the Colorado River. There's a silent FM radio station serving this area, and it's just traded hands.

One of the quietest weeks for media deals ended with a whimper on Friday, with no Form 314 filings or notices sent to TRANSACTIONS TODAY from RBR+TVBR by brokers across the U.S. The lone items up for discussion: Three STA requests.

In October 2017, the future of classical music on the FM dial in the Salt Lake City market was put into question when Brigham Young University revealed a major consolidation effort set for completion in July 2018. As part of this effort, the school said it would "consolidate" its SiriusXM-exclusive BYUradio by simulcasting it on a Class C facility that is the home of “Classical 89.” Now, instead of seeing Mozart and Bach disappear, the format is being saved.

An Omaha-based broadcaster known largely for its NewsChannel Nebraska network of low-power TV stations across the Cornhusker State and a big regional Mexican station serving the two biggest population centers in the state is saying goodbye to a silent FM translator. It's one of two deals involving 250-watt microstations on a quiet Wednesday for TRANSACTIONS TODAY, following Tuesday's news that Sinclair Broadcast Group is selling several TV stations to four different entities while retaining WPIX-11 in New York.

A Class C3 FM serving an area east of the Springfield, Mo., area -- and the town where a fallen tower claimed the life of Steve LeMay -- is trading hands. The buyer is a foundation known for its 2014 creation of the Pulse Channel, described as a format aimed at teens and young adults who are looking "for music they like without all of the negative social messages" found in mainstream pop hits.

A 1kw AM radio station serving the first capital of New York since 1939 has finally obtained an FM signal for its programming. This gives this recently reinvented radio station a new platform for its community-focused mix of music, sports, news and even foreign-language programming.

Officially a part of the Buffalo television market, Olean and nearby Bradford, Pa., comprise a market that stands on its own due to terrain and distance. Among the companies actively competing in Olean are Bruce Mittman and Jim Leven's Community Broadcasters and the Jeff Andrulonis-led Colonial Media + Entertainment. Mittman and Leven will now be positioning their Olean stations against a new competitor.