Radio and Television Transactions

One of the first individuals to own an FM in the state of Oklahoma is a man who first gained fame at a major Top 40 radio station, and later became a heralded Country radio superstar. He passed away in late 2015, putting his stations in a trust controlled by his widow. Now, one of those stations -- operated by his son's radio group for 23 years -- is being spun.

In late February, Talking Stick Communications agreed to sell a Class A FM to the northeast of Fort Wayne, Ind., for $300,000. It appears Talking Stick wasn't done with its divestment in Indiana. The company is spinning two other FMs and an AM with an FM translator.

The future of a long-time talker serving a corner of the Pacific Northwest is now securely in the hands of conservative and Christian-leaning radio station owner Salem Media Group. Thanks to a swap, it will now own a station it has been operating in Portland since March via an LMA.

It is Upfront Week in New York, that time of year when broadcast television networks show off their programming for the 2018-2019 season. So, let's be upfront with the deal-making marketplace: It's very quiet, and Monday's activity at the Commission is limited to a handful of closings and silent STA requests.

Just to the north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain, is a Class C3 FM facility offering "Lifesongs" to such Louisiana communities as Slidell and Bogalusa. The station will now have new owners, an Asset Purchase Agreement filed with the FCC on Friday indicates. It's one of a handful of small deals under the microscope in TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

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.