Radio and Television Transactions

There are eight radio brands serving the Kansas communities of Dodge City, Scott City, Garden City and Ulysses that comprise the Western Kansas Broadcast Center, managed by Ingstad family. One station is licensed to Western Kansas Wireless. Seven others are controlled by the licensee KBUF Partnership. All are being sold in a multi-million deal just filed with the Commission.

In late November, Ted Morgan's Saranac Lake Radio reached the final chapter in its life as an owner of AM and FM radio facilities. As reported by RBR+TVBR, the company founded in 1927 marked its 90th anniversary in near silence, with WNBZ-FM 106.3 in Saranac, N.Y., the only station licensed to the company actually on the air, via automation. As Morgan started to sell his stations, it became known that another Upstate New York broadcasting company had gained the right of first refusal to acquire one of Saranac Lake's stations. That company has now moved forward with its decision to purchase the dark FM.

In the land of 10,000 lakes, there is a "City of Lakes" located along Interstate 90, not too far north of the Iowa state line. It is here, in Fairmont, Minn., that an AM/FM combo is trading hands. It's the RBR+TVBR TRANSACTIONS TODAY top deal for January, 8, 2018. Also today: EMF snags a Lone Star translator its using in the state capital.

But, we don't mean to fool you. While many are familiar with the Azteca América TV network, this Azteca is a very different entity—one that's just purchased an AM with an FM translator in the Treasure Valley of Idaho.

A low-power TV station serving a market impacted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 is trading hands. This facility is the subject of a March 2012 Order to Show Cause issued by the FCC, seeking answers as to why Class A authorization should not be modified to LPTV. That involved a previous owner. Now, the current owner has decided to part ways with the facility, and it's the lead deal up for discussion in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018.

The Delmarva Peninsula media company led by Craig Jahelka has just secured a cluster of radio stations comprised of three FMs and one AM station. The move brings greater ad diversity to Jahelha, as the radio properties will help bring in ad dollars not currently going to his company's TV stations in the Salisbury-Ocean City, Md., DMA. Serving as the exclusive broker in this transaction is Patrick Communications.

A dark noncommercial station serving a community in Arizona that's been the home of the original London Bridge for 50 years is trading hands. The entity that's saying goodbye to the 1,700-watt facility broadcasting from a tower adjacent to a city fire department station: Educational Media Foundation.

There's a deal in place in the Rocky Mountain state that is sending KRAI-AM 550 & FM 93.7 to a "blizzard" of a buyer. It's the lone deal to be featured in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Thursday, Dec. 28.

In 1990, a low-power TV station designed to improve the signal coverage of a full-power station located to the north of Houston made its debut. Over the years, it has faithfully served as a simulcast partner for what is today Ion Media-owned KPXB-49 in the nation's eighth-largest DMA. Now, with the FCC's spectrum auction concluded and repacking underway, as well as the voluntary rollout of ATSC 3.0 next-gen digital TV broadcasts, Ion has decided it no longer needs the LPTV. 

On Oct. 13, the regional Mexican network known as "La Z" added a major Hispanic market in the Pacific Northwest to its roster of stations by way of a time-brokerage agreement with a Latino-focused faith-based organization. Now, the company behind "La Z" — Bustos Media — is acquiring the station.

At the intersection of the 91 Freeway and I-15, in California's Inland Empire region, sits a five-tower array used by a Class B AM radio station with a signal covering such communities as Ontario, Riverside, Pomona and Lake Elsinore. After dark, the signal pattern of the AM changes oddly, putting a city-grade signal over Orange County. The station has just been sold at a bargain-basement price, and it's our deal of the day in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

An important swap facilitated by Entercom Communications' tax-free merger with CBS Radio is now complete, as Entercom and Beasley Broadcast Group have finalized the exchange of FM radio stations in the Boston market.

The nonprofit organization that broadcasts national and local public radio and television programs in the region surrounding Richmond has boosted its presence in Central Virginia by agreeing to acquire a pair of Class A FMs from Alpha Media. The deal brings Alpha's presence in Richmond to an end.

The FCC on Tuesday (12/19) officially set in motion a comment period for parties that wish to have their say on whether or not foreign ownership of a four-signal network of signals pumping EDM beats into South Florida serves the public interest.

A presently silent low-power TV station serving Ohio's state capital is heading to a new owner. This facility was once the market's home for Azteca América programming. Who's the buyer? An Oxford-educated, New York-based investor in TV and media who runs a mini private equity portfolio.