Radio and Television Transactions

A silent FM radio station on the campus of a major university along the Wasatch Front will soon be brought back to life. That’s thanks to a transaction that sees one of the most prolific buyers in recent months adding yet another station to its stable of noncomms. In other TRANSACTIONS TODAY from RBR+TVBR: Greg Davis adds to his Atlanta-area stable with this deal involving a MARTA rail station parking lot.

An unbuilt Class A FM station serving the Monroe, La., market will soon be spreading the word through Christian Contemporary Music, courtesy of Mike Novak's ever-growing Educational Media Foundation. That's the lead deal in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY.

The home of the wildly eclectic “Smash Hits” presentation is set to change hands. Additionally, an AM near Alabama's Red Mountain is trading hands. Those are the deals in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Thursday, June 8, 2017.

A Class B facility serving the Metroplex has been sold by a media broker who gained possession of the AM station in a March 2015 bankruptcy auction conducted in conjunction with a Chapter 11 filing by James Crystal Enterprises. The buyer, however, is not the one that was contracted to purchase the Dallas market property in February.

In just over six months, an independently run radio operation using a pair of translators on two different signals has morphed into an EDM monster capable of reaching nearly six South Florida counties. Doing so required a swap with iHeartMedia, and a deal with JVC Broadcasting first announced in May. New details about the JVC transaction are now known.

In late August 2016, Red Rock Radio Corp. began to divest all of its radio assets. Among the first deals to be struck was a transaction that saw five FMs and three associated translators go to Midwest Communications for an undisclosed price. Now, Midwest, headed by Duke Wright, is spinning two of those FMs and one FM translator to a Minnesota-based company led by Matthew Butler.

A presently unbuilt noncommercial FM located near Rhode Island's border with Massachusetts is being sold. It's the lone deal in RBR+TVBR's TRANSACTIONS TODAY, ending a quiet post-Memorial Day week for exchanges.

In late August 2016, Beasley Media Group made headlines for agreeing to purchase an FM translator with a transmitter at the top of the Stratosphere tower on the Las Vegas Strip for a cool $700,000. Beasley has now flipped the switch on K268CS, and it's bringing a bright new "lite" to Southern Nevada.

Educational Media Foundation has closed on the purchase of a Class C3 facility that is set to drop its Classic Rock format for a nationally distributed Christian Contemporary Music format.

On Friday (5/26), RBR + TVBR reported the filing of two Form 315 submissions to the FCC on behalf of two public universities in Tennessee. It's a necessary step a noncommercial broadcast operation must take when an entire board of trustees is replaced. Now, a third Volunteer State institution has seen a wholesale board shift, affecting a Class A in the city of Cookeville.

The FCC has been asked to grant approval for the transfer of control of a Volunteer State public university's stations from its present board to an entirely new board of trustees. It's a good reminder for other noncomms that may see a 100% voting change in their leadership board.

Along Interstate 20 between Atlanta and Augusta, Ga., is the town of Crawfordville. That's where a Class A station is trading hands. Interestingly, there's a small connection to a deal filed two days ago with the FCC, and it involves someone with the surname Beasley.

Pass the pierogis and Zywiec! Feel free to add some salsa and a michelada, too. That's because Univision Radio has just sold a Class A on the north side of Chicago to the Polish National Alliance. The facility is presently a simulcast partner to another Class A in Chicagoland, and that facility is set for a move that brings it closer to The Loop.

In October 2016, Flood Communications of Omaha agreed to assume control of a low-power TV station in Sioux City, Iowa, for which he had only partial ownership interest. An FCC filing made Wednesday formalizes how much money company owner Mike Flood is paying for full control of the facility.

In the Sunshine State, a Class A FM and Class D AM with an FM translator use the branding "I AM Country." Soon, the Class A FM won't be Country. But, that's OK—it's a "joyful" change, as the facility has been sold to the operator of the Christian Full Service network "The JOY FM." The proceeds will likely be used to fund another deal that sees this seller acquire a facility from John Caracciolo's JVC Broadcasting.