Radio and Television Transactions

A revised option and purchase agreement has been signed that will see an AM radio station and its companion FM translator in Lexington, N.C., go from a husband-and-wife ownership team to a religious broadcast ministry devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Two FM radio stations serving Niagara Falls, Ont., each with signals reaching neighbouring Buffalo, N.Y., have been sold. Terms were not disclosed, as the CRTC will now review for its approval.

Serving Lee County, Va., is an AM/FM Country-formatted combo that serves a geographical area to the northwest of Kingsport, Tenn., and to the south of Cumberland, W. Va. Pending FCC approval, this radio pair will be heading to a new owner.

With Dick Harlow as COO and Allen Dick as CEO, Dick Broadcasting has been operating 18 Alpha Media properties via a LMA ever since a transaction first announced in September 2017. That's about to change, however, as the FCC has received freshly signed Asset Purchase Agreement paperwork seeking regulatory approval of the long-planned transaction.

In April 2021, a Falfurrias, Tex.-based Class B AM was sold by the New Jersey-based Hispanic broadcast ministry that had owned and operated the facility since fall 2019. Now, the buyer of that facility is spinning a different AM — a Class C station with better coverage of the nearby city of Corpus Christi.

A Class D daytime-only AM radio station with a single tower on the banks of Wisconsin's Fox River enjoys a little bit of "FM revitalization" courtesy of an FM translator due west of Oshkosh. Now, these facilities are saying goodbye to Hometown, their seller, pending FCC approval.

An unbuilt low-power TV station licensed to a Florida surfing mecca in Indian River County is now the property of Windsong Communications. The deal, which saw Bob Heymann of the Chicago office of Media Services Group serve as the exclusive broker for the seller, has closed.

The licensee led by Jeff Winemiller has moved forward with the sale of a low-powered television station serving the one-time Spring Break capital of Panama City Beach, Fla. The buyer? It's a Georgia-based entity also hip to LPTV ownership.

Along the banks of the Allegheny River, to the north of Pittsburgh, are the towns of Franklin and Oil City. Here, a 1kw Class D daytime AM radio station enjoys a little "FM revitalization" thanks to its FM translator at 104.1 MHz, allowing it to broadcast after dark as KMOX/St. Louis prohibits 24/7 broadcasts of the senior-band facility. Soon, the AM and FM translator will be under new ownership.

Gerry Schlegel has just signed off on the acquisition of a pair of radio stations led by William Wachter and his Chisolm Trail Communications. How much is LKCM Radio Group paying for the Lone Star State duo?

Nestled between Mobile and Pensacola, Fla., is Orange Beach, Ala., a little known bucolic stretch of sand along the Gulf of Mexico. Here, a Class A FM station serves the town as "the voice of paradise." Soon, that voice will land in the hands of Marcus Carr, pending FCC approval.

In March 2022, Cameron Maxwell closed on his company's purchase of two AM and three FM stations serving the Bozeman, Mont., market from court-appointed receiver Richard J. Samson. The properties were once licensed to Reier Broadcasting Company and effectively ceased operations in June 2018 due to license renewal fee delinquency concerns. Now, Maxwell's company is further expanding with its acquisition of a property in Butte, Mont.

Should one turn on the radio in Clovis, N. Mex., a scan of the dial will undoubtedly land on "Big 101.5," a 100kw facility that reaches Portales, and over the state line into Texas. If "The High Plains Classic Rock" isn't desired, there are two other FMs and an AM owned by Rooney Moon Broadcasting that may be of interest. Soon, however, Rooney Moon will no longer be the owner of this quartet of radio properties.

As 2021 began, Francis Wood and his Colonial Broadcasting Co. agreed to sell Farmville, Va.-based WFLO-AM 870 & FM 95.7 to Educational Media Foundation. Now, EMF has decided to spin the AM associated with this transaction.

It's been an avid acquisitor of low-power television stations across the country, as it seeks to fill in coverage holes in the DMAs in which it owns full-power stations while building out a broadcast data footprint that stands ready for optimized monetization in the ATSC 3.0 age. Now, Gray Television is growing its LPTV stable again, this time in Wyoming.