Radio and Television Transactions

Gray Television is a big believer in low-power TV stations, using them in various ways as NEXTGEN TV's voluntary rollout promises new nontraditional ways to make money while delivering better quality picture and sound to consumers. In its home state, Gray is grabbing another LPTV property.

In February 1980, the sale of WBFG-FM attracted national headlines. Doubleday was the buyer, paying a single-station high price record by agreeing to fork over $8.25 million to Trinity Broadcasting and eventually rocking the Motor City with the debut of "Detroit's WheeLLZ." Today, the WBFG calls belong to an FM in Tennessee that's being spun.

Due west of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metropolitan area is Portsmouth, Ohio, and on the southern banks of the Scioto River the town of Garrison, Ky. It is in Garrison where a Class A FM with several identities in recent years is being spun. The buyer will take this station back to its roots by adopting a non-commercial religious format.

In June, RBR+TVBR first shared the details of the acquisition of an AM radio station reaching listeners across the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Now, the deal has closed, putting this station in the hands of a licensee led by Hispanic media veteran José Villafañe.

A veteran Georgia-based radio broadcaster and owner has joined Guest Technology in a brokerage and consulting role, with an emphasis on small to medium markets.

A 1,000-watt Class C AM radio station using 1 tower to serve the cities of Indian Wells and Indio, Calif., is being spun. The buyer? Look no further than "The Pride of the Coachella Valley."

It's licensed to Manistique, Mich., and has a 50kw signal covering Munsing, to the north, and Escanaba to the southwest. There's also an FM translator at 98.7 MHz within Escanaba to help provide the Upper Peninsula city with Classic Rock programming. What does the future hold for WRPP?  That will soon be up to a new owner, pending regulatory approval.

A division of a broadcast media brokerage has launched a new monthly service that delivers radio station "Stick Value POPS multiples" to those seeking to get a true sense of what their broadcast facility is worth, should they wish to sell it.

The University of Northwestern St. Paul, unlike other colleges and institutions of higher learning, has been a buyer in recent years. To say it has “Faith” in radio is an understatement. Now, this school's broadcast arm is adding seven FM translators to its stable of broadcast facilities.

It's a small Kansas city known for its zoo, a historic downtown, and for staging the first Veterans' Day celebration. Now, this Flint Hills municipality is gaining attention as an FM with a most unusual moniker, given the geography, is being sold to Bill Wachter's My Town Media.

Until now, Jorge Figueroa and his TV Red de Puerto Rico has held the licenses to two low-power television stations — one serving Ponce and the southern portion of the island and another located near Mayaguez, serving the western areas of Puerto Rico. Paperwork filed with the Commission shows that TV Red de Puerto is selling the stations.

A donation agreement has been reached that will see the parent of the Air1 and KLOVE noncommercial radio networks gain two FMs in Arizona. One of the properties serves such rural communities as Safford and Clifton. The other serves a Tri-State Area where Nevada, Arizona and California all converge.

In Tucson, Lotus Communications, the West Coast broadcasting company owned by the Kalmenson family, snapped up the radio stations put up for sale by the E.W. Scripps Co., which made the corporate decision to focus on visual media growth initiatives. On August 1, Lotus moved forward with a deal that will tweak its collection of radio properties in Southern Arizona.

In late June, a licensee led by John Kyle II agreed to sell a host of low-power television stations in various locales. One of those transactions has now closed, putting the Evansville, Ind., facility in the hands of Jeff Winemiller.

A letter of intent has been submitted with the FCC that indicates the sale of an AM/FM combo and an FM translator associated with the AM is being finalized. This will see the three stations, located in Kentucky, head to Simply Cool Radio.