Radio and Television Transactions

 In July 2019, RBR+TVBR first shared the news that the cornerstone of 95-year-old broadcast ministry Moody Bible Institute was for sale. Now, this daytime-only AM that shares a signal with a 50kw Class A News/Talker in Cleveland has been sold. The buyer will retain, albeit adjust, the Spanish-language evangelical programming presently on the air.

Travel west of Columbus, Miss., and you'll reach the city of Starkville. Here, a low-power TV station's construction permit is being spun. The buyer? The Columbus-based owner of the market's CBS affiliate.

From Ellensburg to Walla Walla, Washington, and down to Pendleton, Oregon, Hispanavisión has established itself over three decades as a home for Spanish-language television content in an area that's long attracted first-generation immigrants from Mexico and Central America. It's now adding a low-power TV facility. HC2 is the seller.

Since December 1994, New Mexico's largest market has been home to a commercially licensed FM offering bible teaching and modern worship over its Class C2 signal licensed to the town of Armijo. Soon, the programming on this station will change, but it will remain committed to serving a Christian audience. And, it will do so under BBN ownership.

Add three more low-power TV properties to the list of stations that HC2 Holdings is paring down from a roster that will live on as a leaner, but still active, set of broadcast facilities it intends to operate.

On February 18, 2020, RBR+TVBR reported on the departure after a decade of American University from the Salisbury-Ocean City, Md., market. AU’s Board of Trustees on Jan. 31, 2020, signed off on the sale of WRAU-FM 88.3 in Ocean City. That deal never transpired. Now, it's found a new buyer. 

Its Twitter feed brags that it is "the most engaging college in the nation by The Wall Street Journal, 5 years in a row!" Soon, however, it will be minus a medium used since 1968 "to proclaim God’s Word to generations of listeners." That's because its owner, a university in Iowa, is selling the 100kw Class C1 facility. The buyer? It's bringing some "love" to Siouxland.

Under Wayne Barr Jr. as Chief Executive, HC2 has sold TV stations to Weigel Broadcasting and, most recently, to Gray Television. HC2 is adding to more TV stations to the sell pile.

In April 2020, a Class A FM licensed to rural Effingham, Kansas, some 65 miles from Kansas City International Airport was in the headlines as its owner sought FCC approval for a silent STA extension. Now, that licensee — Cumulus Media — is selling that station.

The licensee doing business as Inland Northwest Broadcasting is agreeing to part ways with its stations serving an Idaho city some 85 miles from Spokane. The buyer? The owner of a crosstown AM/FM combo, plus an FM translator.

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., is a major U.S. Armed Forces training site, nestled within the Ozarks of Mid-Missouri. The closest city of size is St. Robert, and a Class C3 FM playing Adult Contemporary Country favorites is trading hands.

These days, the allure of a Class D daytime-only AM radio station is about as enticing as a pickle Popsicle. However, the interest level for one facility that fits this description attracted one buyer with money to spend. In Houston, an AM that must protect a Class A facility in Oklahoma City is just the right acquisition target for El Sembrador Ministries. 

Vic Michael has been an active buyer of noncommercial low-powered and full-power facilities across the U.S. West, and in Hawaii, of late. Now, he's agreed to buy an expanded-band AM with an all-important FM translator at 94.7 MHz. It serves much of the Cheyenne, Wyo., market.

A 1kw Class C AM serving Sylvania, Ga., is presently dark under a STA. It's been dark for a while. In fact, it's been silent for so long that the station has been designated for a license renewal hearing by the FCC. As such, Tampa-based owner Neal Ardman has a potential battle on his hands to save the station.