Radio and Television Transactions

Say what?! No, we're not talking about the company that made Howard Stern an internationally known "shock jock" run by Mel Karmazin. Rather, this Infinity is headquartered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and it is acquiring "Radio One." The buyer knows the station all too well: She's the host of the 7am hour each weekday.

From the tip of Panama City Beach to the east to the shores of Pensacola to the west, a Class C3 noncomm is "the positive choice" for reverent radio listeners. Now, it is getting a new licensee, thanks to a Board of Directors' vote on February 26 by the assignor of this Florida Panhandle FM.

Brantley Broadcast Associates has, until now, been the licensee of a pair of AMs in Alabama and an AM with an FM translator in the state of Mississippi. With one of the Alabama AMs already sold, Brantley is now parting ways with the Mississippi properties.

The town of Tiffin, Ohio, is largely known as a college town nestled along the Sandusky River. Who knew that it would become a hub for radio station transactions in the first half of 2020? Also today: A donation to All Classical Portland moves forward.

Until recently, the town of Tidioute, Pa., was home to a 100-watt Class A noncommercial FM offering religious-themed programming to those in this Allegheny River burgh to the southeast of Erie. Last fall, a big upgrade came for this station, using a tower to the south in Tionesta Township. Now, a sale of this facility is in the works.

In 1997, a Class C3 FM in the heart of the Florida Keys signed on the air. Just shy of 20 years later, it adopted a Classic Hits presentation as "Mix 96.9." Unfortunately, the licensee ran into financial difficulties, and the station -- along with three  co-owned facilities -- wound up in the hands of a trustee. Now, this FM is being acquired by a "Magnum" broadcaster.

A noncommercial FM station has been offering a hyper-local live operation for listeners in the popular wintertime haven on Marco Island, Fla. But, what does the future hold? It's actually quite clear, even as the station has just been sold.

The first quarter’s third-largest radio deal according to Kagan involved a 50kw Class B FM serving the 68th-largest market in the U.S. The sale of the station was consummated in late February, and it has now closed, giving possession of the station to Bible Broadcasting Network.

Travel south of Anchorage, and you'll reach the town of Kenai, Alaska. For its size, it's a region that has emerged as an outsized outpost for FCC attention. In this matter, however, the Commission is simply being asked to approve the transfer of control of an AM with an FM translator in this small municipality.

Where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona state line all touch is the region where an FM with a Construction Permit for a 12kw Class C2 operation at 7,320 feet above sea level traded hands in January. Now, the deal has closed, handing it to Tom Troland and Michael Mallace.

A silent FM translator serving the city of St. Paul, Minn., has been dormant of late. Now, the licensee that owns it, known for progressive Talk programming on a noncommercial FM serving the Twin Cities, has sold it. The buyer will be serving one of the many multicultural communities found in the Minneapolis market.

For a generation of rock and roll lovers, the call letters KMET still bring back loving memories of an Album-Oriented Rock station that signed off the air on Feb. 14, 1987. The call letters made their way to an AM with 1kw in the Inland Empire of California. It also has an FM translator. Now, this KMET is being spun as part of a family deal involving Monte and Doris Miller.

On April 20, a Class D daytimer in the Charlotte market and its FM translator at 101.5 MHz left the airwaves permanently. The silence of this religious broadcast facility came more than seven years after the 2013 passing of its owner, with a trustee appointed to handle his estate. Why? The trustee has found a buyer for the properties, including a second FM translator.

A group of radio stations serving the Albany, Ga., market has been transferred to a West Virginia LLC led jointly by Rick Lambert and Charles Spencer III. The deal will see the departure from the market of a company that famously parted ways with such storied stations as WRQX-FM in Washington, D.C.; WPLJ in New York and KLOS in Los Angeles in recent months.

In January 2019, WBSJ-FM -- the Ball State University-owned noncomm serving a small section of east-central Indiana -- signed off the air. The move was the result of a transmitter failure, and the school's decision to not make the repairs. Now, WBSJ is set to receive a new lease on life.