Radio and Television Transactions

For more than a year, a New Freedom, Pa.-based company has gained notice for its purchase of radio stations in locales across Pennsylvania. This includes deals involving Connoisseur Media and Jeff Andrulonis. Now, this licensee is getting another property: A Class D serving a community due west of Penn State University.

In a deal with limited details as of midday Friday, four formidable FM translators serving listeners in one of America's biggest markets are being spun. The seller is a broadcast ministry dedicated to serving Spanish-speaking Christians. The buyer is a pastor tied to the institution.

The AM radio station branded as "Talk Radio for the Mid-South" is being spun to an organization wholly owned by Todd Starnes. He, along with Dalton Glasscock, are becoming first-time owners with this purchase.

In March 2014, Janice Hunt placed a Classic Rock format on a big AM radio station serving the Mile High City -- and its Boulder, Colo.-focused FM translator. By May 2019, the FM translator was taken over by iHeartRadio, shifting "The Rock" to a different translator. Now, "The Rock" is ready to roll away for good.

A second translator in a city that's been vitally important to U.S. presidential campaigns has officially been acquired by Saga Communications. The company led by Ed Christian this week closed on a “Basic” deal, initially announced in late September and brokered by Michael J. Bergner of Bergner  & Co.

"America's Premier College for Mentored Undergraduate Research" has become the latest institution of higher learning to shift its student-run radio station to an online-only venture. It has agreed to sell its silent 1,050-watt noncommercial FM serving a small Ohio city to the west of Canton. Who's the buyer? It's the entity that now owns such stations as WPLJ in New York.

A Class A FM serving a town along U.S. 281 roughly an hour west of Corpus Christi, Tex., is being sold. The new owner is likely to keep the format in place.

In October 2014, Pastor Carlos Ramos entered into a Time Brokerage Agreement with the owner of a Virginia AM, allowing his Spanish-language broadcast ministry to serve the growing Hispanic population in the Tidewater region, including the city of Norfolk. Now, the broadcast ministry is exercising its option to purchase the station outright.

Six months ago, RBR+TVBR reported on the planned sale of a Class C1 FM serving a picturesque region of Minnesota to the northeast of Duluth, along Lake Superior. It is now known that that proposed deal is now scrapped, and new buyer is seeking the FCC's permission to grab this property. It's an individual with attributable interest in the "Twin Ports Sports Hub."

In June 2011, Churchill Media agreed to sell a Class D AM licensed to the city of Tigard that exactly 10 years ago went dark, ending its tenure as a regional Mexican station targeting Latinos across the Rose City. With the sale came the arrival of China Radio International programming. Now, this station is being spun again -- at a fraction of the cost the sellers paid 8 1/2 years ago.

Until now, KTC Broadcasting -- the entity wholly controlled by President Calvin Hastings -- has been comprised of three AM radio stations and their associated FM translators. Add another AM with an FM translator to the stable.

UF has a big broadcast media presence in Gainesville, Fla., thanks to 100kw Class C1 giant NPR member station WUFT-FM 89.1. In February, it added what is today WJUF-FM in Inverness, Fla., as a broadcast partner. Now, thanks to a deal with a broadcast ministry shedding its properties, WUFT is getting another Gainesville signal. Why?

In October, RBR+TVBR told you about "an ubiquitous presence at a trio of full-power radio stations and, today, three FM translators that all serve an area of Michigan to the west of Ann Arbor." This air personality agreed to become the stations' owner, and the deal has now closed.

It's another day without a fresh media transaction to report. As such, the focus is on a closing in Michigan, and special temporary authority (STA) requests in three locales.

For 25 years, "The Lighthouse" has served a portion of Madison, Wisc., via an FM translator relaying programming heard on a Class B licensed to Rockford, Ill. Now, the translator has been sold, and it is set to shift to a commercial operation following a facility upgrade.