In fall 2017, a subsidiary of New Directions Broadcast Group agreed to convert an LMA of a group of radio stations in the Branson, Mo., area into an outright purchase. The buyer? A licensee 51% owned by the corporate director of sales for Earls Family Broadcasting from 2004-2010. The other 49% was held by a former U.S. presidential candidate and syndicated talk show host.
Now, that former Earls sales pro is exiting the partnership, handing all of his stake in the company to Mike Huckabee.
This sees Paul Coates hand his 51% majority ownership of New Directions to Huckabee.
FCC approval is needed, and paperwork has been filed with the Commission.
Once the transfer of control is complete, Coates will resign as manager and as an officer of New Directions-controlled Ozark Mountain Media Group, which purchased the former Earls stations; Bluff City Radio; and East Texas Results Media.
While Coates’ departure from the partnership is now publicly known for the first time, paperwork was drafted in October 2020 putting the wheels in motion on the ownership shift.
Huckabee’s interest in the company is held via his Blue Diamond Horizon Inc., based in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.
