Educational Media Foundation, the parent of the nationally distributed KLOVE and Air1 CCM formats, is now the owner of a collection of radio stations it agreed in March to acquire from Salem Media Group.
In a $7 million transaction, EMF agreed to purchase the following properties:
- Class A WFFH-FM 94.1 in Smyrna, Tenn., covering the southern metropolitan area of Nashville
- Class A WBOZ-FM 104.9 in Woodbury, Tenn., serving Murfreesboro and areas to the southeast of Smyrna
- Class A WFFI-FM 93.7 in Kingston Springs, Tenn., covering western portions of greater Nashville
- 100kw Class C KAIM-FM 95.5 in Honolulu
The deal was completed on June 26, Salem confirmed in a brief announcement released Tuesday (7/2).
Serving as the broker of record in this deal, representing Salem, is Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage, led by veteran station trader Mark Jorgenson.
In Nashville, WBOZ and WFFI became K-LOVE Member stations, taking on EMF’s Christian Contemporary Music format via an LMA ahead of closing that went into effect on May 1. Those stations join EMF’s Nashville-area WLVU-FM 97.1, licensed to Belle Meade, Tenn., as a K-LOVE Member station.
Meanwhile, prior to the deal W223BV at 92.5 MHz in Brentwood, Tenn., was the lone home for Worship Music noncomm network Air1. With the deal’s closing, WFFH is now the Nashville market home for that offering.
On the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, the first commercial FM radio station in Hawaii, which has been Christian Contemporary “The Fish” since 2000, became an Air1 Member station as expected. It joins KLOVE Member KLUU-FM 103.5 and K288FB at 105.5 MHz, which had been the lone Air1 signal in Honolulu.
