From its birth on July 1, 1954, through its acquisition by the forerunner of Estrella Media in 1987, this 6kw FM serving Orange County, Calif., aired a Beautiful Music and, eventually, a Soft Adult Contemporary format.
With its purchase by Liberman Broadcasting, the station focused at first on brokered programming, with Korean-language and Vietnamese-language fare sharing airtime with techno music-themed nighttime fare billed as “Double Dip Radio” circa 1994. As 1997 began, classic Regional Mexican fare focused on Ranchera music debuted. This ended on Jan. 1, 2023, thanks to a LMA agreement with a Hispanic-focused broadcast ministry.
Now, that ministry is agreeing to purchase KWIZ-FM 96.7 in Santa Ana, Calif.
An asset purchase agreement was submitted on March 1 to the FCC seeking regulatory approval of the deal, which in fact is a LMA-to-buy opportunity signed on January 1 by Estrella Media and Vision Latina parent The Universal Church.
An $8 million purchase price was agreed upon, with a $3.6 million deposit including any LMA fees paid ahead of the closing date.
There is no broker or finder associated with this transaction, which sees Kathleen Kirby of Wiley Law serve as Estrella Media’s legal counsel.
The “Vision Latina” format is focused on Spanish-language talk and teaching programming targeting evangelical Hispanics. And, the company operates a television station, too, housed at KJLA-TV in Los Angeles. It is operated through an affiliation agreement with a company with links to Entravision.
KWIZ’s signal is limited to an area that includes Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, but mainly Orange County municipalities stretching from Anaheim to Laguna Niguel.
An Estrella Media spokesperson tells RBR+TVBR that Estrella Media retains ownership of the La Ranchera name for its radio stations and will continue its La Ranchera streaming audio channels. “We thank the team at KWIZ for their work on the station,” the company said.
— With reports from RBR+TVBR in Santa Clarita, Calif.
