At age 83, Gene Loving has experienced a lot across more than six decades in the radio industry. Now, he’s decided to focus on his company’s radio stations east of the Rocky Mountains by selling a pair of rimshot FMs with boosters allowing them to cover the Denver market.
In a deal that sees Greg Guy of Tideline Partners serve as the broker for the buyer, Loving-led Max Media has agreed to sell Class Cs KFCO-FM 107.1 in Bennett, Colo. and KJHM-FM 101.5 in Watkins, Co.
Each station uses a mammoth broadcast tower that is one of the biggest structures in the U.S., located on plains some 60 miles to the east of Denver International Airport. However, the Hoyt Radio Tower broadcast signals are each enhanced by 20kw boosters from a tower between Commerce City and Aurora, cities adjacent to Denver.
Who’s the buyer? Look no further than a broadcast ministry that believes “reaching people on a personal level delivers by far the greatest impact.” For Pillar Media, that means sharing “the good news of Christ” by way of over-the-air radio.
As such, it is greatly expanding its presence in Denver by agreeing to the deal, which RBR+TVBR has confirmed is valued at $7.55 million. A $575,000 escrow deposit is being held with Fidelity National Title, National Commercial Services.
The addition of KFCO and KJHM to Pillar Media’s holdings brings FMs into the Denver operations, as it already owns and operates KPOF-AM 910 in the market. In fact, KPOF has been associated with Pillar of Fire, Pillar Media’s parent, since March 9, 1928. Ninety-five years later, it remains a vital source of inspirational programming, and broadcasts in HD Radio as “The Point of Faith.” And, it uses K274DF at 102.7 MHz for limited FM coverage of the market.
What will Pillar Media do with KJHM, “Jammin’” rhythmic Adult Contemporary music to the market, and KFCO, airing classic hip-hop as “FLO 107.1“? Perhaps a “Star” will be born in the market for either of these two stations.
That’s because Pillar of Fire has seen much success in Cincinnati with WAKW “Star 93.3” and in Central New Jersey with WAWZ “Star 99.1,” each Contemporary Christian Music stations.
Regardless, Pillar Media clearly sees an opportunity to compete for underwriting support and listeners of Educational Media Foundation’s KLOVE O&O in Denver, KLDV-FM, and Air1 worship music sibling KRKA-FM.
Art Garza, Director of Broadcasting for Pillar Media, commented, “We are grateful to the Lord for this incredible opportunity. It’s been a prayer of the Pillar of Fire Board for many years to expand its ministry in Denver. Consequently, we are thrilled and blessed for the opportunity to expand
our ministry through these two FM stations.”
Pillar Media Brand Director Matt Stockman added, “We are thrilled to serve the Denver community with 3 local radio stations all offering uplifting music and positive stories to different audiences, but with the singular mission of encouraging the Mile High City into a growing relationship with Jesus.”
Mark Lipp of Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth served as Pillar Media’s legal counsel in this transaction. For Max Media, Meagan Kalantar of Williams Mullen in Virginia Beach, Va., where the company is headquartered, served as its legal representative in the deal.
With Max Media’s exit from Denver, it retains ownership of radio stations in its home DMA of Norfolk in addition to the Missouri cities of Poplar Bluff and Cape Girardeau, as well as the Marion-Carbondale-Harrisburg, Ill., market. It also hands Audacy Inc. an opportunity to tweak its KQKS-FM “KS107.5,” a longtime rhythmic Top 40 station, while also allowing iHeartMedia to perhaps consider a new path for KDHT-FM “Hits 95.7,” both of which are cluster laggards in Denver.
The transaction also continues an evolution of Max Media, which agreed to acquire what are today KFCO and KJHM in April 2009 for $12 million; the stations were obtained through a bankruptcy proceeding of their previous owner, Blake Mendenhall.
Prior to November 2007, Max Media was also a television station owner, with CBS affiliate KYTX-19 in Tyler-Longview-Nacogdoches, Tex. sold to London Broadcasting Company for $25 million. Today it is owned by TEGNA.
For Loving, a unique and remarkable career in radio broadcasting will continue. In the 1960s, his syndicated interviews with The Beatles could be heard on stations across the U.S., as he attracted big audiences for his daily radio program at WGH-AM 1310 in Norfolk.
In 1991, he co-founded the original Max Media Properties, and its current incarnation dates to 2001, when Loving teamed with local TV sales veteran John Trinder and the late Chuck McFadden — a former GM of WTVZ-TV in Norfolk — to build a company that today includes radio stations in the Tidewater region, including WGH. At the end of 2020, Loving gained a greater ownership stake in the company as Guggenheim Partners withdrew its 55% asset ownership of Max Media.
