For those who believed a scheduled auction of all of his radio stations, as ordered by a Nevada federal bankruptcy judge, marked the finality of a long, twisting ownership tenure for Ed Stolz and his Royce International of three FM radio stations, an AM radio station, and two FM translators, think again.
Stolz, through a Reno-based attorney, has filed an appeal that seeks to block the auction.
John A. White Jr. of White Law Chartered on Tuesday filed a Notice of Appeal with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada on behalf of debtors-in-possession Silver State Broadcasting, Golden State Broadcasting and Major Market Radio.
Those are the respective licensees for KBET-AM & KFRH-FM and an FM translator serving Las Vegas; KREV-FM in San Francisco; and KRCK-FM and two FM translators covering the Palm Springs, Calif., market.
The parties to the appeal include the court-appointed trustee who has already started the publicity campaign to attract as many brokers as possible for the October auction, Michael Carmel. They also include VCY America, the religious broadcasting that had a $6 million acquisition of Stolz’s FMs in place per a California federal court order, only to have the deal terminated by the Nevada bankruptcy judge in order to consider Stolz’s full asset values.
Additionally, the parties in Stolz’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel include broker Larry Patrick, who was the court-appointed receiver in the California case who arranged the now-cancelled VCY America deal.
Tower company Crown Castle is also a party to the appeal, as is C&E Haas Development Co.
VCY America, Patrick, Crown Castle and C&E Haas are all creditors seeking funds from Stolz.
