The first television station to serve a wide swath of coastal California between Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, jokingly known here as “behind the Redwood Curtain,” is now owned by the company that controls the crosstown CBS affiliate —a facility once owned by iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel.
The closing of the sale of NBC affiliate KIEM-3, which saw Kalil & Co. serve as the exclusive broker in this transaction, is our top topic of discussion in RBR+TVBR‘s TRANSACTIONS TODAY for Dec. 4, 2017.
On August 23, TRANSACTIONS TODAY‘s Humboldt County, Calif. correspondent shared the news that KIEM-3, which serves the Eureka-Arcata, Calif., area in addition to Crescent City and the Trinity Alps along Highway 299, was sold by Pollack/Belz Broadcasting LLC to Redwood Television Partners LLC.
On Friday (12/1), the change in ownership was completed, as the deal closed.
There was no price disclosed in this transaction.
With Redwood now the owner of KIEM-3, it owns the traditional ratings leader in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Meanwhile, it continues to operate KVIQ-17, the region’s CBS affiliate.
But, Redwood can’t have a duopoly under the FCC’s rules regarding local market concentration. That’s why a Form 314 was filed on August 24 with the FCC indicating that Redwood is selling KVIQ to Prime Cities Broadcasting for just $10,000.
Prime Cities is based in Hilton Head Island, S. Carolina, and is 100% controlled by John Tupper. Tupper has attributable interest in WNYS-43 in Syracuse, a MyNetwork TV affiliate.
This is integral to perhaps understanding KVIQ’s future: WNYS is operated through an LMA by Redwood-affiliated Northwest Broadcasting as a sister station to the company’s FOX affiliate in Syracuse, WSYT.
Thus, the stage was set for KVIQ to be operated by Redwood via an LMA agreement with Tupper’s company.
Included with KIEM are two translators: K02OD-D in Shelter Cove, a small coastal community to the west of Garberville, in southern Humboldt County; and K07GJ-D in Hoopa, a Native American community on the western edge of the Trinity Alps.
KIEM’s seller, Pollack/Belz Broadcasting, is a Tennessee-based company headed by William Pollack.
Pollack reflected on his company’s ownership of KIEM, which dates to 1996, by saying, “The past 21 years have brought much accomplishment and innovation to KIEM. From analog to high definition, we rode the wave of technological change. Our success has been accomplished by the combination of a professional local staff focused on providing outstanding local television service and the overwhelming support of the advertising community. [There is] no doubt Redwood Television Partners will provide the same unparalleled level of community involvement, which is why News Channel 3 is ‘The Spirit of the North Coast.’”
Redwood Television and its associated entities currently own NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates across markets in Idaho, Arizona, California and Mississippi. The company also owns radio stations in California and Hawaii.
Pollack owns TV stations in Louisiana and Arkansas; radio stations in Illinois, Nevada and Missouri; and multi-screen movie theaters in Nebraska, Arkansas and Missouri.
KVIQ’s recent history saw the Ackerley Group acquire the station from Miller Broadcasting in 1986. Ackerley built local studios and heavily competed against KIEM with its “Action News 6” operation. But, with Clear Channel’s purchase of Ackerley, the costly news operation was dismantled; the studios were knocked down in 2013 to accommodate a signage area for a recently built Holiday Inn Express.
As reported by RBR+TVBR, Clear Channel sold KVIQ to Robert Castro’s Sainte Partners II, which effectively managed the property for the radio-focused company. In December 2013, Redwood acquired KVIQ from Sainte for $1.25 million.
The KIEM sale and pending KVIQ transaction’s closing result in a change in ownership for every TV station in one of the nation’s smallest DMAs in just the last 12 months.
In April, the Randy Bongarten-led Bonten Media Group sold its stations — including ABC-affiliated KAEF-23, FOX-affiliated KBVU-28, The CW-affiliated KECA-LD 29.1, MyNetwork TV-affiliated KECA-LD 29.2, and Univision-affiliated KEUV-LP 31 in Eureka-Arcata — to Sinclair Broadcast Group.
IN OTHER TRANSACTIONS TODAY:
- Cascade Community Radio had until Jan. 5, 2018 to divest Class A KTFH-FM 88.7 in Less Camp, Ore., in the heart of Tillamook State Forest to the west of Portland, since it needs a license to cover for LPFM KDOO-FM 101.5 in Portland by that time. Assignment of KTFM to Aaron Seltzer’s Rogue Radio has been pending for four years. Now, a new application “replaces that application,” Cascade says, and notes, “if expedited processing is possible it would be appreciated.” There is no written agreement for the license transfer, as no money is being exchanged.
- Silent FM translator W256BD in Michigan City, Ind., is being transferred from FCR Broadcasting (formerly Friends of Christian Radio Broadcasting) to Gerard Media LLC for $12,000. It will be used to bring “AM revitalization” to Class D WHFB-AM 1060 in Benton Harbor, Mich. Concurrently, in a separate Form 315 filing, FCR also is selling to Gerard W273BM in Benton Harbor for $12,000. Like W256BD, this facility will be used to rebroadcast WHFB.
