The future of two AM radio stations and an FM translator serving Muscatine, Iowa, presently licensed to the trustee of bankrupt JAM Media Solutions, appears to be in the hands of a locally based media company co-owned by family members who have owned a Chevrolet dealership in the city for some 65 years.
Krieger Media Company, a 50/50 partnership between Joe and John Krieger, is moving forward through their VMPP LLC with the acquisition of Class A Rocker KMCS-FM “93.1 The Buzz” and Class D KWPC-AM 860 (rebroadcast by K236CF at 95.1 MHz) in Muscatine.
McCarter & English Partner Jeffrey Testa, who is based in Newark, N.J., is signing off on the asset sale on behalf of his client, which converted an October 2022 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to a Chapter 7 case in August 2023. JAM was based in New Jersey.
The transaction marks a shift in buyer for the Muscatine stations, as Local Daily Media in late April 2024 originally planned to acquire them as part of an asset liquidation effort for the company founded in 2018 by Jonathan A. Mason. One month later, the deal was off. Testa’s broker — Media Services Group Managing Partner Eddie Esserman (through his Hanna Unwired entity) — then went to work on finding new suitors.
Four FMs in North Carolina were also impacted by Local Daily Media’s deal dissolution.
With Sally Buckman at Lerman Senter PLLC serving as the buyers’ legal counsel, paperwork has been submitted to the FCC for its regulatory approval of the new Muscatine deal.
A $250,000 purchase price has been agreed to by the Kriegers. A 10% deposit has been made.
Muscatine is a Mississippi River community along U.S. Highway 61, just to the west of the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois.
