In December 2007, a licensee led by John Low acquired an AM radio station licensed to Wickenburg, Ariz., from Richard and Joann Peterson for $500,000. Today, that facility is based in Apache Junction, shifting from the far northwestern corner of the sprawling Phoenix DMA to its easternmost point — one that continues to experience unprecedented growth.
Now, Low is cashing in by selling the AM, and its FM translator.
KBSZ-AM 1260 in Apache Junction, Ariz., is being sold along with K247CF at 97.3 MHz in Payson, Ariz., from Low’s 1TV.com Inc. to William Tucker Jr.-led WOOK Radio DC Inc.
An $850,000 purchase price has been agreed upon by both parties. Serving as the exclusive broker of this transaction is George Kimble of Kozacko Media Services.
If the licensee name is familiar to you, it is because WOOK was once a Washington, D.C.-based AM radio station that pioneered serving African Americans in the 1950s. Following a nine-year battle that saw the FCC issue a Hearing Designation Order to the owner of WOOK-AM, a preservation of the station’s intellectual property saw a shift to 100.3 MHz over Christmas 1976, giving birth to WOOK-FM. That incarnation of WOOK ended in 1984.
But, don’t expect KBSZ and K247CF to embrace a Classic R&B format. The facilities will retain their current Classic Rock format, “with a number of improvements and modifications” coming from the new owner, Kimble says.
K247CF presently holds a Construction Permit that allows it to cover Tempe and Chandler, Ariz., with a city-grade signal, shifting from a Usery Mountain facility limiting coverage solely to Mesa, which will still be able to hear the FM translator. The shift also adds parts of Scottsdale and Central Phoenix to the FM’s listening area.
K247CF is short-spaced in the West Valley to KMVA-FM 97.5 in Dewey-Humboldt, Ariz.
