He’s the man behind Rochester, Ill.-based Hart Media Group, and he’s just struck a deal that will add to the company’s stable of two AM and six FM radio stations serving an area of downstate Illinois to the east of Springfield.
Matt Hart is buying the stations from an entity that earlier this month revealed that it is exiting the broadcast ownership arena.
The seller is Randal J Miller, and his Kaskaskia Broadcasting of Taylorville, Ill., has agreed to sell WHOW-AM, W222BG, and WEZC-FM in Clinton, Ill., and W293DJ in Normal, Ill., to Hart Media Group.
These stations have been operated via the Miller Media Group, associated with the online DeWitt Daily News.
In a concurrent deal, filed separately with the FCC for regulatory approval, Miller’s Miller Communications Inc. is selling the following properties serving Taylorville, Pana and Shelbyville:
- WTIM-AM 870, with FM translators serving Taylorville, Shelbyville and Pana
- WRAN-FM “Groovy 97.3”
- WSVZ-FM “Cruisin’ 98.3”
- W281BO “New Country 104.1”
A purchase price of $1,383,000 has been agreed to by the parties. A $119,000 deposit has been made. A Promissory Note of $1,264,000 will be honored, with one note valued at $869,758.40, and a second note valued at $394,241.60. Each note will bear annual interest of 4%, with amortization at a 20-year term.
This puts interest payments at $7,660.
Serving as the seller’s legal counsel is Anthony T. Lepore of Radiotvlaw Associates; the buyer’s legal counsel is Lauren Lynch Flick of Pillsbury Law.
Miller has been the owner of the AM/FM combo for more than a decade, and in 2013 rebuilt the stations’ transmitter after a fire silenced the broadcast pair. On March 3, it became known that Miller Media Group had struck a deal to spin these properties to Hart; financial details were not shared at the time.
As previously reported, Hart will retain Miller for a year during the transition. Hart is a Taylorville native and was a former part-time announcer on WTIM in Taylorville in the 1990s.
