LAS VEGAS — The publicly traded broadcast media company led by President/CEO Albert Rodriguez has appointed a Corporate Controller and is celebrating the naming of a General Manager and sales head in San Francisco — moves that come as MediaCo is preparing a TV station asset expansion that, in a way, consolidates properties in which Soohyung Kim has invested in.
In separate announcements made Monday morning, MediaCo’s new Sr. VP/Corporate Controller is Robert Castro.
Castro is yet another former Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) senior executive who is joining former colleague Rodriguez at MediaCo. He spent 24 years at SBS, and was its VP of Finance since 2015. Prior to joining SBS, Castro spent more than six years at DIRECTV Latin America, where he held the roles of Accounting & Consolidation Manager and Senior Auditor, respectively. Previously, he served as an auditor at Coopers & Lybrand.
He reports to both Rodriguez and Executive VP/CFO Debra DeFelice.
“As we progress in executing on our growth strategy and building on our momentum, we have continued to strengthen our organization with seasoned media industry executives who are aligned with our vision and strategic plan,” said Rodriguez. “We look forward to working with Roberto as we scale our multimedia platform and focus on improving upon our operating performance to the benefit of all our stakeholders.”
Concurrently, Christian De La Cruz is now GM and VP/Director of Sales for the San Francisco-Oakland market. And … he’s inbound from SBS, too, as he most recently served as GM for SBS’s KRZZ-FM 93.3 “La Raza” in the San Francisco market..
“Christian is exactly the kind of leader we are investing in as we scale MediaCo’s local and national growth strategy,” said MediaCo Sr. VP/Station Group Luis Fernandez Rocha. “He brings a sharp commercial mindset, deep market expertise, and a proven ability to turn audience momentum into revenue. San Francisco is a critical market for us, and Christian will play a key role in accelerating our growth and strengthening our position with advertisers.”
With heritage New York radio brands WBLS and WQHT “HOT 97” and Spanish-language radio and TV brands under the Estrella Media arm, as well as the recently launched Sigma Audio Networks LLC, MediaCo is in growth mode even as it seeks to maintain Nasdaq minimum trading value requirements. Ahead of today’s Opening Bell for U.S. financial markets, “MDIA” was trading at $0.85.
That’s likely being eyed carefully by Soo Kim and his Standard General LP, which is the lead institutional investor in MediaCo with 46.42% equity interest as of the end of 2025; some 46.23% of MediaCo is held by Blackrock Inc.
Given Kim’s stake in MediaCo, it therefore makes sense that he’s consolidating his TV assets. In a deal likely to be filed for FCC regulatory approval in mid-to-late May, MediaCo is acquiring all of the broadcast television assets licensed to Standard Media and the Todd Parkin-controlled Rincon Broadcasting, RBR+TVBR has learned.
According to sources close to the matter, this broker-free deal is about reassigning investments for Soo, given his control of Standard Media and financial interest in Rincon.
The shift follows a late March move by Parkin to unwind the acquisition of four stations acquired from Standard Media. With Lauren Lynch Flick and Scott Flick of Pillsbury Law handling a March 24 FCC filing, Rincon agreed to transfer the properties to Standard Media’s Community News Media LLC via an Equity Acquisition Agreement valued at $116.5 million.
To be clear, the deal doesn’t just involve the stations Parkin acquired from Standard Media, but also sees the former Imagicomm stations, once owned by Brian Brady and his Northwest Broadcasting; and properties acquired by Rincon for $29.4 million from Sinclair Inc. in a July 2025 transaction.
Originally, it was believed that Sinclair Inc. would be acquiring these stations. Now, with a preliminary injunction handed from a Sacramento federal district judge to Nexstar Media Group that prevents it from fully integrating TEGNA Inc.’s stations placing a cloud on TV industry transactions, that is not happening.
Instead, Soo Kim — a man scorned by the FCC in his quest to get TEGNA himself — is not exiting broadcast TV ownership after all.
MEDIACO IS EXPECTED TO GAIN THE FOLLOWING PROPERTIES WITH A FORTHCOMING TRANSACTION:
-
WVTV-TV “CW18” in Milwaukee
-
WICS-TV “ABC 20” in Springfield, Ill., and semi-satellite WICD-TV in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
-
KHQA-TV in Hannibal, Mo., which broadcasts on Channel 7 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate serving Quincy, Ill.
-
KTVO-TV in Ottumwa, Iowa, which also serves Kirksville, Mo., on Channel 3 as a dual ABC and CBS affiliate
-
WLNE-TV “ABC6” in New Bedford, Ma.
-
WDKA “My 49” and KBSI “FOX 23″ in Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo.
-
KLKN-8 in Lincoln, Neb.
-
KAYU-28 in Spokane and its seven TV translator stations
-
KFFX-11 in Pendleton, Ore., and simulcast partners KCYU-LD 41 in Yakima, Wash., and KBWU-LD in Richland, Wash., plus K34MZ-D in Prosser, Wash.
-
KOKI-23 and KMYT-41 in Tulsa
-
KYMA-11 in Yuma, Ariz.-El Centro, Calif.
-
WHBQ-13 in Memphis
