The CEO of Taylor Communications, through a newly formed company, has emerged as the winning bidder of all 10 stations put up for auction in a bankruptcy court to resolve debt associated with Rocking M Media.
A February 15 court date to approve the auction is the final step in the process. That’s all but a formality, as Kansas Broadcasting Co. is already looking forward to taking over the properties until today associated with Monte and Doris Miller.
The long-anticipated auction of the stations was held on Thursday (2/1). While the auction was authorized by a Kansas federal bankruptcy court, it was held remotely.
The results of Thursday’s bidding show Kyle Bauer, through the newly formed Kansas Broadcasting Co., as the winning bidder of all 10 stations. He secured the properties with a $2.71 million bid in a combined bid, after “northern” and “southern” assets were put up for bid individually. Once bid totals for the two regions were obtained, the combined assets were then offered up for bids no lower than the dollar amount set through the individual bidding rounds.
Bauer’s bid includes a 5% buyer’s premium of $135,500, putting the total purchase price at $2,845,500.
As the winning bidder, Bauer is poised to own three stations licensed to “Melia Communications” — a 50/50 partnership between Monte and Doris Miller: KLOE-AM & KKCI-FM in Goodland, Kansas; and KWGB-FM in Colby, Kansas. The second group of radio stations is licensed to Rocking M, which sees Doris, Monte and Christopher Miller each hold one-third equity interest. The stations associated with RMM are KXXX-AM & KRDQ-FM in Colby, KGNO-AM, KZRD-FM & KAHE-FM in Dodge City, KERP-FM in Ingalls, and KSMM-FM in Liberal, Kansas.
The court-administered sale of the radio properties was first announced in November 2023, as part of a bankruptcy filing made in March 2022 by Rocking M.
By August 2022, media broker Greg Guy, of Tideline Partners, was recruited to help sell some 13 Rocking M properties, with a post-bankruptcy plan to own 7 radio stations following additional divestments.
In late October 2022, a first court-administered auction was held. My Town Media, the licensee led by Bill Wachter, was the successful lead bidder for the seven Rocking M stations serving the Wichita market in that auction, including an FM translator. Great Plains Christian Radio purchased a Minneapolis, Kansas, FM; a Lindsborg, Kansas, FM, and an AM/FM combo in Larned, Kansas were awarded to Ad Astra per Aspera Broadcasting, a longtime regional operator. White Communications got an FM in Great Bend, Ks.
One year later, with Rocking M still seeking to emerge from debtor-in-possession status, Guy on November 9, 2023, was granted by the court permission to sell the remaining properties — 10 in total.
Two groups of properties were, therefore, placed into a second court-administered auction, again involving Greg Guy as the broker.
KEY CREDITOR A BACKUP BIDDER
In its 2022 bankruptcy filing, Rocking M noted that its largest unsecured creditors include music rights organization ASCAP, SESAC and fellow music rights group Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). The biggest debt is a $3,745,614.50 secured claim of creditor Belate LLC of Houston. It is a Blanket Lien on personal property (excluding the assets of KKGQ); equity securities of Rocking M Radio; Rocking M Media; and life insurance policies for Monty and Doris Miller.
Belate has been a particularly thorny entity for the Miller family, as it seeks to recoup its losses. And, the winning bid from Bauer does not do so in full.
But, what if for some reason Bauer cannot complete the transaction? Belate LLC is one of two backup bidders, as it put in a court-approved $1.9 million bid (plus 5% buyer’s premium) for the real estate associated with KXXX-AM and KRDQ-FM in Colby-Goodland, Kansas and for the stations KLOE-AM, KKCI-FM and KWGB-FM.
These are the “Northern” stations. The backup bidder for the “Southern” stations, comprised of KGNO-AM, KAHE-FM, KERP-FM, KSMM-FM & KZRD-FM in the Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal, Kansas region is Western Kansas Broadcast Center LLC.
Their bid, including the buyer’s premium, totals $270,000.
RBR+TVBR has learned that six total bidders participated in the heavily marketed auction.
