In July 2017, a Chicago-based entity led by Richard Bonick quietly acquired a FM translator licensed to Mt. Holly, N.J., from Rowan College at Burlington County for $125,000.
Now, Bonick’s Spectrum Development Group is cashing out in a big way with the sale of the facility, which uses a tower at 1700 Market Street to reach Philadelphia’s south side and such communities on the east side of the Delaware River as Camden and Pennsauken, N.J.
A Form 345 filing made recently with the FCC shows that Spectrum is agreeing to sell W264BH at 100.7 MHz to Far West Radio LLC.
That’s an entity controlled by Fred Weinberg, the COO of USA Radio Networks, which offers syndicated spoken word programming to English-language stations across the globe.
And, Weinberg is paying $1 million for the translator — resulting in a $875,000 profit for Bonick.
A $150,000 escrow deposit has been made to Spectrum by Weinberg.
Weinberg’s legal counsel in this transaction is David O’Neil of Rini O’Neil.
The signal contour of W264BH is designed so as to not interfere with Cumulus Media-owned Adult Contemporary WLEV-FM 100.7 in the nearby Allentown, Pa., market, a Class B facility.
Bonick made news in November 2016 for Spectrum’s $350,000 acquisition of W244BQ, a 90-watt directional FM translator serving Chicago assigned to 96.7 MHz and licensed to Park Ridge, Ill.
Then, there is Weinberg, who recently grabbed another Chicago-market FM translator — W256CL at 99.1 MHz — from the dissolved broadcast ministry Edgewater Broadcasting for $1.9 million. This facility is slated for relocation atop the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower.
