Three years ago, a family feud of sorts ensued for Doris and Monte Miller. The longtime Kansas-based broadcasters dismissed two family members, son Christopher Miller and grandson Cale Miller, from the company. Then came barbs from Doris and Monte that Christopher Miller had unwisely expanded Rocking M Media‘s holdings to 32 stations between 2008 and 2018, putting the finances in a difficult position. There was also a April 2019 deal that never closed, with Doris and Monte Miller seizing control and taking the stations dark.
In late March, Doris and Monte Miller proceeded with a plan designed to ensure the family’s media holdings, which date to the 1880s, continue to generate profit while bringing luster back to a legacy that includes The A.Q. Miller Family School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University, named after Monte’s father — Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
It is now known that those media holdings will substantively shrink in number as the elder Millers seek to emerge from debtor-in-possession status.
Media broker Greg Guy of Patrick Communications has been recruited to help market and, ultimately, engage in the sale of 13 AM and FM radio stations associated with the Millers’ Rocking M Media LLC and Rocking M Media Wichita LLC.
It is pursuant to bid procedures outlined in a Court Order entered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas by Patrick Communications LLC.
Indeed, a bankruptcy court-administered auction of the 13 stations is taking shape. A 60-day process to generate bids has commenced. All bids are due no later than 6pm Eastern on September 27, 2022. The auction will then transpire in October, with stations being sold individually or as groups depending only on the interest level and proposed bids, Patrick says.
No contact with station personnel is allowed; no visits to any of the stations are permitted.
The pending sale of the 13 AMs and FMs follows a May 11, 2022 filing by Rocking M Media with the FCC amending its licensee status to “debtor in possession.”
Rocking M is represented by Kansas City based attorney Sharon Stolte of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard. Speaking to the Wichita Eagle, Stotle said the goal was to sell some of the unprofitable radio stations, while reorganizing the debt of the remaining stations.
It is believed that, post-bankruptcy, Rocking M Media will own 7 radio stations.
Under Christopher Miller’s direction, Rocking M grew swiftly. The licensee first moved forward with the Oct. 12, 2016 purchase of KSAL-AM 1150, Class C3 KSAL-FM 104.9; Class D KABI-AM 1560; and Class C1 100kw KYEZ-FM 93.7 in Salina, Kan.; and Class C1 KBLS-FM 102.5 in North Fort Riley, Kan., from Alpha Media for an undisclosed price; KBLS was spun off to a local owner due to FCC local ownership limits. At the time, RBR+TVBR featured a two-part series on Rocking M Media’s growth. “We’re just a small family company,” Christopher Miller said at the time. “We stick to our own knitting.” He also offered the following quote: “We’re not a radio company. We’re a business development company.”
By November 2019, Rocking M was hardly quiet. In September 2019, the fate of four FMs, an AM with an FM translator, and an AM talker serving the Wichita market was put into question after a blame-game blow-up found an entity that said it had agreed to purchase the stations — Allied Media Partners (AMP) — locked out of the studios by the landlord, who blamed Rocking M for failing to pay the rent. Then, Rocking M split up its Salina, Kansas cluster by handing control of four stations to Christopher Miller.
Most recently, Rocking M in December 2021 won the OK of Al Shuldiner, Chief of the FCC Media Bureau’s Audio Division, for the license renewals of the Wichita properties. He also approved the sale of KKGQ-FM in Newton, Ks. However, in order for it to happen, Rocking M entered into a Consent Decree and made a $7,000 contribution to the U.S. Treasury.
