For more than two decades, he had been an operator of radio stations serving one of the most bucolic viticultural regions of the Golden State — the wine-producing Santa Ynez Valley of northern Santa Barbara County. On June 15, 2022, the future of those facilities came into question as the owner, Shawn Knight, died following a paragliding accident.
On March 8, one of the Knight Broadcasting properties was sold to Stefan Carpenter and Erron Vela’s Santa Ynez Valley Media. Now, a new licensee has come forward for Knight’s “Mix 96.7,” and all signs point to a noncommercial conversion of this Class A FM.
An asset donation agreement has been signed by Knight Broadcasting President Lori Varlotta that will see the transfer of control of KSYV-FM in Santa Ynez, Calif., to California Lutheran University.
With the Law Office of Dennis J. Kelly serving as Knight’s legal counsel and F. Scott Pippin of Lerman Senter representing Cal Lutheran, paperwork seeking regulatory approval of the transfer of control has been filed with the FCC.
No cash consideration is involved in the transaction.
KSYV’s signal covers such wine country towns as Solvang, Lompoc, Los Alamos, Buellton, and the city of Santa Maria. It can also be heard in much of lower San Luis Obispo County. The station first signed on in September 1982, and was acquired by Knight in 2001 for $655,000, with the promise of serving an area that had little in the way of FM radio reception yet was seeing growth thanks to the film “Sideways” and the creation of a casino resort run by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans, in Solvang.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and Mr. Knight’s untimely passing, created a difficult business environment for Knight Broadcasting. Furthermore, advertising in California’s Central Coast for both radio and television has been challenging, leading to a reduction-in-force at American General Media as The E.W. Scripps Co.’s re-envisioning of its news rooms across its broadcast TV stations led to the departure of KSBY-6 leader Ed Chapuis at the end of 2023.
Now, the future of KSYV will see it shift to noncommercial status. But, will it rebroadcast NPR Member KCLU-FM in Thousand Oaks, Calif., the primary spoken word-led public radio station in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties? In Santa Maria it can be heard on KCLM-FM; there is much signal duplication — at least according to maps seen on Radio-Locator.com.
Because of the mountainous terrain between Santa Ynez and Santa Maria, radio stations can be compromised. As such, KSYV offers Cal Lutheran a solid “fill-in” opportunity, while fully serving Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
KCBX, based in San Luis Obispo, focuses on areas between Santa Maria and communities due north of Paso Robles with a mix of eclectic music and spoken word shows.
