When it comes to deal volume, there was a slight decrease in 2025 compared to 2024. Perhaps that’s not a fair comparison, however, as a major radio station deal that came at the close of 2024 titled the scales.
In 2024, an agreement signed by Educational Media Foundation to purchase seven FM radio stations from Salem Media Group pushed the broker in that deal, Mark Jorgenson, to the top of the list. Had that transaction not transpired, Kalil & Co. would have been at the top. In 2025, there was no such down-to-the wire nail biting as Kalil & Co. easily took the Top Broadcast Broker crown in the third annual RBR+TVBR Broker Scorecard, based on a survey conducted by RBR+TVBR and independent analyst Volker Moerbitz in collaboration with S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Kagan arm.
Based on data collected from an assessment of broadcast broker activities across U.S. radio and TV in 2025, 16 broadcast brokers were found to have assisted licensees in the sale of 137 stations. An additional 133 stations changed hands with the help of five different investment banks and did not list a broker.
Looking at all of the FCC filings recorded by RBR+TVBR and Kagan, broadcast deals worth $7.4 billion were announced in 2025. It is important to note that the totals shown in these charts reflect announced deals, per industry standards seen across the decades. A nonconsummation could be seen — as was the case in the 2023 sale of a Gainesville, Fla.-area FM by JVC Broadcasting to EMF. We also note that the $7.4 billion total includes partial deals, Construction Permits and estimated valuations for asset swaps as determined by Kagan.
“In this difficult deal-making environment, everybody who announced a transaction in 2026 is a winner.” — Volker Moerbitz
Some 84% of the total deal volume reflects the largest broadcast deal agreed to since 2013 — the $6.2 billion merger of Nexstar Media Group and TEGNA Inc. That transaction, which as of press time awaited regulatory approval, was assisted by three banks. Also brokered by investment bankers were the second- and third-largest deals of the year, the $171 million purchase of 10 Allen Media TV stations by Gray Media and the $100 million debt assumption-fueled merger of Alpha Media and Connoisseur Media.
According to our data, $218.1 million of the 2025 broadcast deal volume was achieved with the assistance of broadcast brokers. And that’s a number very similar to that of 2024, when brokers were responsible for $221 million in announced deals. Interestingly, while 2024 deal volume was the result of the work of some 24 brokers, the same volume in 2025 was achieved by only 16 brokers. Specifically, it was a series of three sales and one broker that made all the difference.
Between January and April, Imagicomm Communications LLC divested all the TV stations it acquired as Cox Media Group spinoffs, with two deals involving Deltavision Media LLC and a third tied to Patricia and Brian Lane’s Marquee Broadcasting. Imagicomm pocketed $120 million from its exit from broadcast TV station ownership, and broker for all three sales was Kalil & Co. — explaining how it climbed ahead of Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage to take the crown in 2025.
The total price of the three Imagicomm transactions represents 55% of the total brokered volume, and these deals gave Kalil a sizable lead in the overall ranking as it dominated the ranking of TV brokers. With seven radio and four TV deals, involving a total of 43 full power and 11 low-power stations, Kalil is also the leader by number of stations and by number of deals.
With five radio deals, totaling $27.7 million, last year’s overall leader — Jorgenson — became this year’s top-radio broker and secured a second-place finish overall. Jorgenson’s biggest deal was the $20 million sale of five radio stations from CMG to Zoellner Media Group.
As was the case in 2024, Greg Guy’s Tideline Partners LLC was No. 3. In addition to one small radio deal, Tideline brokered four TV deals with price tags between $675,000 and $2.5 million, respectively.
The combined deal volume of these five brokers represents 96% of the total brokered volume. That does not take anything away from the efforts of the other broadcast brokers. “In this difficult deal-making environment, everybody who announced a transaction in 2026 is a winner,” Moerbitz says.
