Arthur Liu’s Multicultural Radio Broadcasting has sold a 5kw day/1 kw night AM in California to an operator who intends to target South Asian listeners.
Lotus Communications has acquired the FM translator it is presently using for an ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate in the Golden State.
The University of New Orleans is set to use a translator to rebroadcast an HD signal tied to the Crescent City’s NPR affiliate.
A Class D AM serving New Mexico’s biggest city is being gifted from wife to husband.
These are the highlights in RBR + TVBR’s TRANSACTIONS TODAY.
PUNJABI GRABS THIRD GOLDEN STATE AM
Punjabi American Media, headed by President Balwinder Kaur Khalsa, has purchased KWRU-AM 1300 in Fresno, Calif. from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, the company run by Arthur Liu.
The purchase price for KWRU, which uses 1 tower for daytime use and two towers for nighttime use, is $750,000.
Punjabi is making a 10% deposit, with $75,000 immediately being placed in escrow. Additionally, Punjabi’s purchase price includes a $37,500 broker fee to William Schutz, who represented Multicultural Radio Broadcasting in this transaction.
Punjabi’s addition of KWRU brings the company’s radio station count to three, as it also owns KIID-AM/Sacramento, which is moving an FM translator from a remote area near Placerville, Calif. to suburban Granite Bay, Calif. Punjabi’s other holding is simulcast partner KOBO-AM/Yuba City, Calif., which uses 200-watt translator K243CF to bring KOBO to the FM dial, at 96.5 MHz.
Punjabi paid $800,000 for KIID in June 2015, purchasing the former Radio Disney affiliate from The Walt Disney Co.
KWRU will adopt the “Punjabi Radio USA” programming presently heard on KIID and KOBO. It presently airs the Spanish Religious “Radio Vida Abundante” format, targeting Hispanic Messianic Jews.
The Punjabi community has grown substantially in California’s northern San Joaquin Valley in recent years. Yuba City in particular has a large population of immigrants from this Indian state.
Similar growth is being seen in Fresno, hence the acquisition of KWRU.
KWRU boasts a full-market signal that also extends to the nearby Visalia, Calif. and Merced, Calif. markets.
With the sale of KWRU, Multicultural’s California radio station roster is reduced to four; it will continue to own AMs in Pasadena, Pomona, San Francisco and San Jose.
Radio historians will note that KWRU is the former home of KYNO-AM, a hugely successful Top 40 station owned by consultant Eugene Chenault that proved to be the testing ground for legendary “Boss Radio” KHJ/Los Angeles and at KFRC/San Francisco.
ESPN DEPORTES RADIO EXPANDS TO FM IN BAKERSFIELD
Lotus Communications-owned ESPN Deportes Radio affiliate KWAC-AM 1490 in Bakersfield, Calif. has purchased an FM translator it uses to the bring the syndicated Spanish-language Sports Talk network to the FM dial in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Lotus is paying $125,000 for the translator from Living Proof Inc.
K229CD, licensed to Shafter, Calif., is licensed for 250 watts at 93.7 MHz. From a peak in northeast Bakersfield, K229CD is able to reach the entire metropolitan area.
BAYOU SCHOOL GETS NOLA TRANSLATOR FOR HD OFFERING
The University of New Orleans’ noncommercial WWNO-FM 89.9 in New Orleans, a Class C1 facility that serves as the market’s main NPR affiliate, has obtained an FM translator in the suburb of Metarie, La.
The school is paying $200,000 for K285FF, at 104.9 MHz. Presently silent, the translator is slated to get an upgrade from 99 watts to 250 watts.
The seller is Crocodile Broadcasting Corp., owner of Spanish-language 1kw Tropical KGLA-AM 1540 in nearby Gretna, La.
No broker was involved with this transaction.
The University of New Orleans intends to use K285FF to rebroadcast the HD2 Classical or HD3 Jazz signal of WWNO. It did not further specify the programming the translator will eventually get.
WIFE GIFTS ALBUQUERQUE AM TO HUBBY
KOAZ-AM 1510 in Isleta, NM, which airs a Smooth Jazz format as “The Oasis,” is being assigned to Vanguard Media owner Don Davis by his wife, Martha Whitman.
KOAZ boasts a 5kw day/25 watt night facility with 1 tower; its signal blankets the Albuquerque, NM market.
As “The Oasis,” KOAZ’s marketing efforts focus on FM translators K279BP, at 103.7 in Albuquerque. An application is being filed with the FCC that will also transfer this translator from Whitman to Davis.
FCC documentation confirms that no payment is changing hands.
