DALLAS — A 98,000-watt Class C FM signal that covers the northern half of the sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the Oklahoma cities of Ardmore and Durant has officially transitioned from talk about hoops and passes to Biblical teaching, Sacred Music and “Informative News.”
At 10:30pm Central on Wednesday, KESN-FM 103.3 officially concluded its broadcasts as “ESPN Radio,” as VCY America completed its previously announced acquisition of the station from The Walt Disney Company.
As RBR+TVBR reported in December 2021, VCY paid $9.25 million for the station, which serves fast-growing Collin County, Denton, and much of Dallas with a city-grade signal.
Greg Guy of Patrick Communications served as the broker, and he’s also the broker that served as the facilitator of a now-rewound deal that allowed VCY America to acquire KREV/San Francisco, KFRH/Las Vegas and KRCK in Palm Springs, Calif., through a court-appointed receivership established by a California Federal court overseeing a matter involving Ed Stolz and his Royce International Broadcasting. As has been reported by RBR+TVBR, VCY began operating those three stations via an LMA ahead of completing its purchase. The FCC never approved the deal, opening the door for a Nevada bankruptcy judge to negate the transaction, arguing that the value of the assets needed to be included in Royce’s restructuring plan for emergence from the voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization fiing.
While VCY could still get the three stations and the matter remains messy, the KESN deal was much easier to conclude.
As such, the KESN call letters are gone and KVDT-FM is now on the air.
KVDT joins Lubbock-based KVCE-FM 92.7 as its second Lone Star State FM.
But, VCY says it will soon be signing on soon in the Midland-Odessa, Tex., market.
That depends on when VCY closes on its acquisition of KTXC-FM 104.7 in Lamesa, Tex. from Gray Television. This deal was announced in June 2021, with Patrick also serving as the broker. The KTXC deal is valued at $650,000.
KESN listeners since October 2020 have been redirected to KTCK-AM 1310 and FM 96.7 “The Ticket,” owned by Cumulus Media. At the time, locally focused programming ceased on KESN, with only the ESPN Radio national feed airing on the 103.3 MHz facility.
— Reporting by Adam R Jacobson. Additional reporting by Zachary Pollack in Waco, Tex.
