In December 2007, a licensee led by John Low acquired an AM radio station licensed to Wickenburg, Ariz., from Richard and Joann Peterson for $500,000. Today, that facility is based in Apache Junction, and boasts an FM translator in Payson, Ariz.
In July, Low agreed to sell the facilities. The deal has just closed.
For $850,000, KBSZ-AM 1260 in Apache Junction, Ariz., and K247CF at 97.3 MHz in Payson, Ariz., was sold by Low’s 1TV.com Inc. to William Tucker Jr.-led WOOK Radio DC Inc.
Serving as the exclusive broker of this transaction is George Kimble of Kozacko Media Services.
According to Kimble, engineering changes allow K247CF to reach parts of Scottsdale and central Phoenix; for Tucker, this could mean an expanded listener base for the Classic Rock format that remains in place on the facilities. However, the Construction Permit for K247CF sees a shift to a South Mountain tower, with coverage of the entire SanTan Valley and cities including Tempe, Chandler, Mesa and Queen Creek. In fact, KBSZ’s city of license would fall outside the 60 dBu contour of K247CF. The pre-Construction Permit tower was adjacent to Usery Mountain, above Mountain Ridge in Mesa, Ariz., and had a very small contour.
If the licensee name is familiar to you, it is because WOOK was once a Washington, D.C.-based AM radio station that pioneered serving African Americans in the 1950s. Following a nine-year battle that saw the FCC issue a Hearing Designation Order to the owner of WOOK-AM, a preservation of the station’s intellectual property saw a shift to 100.3 MHz over Christmas 1976, giving birth to WOOK-FM. That incarnation of WOOK ended in 1984.
— With reporting from RBR+TVBR in Mesa, Ariz.
