Salem has agreed to purchase 93.3 KKSP from Capital City Broadcasting for $1.5 million. Salem is operating both KKSP and KHTE via Time Brokerage Agreements.
Update 4/2: Salem has assumed operations of 93.3 KKSP Bryant and 96.5 KHTE-FM England, AR and relaunched both Little Rock market stations.
As expected, 93.3 KKSP has flipped from Sports to Christian AC “93.3 The Fish” and relaunched Conservative Talk “96.5 The Voice” KHTE-FM as “96.5 The Answer“.
The revamp at KHTE-FM brings some lineup changes as the local Morning Jam and Glenn Beck exit the lineup and are replaced by Salem’s Bill Bennett from 5-8am and Mike Gallagher from 8-11am. Dave Ramsey is extended an hour to 11am-2pm so that all three hours are carried. The local Dave Elswick Show remains from 2-6pm followed by Sean Hannity from 6-9pm and Salem’s Dennis Prager 9pm-12am. Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt replace Coast to Coast AM in overnights.
Update 3/30: In addition to KHTE, it appears Salem will be taking over operations of Sports “93.3 The Jock” KKSP.
Unlike KHTE where the Conservative Talk format will just be reluanched, Salem will flip KKSP out of its current format to Christian AC. Salem has registered 933FMTheFish.com for KKSP and social media profiles with the new logo are already in place.
Crain Media and partner Steve Renfro recently settled their legal dispute over the operations of KKSP which saw the station placed in receivership with Crain regaining full control of the station. The group is still facing a lawsuit with regionally syndicated host Bo Mattingly over terms of their contract not being followed.
Original Report 3/18: Salem Media looks to be expanding in Little Rock via a potential LMA or purchase of Crain Media’s Conservative Talk “96.5 The Voice” KHTE-FM England, AR.
The move will come with a rebranding of KHTE under Salem’s “Answer” Conservative Talk brand as they registered 965TheAnswer.com, 965FMTheAnswer.com, and FM965TheAnswer.com yesterday. A framework for the new station website with new logo and office address is currently live at all three domains. KHTE would join Salem’s “Faith Talk 99.5” KDIS-FM in their Little Rock holdings.
Crain Media head Larry Crain is currently facing legal issues surrounding his partnership with Steve Renfro to operate Sports “93.3 The Jock” KKSP Bryant/Little Rock. Arkansas Business reported last week that Crain was found in contempt of court late last month for “deliberately thwarting” the court-appointed receiver of KKSP. The station had been placed in receivership in January due to Crain and Renfro’s inability “to manage and operate in accordance with the operating agreement.” In addition to Little Rock, Crain Media owns stations in Batesville, Conway, and Searcy, AR.
