Dick Broadcasting will acquire Alpha Media’s eighteen stations and two translators in Kinston/New Bern/Jacksonville NC, Myrtle Beach SC, and Savannah GA.
Update 9/12: Alpha Media and Dick Broadcasting have filed the first portion of this deal with the FCC.
Dick will pay $14.5 million for the New Bern and Myrtle Beach clusters and $5 million for Savannah. As we reported earlier, the LMA of the three markets will commence on Monday, September 25, however the filing of the sale of the Savannah market stations will not made until August 1, 2019 and will not close until 12/31/19.
Original Report 9/5: Dick currently owns two stations in Greeensboro/Winston-Salem NC: Classic Rock “Rock 92” 92.3 WKRR and CHR 107.5 WKZL. The company previously operated in Birmingham, Knoxville, and Nashville but sold those stations to Citadel Broadcasting in 2000 for $300 million.
No terms have been announced, but an LMA is expected to start later this month.
The stations included in the deal include:
New Bern/Kinston/Jacksonville – Country “92.3/101.1 The Wolf” 92.3 WQZL/101.1 WQSL, CHR “Bob 93.3” WERO, Country 95.1 WRNS-FM, Rock “Rock 105.5” WXQR, Sports “960 The Bull” WRNS, and Standards 1330 WANG
Myrtle Beach – CHR “Energy 92.1” WMYB, Alternative 96.1 WKZQ, News/Talk “Hot Talk 99.5” WRNN-FM, Classic Rock “Wave 104.1” WYAV, and Classic Hip-Hop “G105.5” 1450 WRNN/105.5 W288DK
Savannah – Classic Country “98.3 Hank-FM” WGCO, Classic Hip-Hop “G100.1” WXYY, Rock “Rock 106.1” WFXH, Country “Bob 106.9” WUBB, Classic Hits “Rewind 107.9” WRWN, and AAA “93.5 The Island” 1130 WHHW/93.5 W228CI
Dick Broadcasting Company, a longstanding leader in the radio industry, is expanding its footprint from 2 stations in Greensboro/Winston-Salem,NC, to 20 stations across NC, SC, and GA, having signed a definitive acquisition agreement with Alpha Media. The markets are: Greenville/New-Bern, NC, Myrtle Beach, SC, and Savannah/Hilton Head.
Dick Harlow, COO of Dick Broadcasting, commented on the announcement…”this acquisition is a natural next step as we move into the 3rd generation of ownership in the Dick family. I could not be happier to be able to work with Larry Wilson and Bob Proffitt at Alpha on this acquisition. It’s ironic, for DBC sold a majority of their broadcast properties to Larry back when he was running Citadel Broadcasting, and now 17+ years later, we expand our footprint by acquiring stations from him.”
??Larry Wilson, Chairman of Alpha Media said, “I’ve known Allen Dick for many, many years and am thrilled to assist him in growing his company with the sale of these 3 great markets. My vision of this industry aligns with Allen’s, which makes me confident these stations and talented employees are in great hands.”
Allen Dick is the CEO and Owner of Dick Broadcasting.
INSTANT INSIGHT: It wasn’t very long ago that Alpha Media was growing at an exponential rate. After being fairly quiet on the dealmaking front, to see the company become a seller doesn’t say much for the state of the company especially as it has been replacing its formerly trademarked “Live & Local” properties for more jockless formats.
As Dick dropped Nielsen for its Triad stations, in favor of Eastlan, something very similar may happen with these new markets.
And Lance resisted the temptation to use some variation of “A Bigger Dick” in the headline.
But I did miss the lede that Dick bought WANG too.
Me too.
Can anyone speculate as to why they delayed filing and close on Savannah for almost 24 months?