TEGNA has sold Variety Hits “100.7 San Diego” KFMB-FM and News/Talk 760 KFMB San Diego to Local Media San Diego for $5 million.
Not included in the deal are the rights to the KFMB call letters. Local Media San Diego will be given thirty days following closing to wind down use of the call letters and KFMB branding but may use them in connection of the transition of relationships with radio media
buying agencies and other accounts for a period of up to one year following the closing date. None of the tower sites are included in the deal as the contract specified the buyer will enter a ten year lease for $102,000 plus an annual increase with two five year renewal options.
760 and 100.7 will join Local Media San Diego’s three Mexican leased stations in the market: CHR “Z90” 90.3 XHTZ, Alternative “91X” 91.1 XETRA-FM, and Rhythmic AC “Magic 92.5” XHRM.
TEGNA had acquired the two stations in December 2017 along with KFMB-TV for $325 million. The two radio stations were briefly under the control of Local Media San Diego in 2015 under a Joint Operating Agreement with former owner Midwest Television.
Mark W. 
caradioguy 
Eric Jon Magnuson 
newsbot 
It’s a pleasant surprise to see that Local Media is the buyer. Excellent operator.
How odd, though, that Tegna refused use of the KFMB call letters! Is Tegna worried about those call letters being associated with a conservative-leaning talk radio format?
The low sale price is absolutely alarming! I could understand a $5 million price tag if, say, AM 760 were being sold as a standalone, but $5 million for *both* stations?!?! WOW. That is stunning.
The former KPRI went for a much higher price than that!
I’m guessing because they already own KFMB-TV they didn’t want people to think they were still co-owned anymore.
It still seems odd that Tegna would supposedly care enough about the issue to mandate such a change–especially since there are several cases where heritage call signs are still used by previously co-owned TV and radio stations. The latest major example that I can think of is that Scripps presumably had no problem with Good Karma keeping the WTMJ calls for radio. And, not long before that, CBS allowed Entercom (along with, in Boston, iHeart and Beasley) to keep the TV-related calls for its radio spinoffs.
If anything, I think that this clause might’ve been more of a deal-sweetener; my hunch is that LMSD was already leaning toward not keeping the calls, in large part because they don’t have much practical heritage left (especially for the FM).
When Guy Gannett sold off WGAN A/F in the early 1980s the call letters went with them. WGAN-TV was rechristened WGME-TV, and their longtime market dominance ended.
At that time, though, the FCC didn’t really allow separately owned stations to share the same calls; if an owner broke up an existing combo, there would’ve then been some changes. During that same era, Guy Gannett purchased Cedar Rapids’ WMT-TV, but changed the calls to KGAN–since the affiliated radio stations weren’t sold, and kept their calls.