Following the $82.75 million purchase of “Power 106” 105.9 KPWR Los Angeles from Emmis, is The Meruelo Group planning a bigger radio play?
Buried in a Las Vegas Review-Journal profile of Meruelo Group head Alex Mereulo following the purchase of the SLS Hotel & Casino last week, was the tidbit that Mereulo has been quietly buying up shares of Spanish Broadcasting System. SBS has been dealing with a number of financial difficulties since the start of 2017 as it has been delisted from the NASDAQ exchange, inability to sell its television licenses in the FCC TV Spectrum Auction, and having $275 million in debt notes
default on April 17. This has seen their stock plummet from a 52 week high of $4.60 per share on November 29 to a low of 42 cents on April 16 and back up to 90 cents as of this writing.
Adding SBS to Mereulo’s holdings would give the company two more FM’s in Los Angeles to pair with KPWR and Classic Hip-Hop 93.5 KDAY. SBS also owns two FMs in New York, three in Miami, four in Puerto Rico, and one each in Chicago and San Francisco. The company also owns Aire Radio Networks, the national Mega TV network, and television stations in Houston, Miami and Puerto Rico.