And the final piece of the puzzle has been revealed.
BB Broadcasting will pay $750,000 for CHR “Z106.3” KDLW Los Lunas from American General Media. BB is led by Thomas Bozzuto who operates a Maryland based Real Estate Management company. BB will enter into a pair of agreements to operate the station. American General Media will provide back office services for the station and agree to a $66,000 deal over five years to utilize their equipment at the tower site. BB has also agreed to a Time Brokerage Agreement for Vanguard Media, who is purchasing 101.3 KJFA-FM, to provide programming and marketing services.
Update 6/26: The first round of filings for the deal have been made with the FCC giving more details about its structure.
American General Media will pay $5 million for Univision’s four stations.
AGM will receive the proceeds from the divestment of Univision’s 101.3 KJFA-FM Albuquerque to Don Davis’ Vanguard Media, who will pay $250,000 for the station. AGM will also receive $900,000 from VCY America for the purchase of 106.7 KAGM Los Alamos. The KAGM call letters will be retained by American General Media as part of that deal. The divestment of 106.3 KDLW Los Lunas to BB Broadcasting has yet to be filed with the FCC.
Original Report 6/14: American General Media has announced the acquisition of Univision’s four stations in Albuquerque and the concurrent divestiture of four stations to fit under the ownership limits.
AGM will acquire Rhythmic CHR “Kiss 97.3” KKSS Santa Fe, Regional Mexican “La Jefa 101.3” KJFA-FM Albuquerque, Classic Rock “102.5 The Coyote” KIOT Los Lunas, and Classic Hip-Hop “Yo 105.1” KKRG Santa Fe for an undisclosed amount.
To comply with the FCC’s ownership limits four stations will be divested:
Univision’s 101.3 KJFA will be spun to Vanguard Media, which owns Smooth Jazz “103.7 The Oasis” 1510 KOAZ/103.7 K279BP in the Albuquerque market.
Classical 95.5 KHFM Santa Fe, which applied to convert to non-commercial status earlier this year, will be donated to KHFM Community Partners.
Milwaukee based Christian network operator VCY America will acquire Modern AC “106.7 The River” KAGM Los Alamos and convert that to non-commercial status.
BB Broadcasting LLC will acquire CHR “Z106.3” KDLW Los Lunas.
No terms have been disclosed for any of the sales. Following consummation of the deals, American General Media will own 97.3 KKSS, 102.5 KIOT, 105.1 KKRG and their own Classic Hits “Big 98.5” KABG Los Alamos, Regional Mexican “Radio Lobo” 97.7 KLVO Belen/102.9 KSFE Pecos, and Active Rock “Area 102.9” 840 KARS Belen/102.9 K275AO Albuquerque.
American General Media and Univision Communications will soon file with the Federal Communications Commission to transfer the ownership of Albuquerque radio stations, KKSS-FM, KIOT-FM, KJFA-FM, and KKRG-FM from Univision to American General Media (AGM). The transaction should take approximately six weeks to be approved by the FCC and the sale will close shortly thereafter.
Rogers Brandon, president of AGM commented, “It is an honor to welcome such great radio stations into our group. Each one has a great tradition of excellence and performance. Together with our current brands, AGM will offer one the leading broadcasting platforms serving to the Albuquerque and Santa Fe communities”.
In order to comply with FCC ownership rules, AGM will simultaneously sell KAGM-FM to VCY America Inc., KDLW-FM to BB Broadcasting LLC, KJFA-FM to Vanguard Media LLC, and will donate KHFM-FM to KHFM Community Partners, which will convert the broadcasting license to non-commercial.
Kalil & Co is the broker in each of these transactions.
After the closing, the AGM station group will include KABG-FM BIG 98.5, KLVO-FM Radio LOBO, KKSS-FM KISS 97.3, KIOT-FM Coyote 102.5, KKRG-FM YO 105.1, and KARS-AM & FM.
It’ll be interesting to see how much VCY is spending here: This is likely the biggest purchase of a radio station that it’s ever made. And, considering that it’s getting $76.3 million in the spectrum auction for WVCY-TV, it might now be a bit more aggressive with acquisitions.
Guess we’ll see some tweaking at KKSS very soon, mostly in the airstaff and music.
I kind of liked the sound of Modern AC “106.7 The River” KAGM. Reminiscent of former pure Modern ACs like the old sound of The Mix/Chicago or 104.1 The Point/Minneapolis (which had an extremely tight playlist but was a pure Modern AC).