Emmis has revealed more details of its previously announced deals to sell its St. Louis stations to Entercom and Hubbard.
Hubbard Radio will pay $45 million for Classic Rock 94.7 KSHE Crestwood and Alternative “105.7 The Point” KPNT Collinsville IL as those stations join Country “New Country 92.3” WIL-FM, Sports “101 Sports” 101.1 WXOS, and Variety Hits “106.5 The Arch” WARH in Hubbard’s expanded St. Louis cluster.
Entercom will add CHR “Now 96.3” KNOU and News/Talk “FM News/Talk 97.1” KFTK-FM Flourissant for $15 million as they join Hot AC “Y98” 98.1 KYKY, AC 102.5 KEZK, and News/Talk 1120 KMOX. As reported yesterday, Entercom will also add Becky Domyan, the current Director of Sales for KNOU and KPNT as their new St. Louis Market Manager.
Both companies will begin operating the stations as of Thursday, March 1. Emmis states that the net proceeds, after deducting transaction-related costs and estimated tax payments, will be used to repay term loans outstanding.
As part of its previously announced agreements in principle to sell its St. Louis stations, Emmis Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: EMMS) announced today that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell its St. Louis stations KSHE (94.7 FM) and The Point (KPNT, 105.7 FM) to Hubbard Radio for $45 million, and St. Louis stations KFTK (FM News Talk 97.1 FM) and NOW (KNOU, 96.3 FM) to Entercom Communications Corp for $15 million. The transactions are subject to FCC approval as well as closing adjustments and prorations.
Local Marketing Agreements (LMAs) of the stations will start March 1. The final transactions are expected to close in Emmis’ first fiscal quarter.
Emmis said net proceeds, after deducting transaction-related costs and estimated tax payments, will be used to repay term loans outstanding.
“The St. Louis team has been an integral part of our Emmis family since 1984. We love our people in St. Louis and the team’s performance has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Jeff Smulyan, Chairman and CEO of Emmis. “Hubbard and Entercom are both tremendous radio operators and they are adding great people and great brands to their St. Louis clusters.”
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Entercom Communications Corp. (NYSE: ETM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire two radio stations in St. Louis, MO from Emmis Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: EMMS) for $15 million in cash. The transaction includes FM News Talk 97.1 FM (KFTK) and NOW 96.3 (KNOW-FM) and is subject to FCC approval.
The acquisition provides Entercom with a growing position in the St. Louis market while strengthening the Company’s existing portfolio in the River City that includes 102.5 KEZK (KEZK-FM), News Radio 1120 KMOX (KMOX-AM) and Y98 (KYKY-FM).
“This is an exciting move to complement our strong portfolio in St. Louis,” said David Field, Chairman, President and CEO of Entercom. “The transaction is part of our broader strategy to continue growing Entercom’s robust roster of brands across the country and to provide the best-in-class local marketing solutions at national scale that our advertising partners expect from us.”
Additionally, Entercom today announced the appointment of Becky Domyan as Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Entercom St. Louis, effective March 1. In this role, Domyan will oversee the operations for Entercom’s entire portfolio in the St. Louis market. Domyan previously served as Director of Sales and General Sales Manager at Emmis. She has over 12 years of experience in radio across various roles including General Sales Manager and Account Executive. Domyan is a graduate of the University of Missouri Trulaske College of Business.
Local Marketing Agreements (LMAs) of the stations will begin March 1. The final transaction is expected to close by the second quarter of 2018.
Original Report 1/30: Emmis Communications has announced it has reached agreements to sell its four St. Louis MO stations to two buyers.
Hubbard will acquire Classic Rock 94.7 KSHE Crestwood and Alternative “105.7 The Point” KPNT Collinsville IL. The two stations will join Hubbard Radio’s existing cluster of Country “New Country 92.3” WIL-FM, Sports “101 Sports” 101.1 WXOS, and Variety Hits “106.5 The Arch” WARH.
Entercom will add CHR “Now 96.3” KNOU and News/Talk “FM News/Talk 97.1” KFTK-FM Flourissant. They will join the former CBS Radio cluster of Hot AC “Y98” 98.1 KYKY, AC 102.5 KEZK, and News/Talk 1120 KMOX.
No terms were announced for either sale.
Eric Jon Magnuson 
Mark W. 
saladressing 
Charles Everett 
kent 
I keep on forgetting that Emmis never actually purchased KFTK’s AM simulcaster (1490)–even though it does own the affiliated translator (98.7 K254CR).
I’m happy the two Rock stations are going to Hubbard and not Entercom.
Entercom would’ve ruined 105.7 The Point.
I thought the same thing. The Point is one of the best alternative stations IMO, because they aren’t afraid to play actual rock music. Also KSHE is obviously a legendary classic/mainstream rock station. Hopefully no changes will be made in programming to either station.
Mr. Holleman (at http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/emmis-communications-exiting-st-louis-market-with-sale-of-kshe/article_d16c9f60-2700-53da-a75c-be3a3d46cf59.html) got some additional info from GM John Beck–including that the soon-to-be-former Emmis cluster apparently had the highest revenue locally.
I’d expect Rush Limbaugh to move to FM NewsTalk 97.1 from KMOX once the Emmis cluster is broken up. KMOX gets complaint calls when Limbaugh is pre-empted for baseball. FM NewsTalk 97.1 is strictly Right-Wing.
If you look at what Entercom did down I-70 in KC, seems more likely that the local programming on KMOX will go to FM while the syndicated fare will end up on 1120. KMOX has been trying to fight the demographic battle all AM’s are dealing with, and it hasn’t really worked. Outside of sports and during important news events, hardly anybody under 40 listens to it, and Limbaugh skews older than the station as a whole.
I’d have to think the KMOX local programming will end up on the better 96.3 signal, though Now has finally started showing a few signs of life and has even beaten KSLZ a time or two. So, if Now survives, that will likely be why.
I suppose it’s also possible Entercom could just simulcast 1120 and an FM. From what I understand, 97.1 bills quite well despite mediocre to poor ratings. It only has one big contract, and it can sell twice the spots. I also understand it has a younger average listening age than KMOX.
From what I remember hearing, KFTK does indeed have pretty-good ratings, demo-wise.