EW Scripps has announced the sale of its final four markets to SummitMedia for $47 million.
SummitMedia will acquire nineteen stations in Knoxville TN, Omaha NE, Springfield MO, and Wichita KS. The deal follow the sale of Scripps’ stations in Boise and Tucson to Lotus Communications, Milwaukee to Good Karma Brands, and Tulsa to Griffin Communications. Scripps has netted a total of $83 million for its entire radio portfolio.
SummitMedia currently owns 31 stations in Birmingham AL, Greenville SC, Honolulu HI, Louisville KY, and Richmond VA.
The stations involved in the sale are:
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) has reached an agreement to sell its last group of 19 radio stations in four markets to SummitMedia LLC for $47 million. This is the fourth and final transaction in the sale of Scripps’ radio assets.
SummitMedia LLC is purchasing:
- KFDI (101.3 FM), KICT (95.1 FM), KFXJ (104.5 FM), KYQQ (106.5 FM) and KFTI (1070 AM) in Wichita, Kansas;
- KTTS (94.7 FM), KSPW (96.5 FM), KSGF (104.1 FM and 1260 AM) and KRVI (106.7 FM) in Springfield, Missouri;
- KEZO (92.3 FM), KSRZ (104.5 FM), KQCH (94.1 FM), KKCD (105.9 FM) and ESPN station KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha, Nebraska;
- and WWST (102.1 FM), WCYQ (100.3 FM), WKHT (104.5 FM) and WNOX (931. FM) in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
The sales of Scripps’ radio stations total $83.5 million, and the group’s 2017 segment profit was $11.6 million. The company announced in January its intent to sell its portfolio of 34 radio stations in eight markets.
Scripps already had announced the sale of five radio stations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Griffin Communications; two Milwaukee-based radio stations to Good Karma Brands; and eight stations in Boise, Idaho, and Tucson, Arizona, to Lotus Communications Corp.
“SummitMedia’s focus on growth in the radio industry make it a good home for these stations,” said Adam Symson, Scripps president and CEO. “With Summit, these stations will be able to fully live out their mission of informing and entertaining local audiences.
“With our sale of these 19 stations, Scripps has completed the sale of our entire radio station group. This is a significant milestone toward executing our strategy to divest of non-core assets, improve near-term operating performance and focus on the growth ahead.”
“We are very excited to welcome the Scripps teams in Wichita, Springfield, Omaha and Knoxville into the SummitMedia family,” said Carl Parmer, SummitMedia LLC chairman and CEO. “Together, we are very confident we can inspire our audiences, serve each of our individual communities and create value for our clients.”
SummitMedia LLC is a Birmingham, Alabama-based media company with a focus on radio and digital media. The Scripps stations will join its portfolio of 31 radio stations in Alabama, Hawaii, Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia.
Kalil & Co., Inc. is the exclusive broker for this transaction.
Eric Jon Magnuson 
biohazard 
Charles Everett 
kent 
kennedyideas 
Summit definitely wasn’t on my radar here, but this deal does make a lot of sense. Also, I’m glad that the company was finally able to make another significant purchase. I just hope, though, that the 24-hour news programming/positioning at KFDI and KTTS doesn’t end up being gutted.
not to mention… Eric… they just disabled their geoblock on there stations except AM 940 Hawaii not sure about that one.
Eric, if they gut the 24 hour news department at KTTS, that’ll be the end of KTTS controlling the Springfield market. KTTS has been trickling downward for a long time, but still has the top share. Hopefully Summit will add to the news budget and build the station to what it once was.
Except KTTS doesn’t dominate local news in Springfield. KY3 television and News-Leader.com do.
It may not be the newsroom it once was, but the KTTS newsroom is still the best radio newsroom in Missouri outside of Kansas City and St. Louis. Plus, when the weather gets bad, there’s still only one place I tune when in the Ozarks.
I’ll grant you the former Shepherd stations have good newsrooms, too. I tend to rely on KRES when weather gets bad at the house, especially since KFRU’s staff got gutted by Cumulus in the Great Recession. I would, however, still rate KTTS as better, even though, last time I listened, the exact same newscast aired each hour in the overnights.
Still shocked that this wasn’t rolled into Saga or at least sell-off Knoxville to Dick since that used to be their home market.