Meruelo Media has closed on its purchases on “Radio Centro 93.9” KXOS Los Angeles from Grupo Radio Centro and Rock 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles from Cumulus Media.
Meruelo Media President Otto Padron is taking on the additional role of interim Market Manager for the cluster which also includes Classic Hip-Hop 93.5 KDAY Redondo Beach/KDEY Ontario, Rhythmic CHR “Power 106” 105.9 KPWR and two television stations.
At KLOS, the company has assigned Tomas Trujillo to oversee the day-to-day operations of the station as it continues to operate out of Cumulus Media’s facilities until later this year. Keith Cunningham will continue to serve as Program Director.
KWHY-TV General Manager Irma Barrios is adding those duties for KXOS, while KDAY and KPWR Program Director Emmanuel ‘DJ E-Man’ Coquia will assume the programming role at KXOS on what is stated to be an interim basis.
It is expected that a new format will debut shortly on KXOS with Padron stating in the release, “Stand by, exciting news about KXOS coming soon!”.
Meruelo Media announced the closing of its purchase of KLOS, Los Angeles, from Cumulus Media Inc. [NASDAQ: CMLS] and 93.9 KXOS from Grupo Radio Centro, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: RC) effective today, July 17, 2019. KLOS and KXOS become the sixth and seventh broadcast stations in Meruelo Media’s Los Angeles cluster, which includes FM radio stations KPWR, KDAY, KDEY-FM, and televisions stations KWHY-TV, and KBEH. Meruelo Media plans to relocate KLOS’s operations from Culver City to Meruelo Media’s Burbank facility later this year. KXOS already operates out of Meruelo Media’s Burbank facility.
Meruelo Media’s current executive team is taking the reins of KLOS’s operations, with Otto Padron serving as interim Market Manager, Tomas Trujillo overseeing the day-to-day operations, David Criscitelli, VP of Meruelo Media Client Solutions overseeing sales activities, and Dianna Jason, VP of Marketing, overseeing communication and marketing activities. Keith Cunningham, KLOS’s current program director, will continue to serve in his role.
Irma Barrios will add KXOS to her existing duties as General Manager of KWHY-TV and Emmanuel “DJ E-Man” Coquia will assume interim music and programming duties for KXOS.
Otto Padron, President of Meruelo Media, said, “Two closes in one day! We are thrilled to add 93.9 KXOS and 95.5 KLOS to the Meruelo Media family. This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in LA media!”
Speaking about KLOS, he continued, “We are absolutely committed to the amazing heritage Rock brand of KLOS. We are electrified to officially close on our purchase of the station and begin a new chapter of this legendary brand together with its amazing cadre of talented employees and iconic personalities. It will give Meruelo Media great scale and access to a highly desirable market sector in addition to giving our clients and partners a newly energized local option. In turn, we will commit to KLOS our deep hyper-local operational and content resources that will drive significant audience growth for a larger share of advertising dollars.”
On KXOS, Padron added, “Stand by, exciting news about KXOS coming soon!”
