Sage Weil and Mike Crute are launching Civic Media with a pair of acquisitions in Wisconsin.
Civic Media is purchasing Sports 1230 WXCO/98.9 W255DN Wausau from Sunrise Broadcasting for $400,000. The deal includes a 24 month non-compete preventing Sunrise from broadcasting any Wausau area high school sporting events on their AC “Wave 100.5” WAVL Rothschild and Oldies “Bluejay 96.3” 730 WJMT/96.3 W242CZ Merril as well as providing 250 commercials for WXCO on those two stations between closing and December 31. A time brokerage agreement will take effect on August 1.
The company is also acquiring Fruit Broadcasting’s Standards 1450 WRCO/107.7 W299CD and Country 100.9 WRCO-FM Richland Center WI for $900,000. As part of that deal, Civic Media will pay seller Ronald Fruit $3500 per month from closing until January 31, 2023 to continue to serve as an on-air host.
The Civic Media website describes the new company as building out a network of radio stations covering most of Wisconsin stating, “At Civic Media we believe that radio has an important role to play in supporting the community with quality local news and commentary. We focus on local, regional and state issues and current events that are most relevant to our listeners, and combine news with open and honest commentary to advance listeners’ understanding and engagement.”
Weil is a minority investor in Crute’s Liberal Talk 540 WAUK/101.1 W266DR Waukesha/Milwaukee. Crute also operates Good Karma Brands’ 1580 WTTN Columbus/92.7 W224EG Madison via LMA as Liberal Talk “Devil Radio 92.7“.
