A pair of local market employees are part of the group who have agreed to acquire Connoisseur Media’s five stations in Brookings SD.
Cami Powers, who has served as Market Manager for the stations since 2000, her husband Derrick Powers, and cluster Business Manager Chad Hogie will acquire Hot AC “B93.7” KBRK-FM Brookings, Country “K102” 102.3 KKQQ Volga, Classic Rock “107.1 The Hawk” KDBX Clear Lake, Classic Country “The Ranch 910” KJJQ Volga, and Full Service 1430 KBRK Brookings. Terms were not yet disclosed.
Cami Powers has spent her entire career with the stations joining KBRK/KBRK-FM in sales in 1994. She rose to Sales Manager in 1998, Station Manager in 2000, and when the other three stations were acquired in 2004 she took on the role as Market Manager. Hogie has served as Business Manager since 2015.
Cami Powers said, “Turning this dream into a reality has been incredibly meaningful, and I’m deeply grateful to Jeff and Connoisseur Media for the opportunity. I’m fortunate to do what I love alongside a team of dedicated professionals who share that same passion. Together, we’ll continue building on what we value most—serving our clients, listeners, and community with trusted, locally focused broadcasting.”
Hogie added, “To us, local radio has always been the life blood for a close-knit community. From local sports, news, weather updates and community involvement, we want our listeners and advertisers to be as informed and invested in our neighborhoods as we are. Radio is always on, always free, a no subscription, no password source of entertainment and information for everyone. We are excited to keep it that way!”
Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw said, “The Brookings market did not fit into the long-term vision we set out for Connoisseur. As we pursued a potential sale, we looked for local quality operators to purchase these stations and found that the best operators in the market already worked for us! This is not the first time we have encouraged some of our local management to break into ownership so that they could continue to serve the communities we are so committed to. We are incredibly happy that Cami and her group stepped up to the challenge.”
No broker was involved int the deal Connoisseur was represented legally by Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, while attorney Jared Gass represented Brookings Radio LLC.
