NRG Media is continuing its divestitures as Connoisseur Media has agreed to acquire its four stations and two translators in Lincoln NE to add to their existing five stations in the market.
Update 4/2: Connoisseur will pay $5.75 million for NRG’s Lincoln cluster.
The filing includes a waiver request to own nine of the fifteen stations in the Lincoln market, above the currently allowed limit of six total and four on one band. Connoisseur argues that in addition to those fifteen, many of the Omaha market stations have significant listenership in Lincoln giving as an example that iHeartMedia’s 1110 KFAB outrates both their KFOR and NRG’s KLIN in some demos for News/Talk listeners, while SummitMedia AC “Star 104.5” KSRZ beats NRG’s KBBK in the all important Men 25-59 demo. Connoisseur also argues that the acquisition will promote competition with digital media, enhance programming offerings by eliminating duplicate formats, and that the FCC has acknowledged that changes in the radio marketplace necessitate changes to the local radio rule.
Original Report 3/31: Terms have yet to be disclosed for the deal, which will require waivers to allow Connoisseur to exceed the existing ownership cap. NRG owns Country “Froggy 98.1” KFGE Milford, Classic Rock “105.3 The Bone” KLNC Lincoln, AC “B107.3” KBBK Lincoln, Rhythmic CHR “Red 94.5” K233AN/KBBK-HD2 Lincoln, and News/Talk 1400 KLIN/99.3 K257GN Lincoln.
Those stations would join an existing Connoisseur cluster of Classic Hits “92.9 The Eagle” KTGL Beatrice, Country “KX 96.9” KZKX Seward, Rock “104.1 The Blaze” KIBZ Crete, CHR 106.3 KFRX Lincoln, AC “Mix 103.3” K277CA/KFRX-HD2 Lincoln, and News/Talk 1240 KFOR/101.5 K268DF Lincoln creating format overlap with at least three of the newly acquired stations.
Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw said, “We are over the moon to be able to add these phenomenal properties and team to our company. This marriage will allow us to even better serve the community and our clients.”
NRG Media CEO Mary Quass commented, “The Lincoln stations have been a very important part of our story, and we are pleased to pass them to Jeff and his team. Jeff is a broadcaster who shares our commitment to great local service, quality programming, and deep community connections!”
Following its pending sales in Nebraska and Wisconsin, NRG still retains clusters in Cedar Rapids IA and Ottawa IL. The company has pending sales of its Omaha and Central Nebraska clusters to Usher Media and Wausau and Rhinelander WI stations to Midwest Communications. Kalil & Co. served as the exclusive broker for this deal.
