Connoisseur Media has agreed to sell its six station cluster in Watertown SD to Yankton SD based Riverfront Broadcasting.
Riverfront will pay $350,000 for the six stations.
Original Report 5/13: Riverfront will acquire Country “New Country KS93” KSDR-FM Watertown, Hot AC 96.1 KIXX Watertown, Classic Country 96.9 KDLO-FM Milbank, Classic Hits 104.3 KKSD Watertown, Full Service 950 KWAT Watertown, and News/Talk 1480 KSDR Watertown.
Riverfront currently owns 21 stations across six markets in South Dakota, Minneapolis and Iowa. President Carolyn Becker said, “We are very happy to bring local ownership and local focus back to these great stations in the Watertown Market. Jeff and the Connoisseur team have taken an approach of selling to local ownership and we are grateful for the opportunity.”
Connoisseur Media will exit South Dakota with this deal. It has pending sales of its five stations in Brookings to local management and its pair in Madison SD to Christensen Broadcasting.
Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw commented, “The Watertown market was not a market we felt Connoisseur could make a material difference in with the focus and approach we bring to radio. As we have previously announced, we look for local, quality operators to purchase stations in markets Connoisseur is looking to exit. We have been talking with Carolyn Becker and her company for several months, and we think Riverfront Broadcasting, being a South Dakota based company, understands the local market and can carry on providing local content and will excel in serving the community.”
Kalil & Co. Inc was the exclusive broker on the transaction. Connoisseur Media had legal representation by Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, while Riverfront Broadcasting, LLC was represented by Marlow, Woodward & Huff, PLLC.
