K-Love Inc. will add a third full-powered FM signal in the San Jose as it will acquire the license of “Bay Country” 94.5 KBAY Gilroy/San Jose from Connoisseur Media for $2 million.
Connoisseur will retain the KBAY-FM call letters and intellectual property, which it states will move to another signal in the company’s portfolio. Connoisseur closed on its $10 million purchase of Bonneville’s Bay Area cluster last month to add to its existing properties in the market. It will retain AC 96.5 KOIT San Francisco, CHR “99.7 Now” KMVQ San Francisco, and Adult R&B 102.9 KBLX Berkeley in the San Francisco market, Classic Rock “98.5 K-Fox” KUFX and and Hot AC “Mix 106.5” KEZR San Jose, and KBAY simulcaster 92.1 KKDV Walnut Creek, and AC’s 95.3 KUIC Vacaville and 101.7 KKIQ Livermore in the East Bay.
Connoisseur says that the sale reflects Connoisseur Media’s ongoing plan to refine its portfolio and best utilize its assets in priority markets like the Bay Area. The sale is a continuing element of the strategy established with the acquisition of the Alpha Media stations in September of last year, and the Bonneville San Francisco acquisition last month.
Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw commented, “We were approached about selling our frequency to K-Love, Inc. who want to expand their Christian offerings in the San Jose market with the addition of the 94.5 FM frequency. We found a way to do that but retain our KBAY-FM country format. Stay tuned!”
K-Love Inc. already owns Christian AC “K-Love” 95.3 KJLV Los Gatos, Worship “Air 1” 97.7 KWAI, and Spanish Christian “Radio Nueva Vida” 91.9 K220BV San Jose.
Michael Bergner of Bergner & Co. was the exclusive broker on the deal. Connoisseur Media had legal representation by Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP.
INSTANT INSIGHT: We’d expect K-Love to move its flagship network from 95.3 to the stronger Class B signal of 94.5 with the “Radio Nueva Vida” programming receiving a full-powered upgrade.
The question will be if KBAY replaces Adult R&B 102.9 KBLX or Classic Rock 98.5 KUFX?
