A settlement has been reached that should lead to the closing of Adams acquisition of six stations and two translators from Great Scott Broadcasting as The Voice Radio finally files to purchase the four stations it will be acquiring as part of the deal.
Spanish CHR “Maxima 95.3” WKDB Laurel DE, Rhythmic CHR “Power 101.7” WZEB Ocean View DE, and Classic Rock simulcast “The Vault” 103.5 WJKI Bethany Beach DE/106.1 WXSH Pocomoke City MD will be acquired for $1.7 million. As part of the deal, Voice Radio has 180 days to build new studios and exit the current Great Scott building which will become the property of Adams once its deal closes.
Managing Member Edwin ‘Kevin’ Andrade will own only a 10% stake in the new ownership group due to his being an Ecuadorian citizen. Victor Andrade will hold 50%, Silvia Short 30%, and fellow Ecuadorian citizen Eduardo Subia the final 10%. The settlement to the legal challenges will allow Adams to retain the disputed 900 WJWL Georgetown, DE.
Original Report 2/16: Back in September, Adams Radio Group announced the acquisition of six stations and two translators in the Salisbury/Ocean City, MD market from Great Scott Broadcasting.
While Adams was supposed to acquire Rock “93.5 The Beach” WZBH Georgetown DE, Classic Rock “Big 98.5” WGBG Seaford DE, Rhythmic CHR “OC 104” 103.9 WOCQ Berlin MD, “Hot Country 107.7” WKHI Fruitland MD, Brokered Spanish CHR “Maxima 900” WJWL Georgetown DE, Variety Hits “Sue 1280” WJWK Seaford DE, and translator CPs 96.3 W242AV Seaford DE and 100.3 W262BF Georgetown DE, four additional stations 95.3 WKDB Laurel DE, 101.7 WZEB Ocean View DE, 103.5 WJKI Bethany Beach DE and 106.1 WXSH Pocomoke City MD were to be acquired by the Edwin ‘Kevin’ Andrade led Voice Radio Network. The deals appeared to be headed towards the finish line. While Voice Radio Network has yet to file an application to acquire the licenses, they have launched new formats on all four of the stations while raiding multiple employees from Great Scott.
The sale of the stations to Adams was set to close at the beginning of 2015, but has yet to do so. After the FCC approved the transfer, Hola Media Network, who had been operating “Maxima 900” WJWL via LMA since 2010 filed a Petition For Reconsideration claiming that they had a right of first refusal to purchase WJWL, while being unaware of the sale due to being denied access to the station’s public file. In a response, Great Scott claimed that they were unaware of the right of Hola to match any purchase of WJWL as it was agreed to by the since deceased Mitchell Scott. Great Scott and Adams agreed to transfer the license to Hola should it agree to match Adams offer within thirty days of the notice on December 18. The FCC dismissed Hola’s Petition on February 12 on the grounds that they had two months to timely file a petition prior to the commission’s approval of the grant and that they are not the ones to settle private contractual disputes.
What’s not mentioned anywhere in these filings is that Hola Media GM Edwin ‘Kevin’ Andrade is the same person who is listed as CEO of The Voice Radio Network. Additionally the domain registrations we mentioned in October prior to the format changes list his organization as “Hola Media Network”. How was he unaware of the sale of WJWL, while negotiating to acquire the other four FM’s, one of which has assumed the programming that was previously airing on WJWL? Why wasn’t the transfer of those four FM’s ever filed with the FCC despite being agreed to in September?
