The sale of Wilks Broadcasting’s Lubbock stations to Alpha Media has been filed with the FCC showing the purchase price to be $23 million.
Original Report 3/17: Alpha Media has acquired Wilks Broadcasting’s four stations in Lubbock, TX for an undisclosed amount.
The four stations included in the deal are: Country 96.3 KLLL-FM Lubbock, Hot AC “Mix 100.3” KMMX Tahoma, Classic Rock “Rock 101.1” KONE Lubbock, and Rhythmic CHR “104.9 The Beat” KBTE Tulia.
The sale continues Wilks slow sell-off of its radio holdings as it has divested its stations in Fresno and Kansas City, and one of its Reno stations in the past year. The company still retains nine stations in Columbus, Denver and Reno.
Alpha continues its buying spree and may not be done yet. A couple weeks ago multiple reports of an acquisition of Morris Radio’s portfolio surfaced with the employees of at least one of Morris’ clusters informed that a sale was coming.
Alpha Media of Portland, Oregon announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement to purchase four radio stations in the Lubbock, TX market from Wilks Broadcast Group LLC (“Wilks”). Wilks, an affiliate of The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C., owns KONE (FM) and KLLL (FM) in Lubbock, TX, KBTE (FM) in Tulia, TX, and KMMX (FM) in Tahoka, TX.
Alpha Media will add the Wilks Lubbock cluster to the ninety-two stations currently in the Alpha Media portfolio. When all pending deals are completed, it will bring the total number of stations owned by Alpha Media to ninety-six. Larry Wilson, Chairman of Alpha Media commented on the acquisition, “We are so fortunate to be able to acquire the four best radio properties in Lubbock, TX. They combine fine signals and superb people to provide a radio winner that is perennially in the highest rated cluster in Lubbock.”
Jeff Wilks, CEO of Wilks said, “We are pleased to have entered into an agreement to sell our Lubbock radio stations to operators that are as experienced as Alpha Media. We think Alpha will be a great owner of these properties and will continue the ongoing success of the Lubbock cluster. We believe in the power and future of radio and continue to look for opportunities to create value in our business, whether we are considering buying or selling assets.”
This transaction will be filed with the Federal Communications Commission shortly and is subject to their approval.
Michael Bergner of Bergner & Company served as the exclusive broker to Wilks, and Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor, Bell & Peskoe served as legal advisor to Wilks in this transaction.
