Sunrise Broadcasting is completing the acquisition of 103.7 WBNE Wrightsville Beach, NC it first indicated would happen last September.
In a deal filed last year to acquire 95.9 W240AS Wilmington from Sea-Comm Media, Sunrise indicated it would amend the application at a later date to include WBNE in the deal. That happened on Monday when Sunrise filed to acquire WBNE for $1.85 million. They will concurrently divest 104.5 WILT Carolina Beach to Bible Broadcasting for $300,000 to keep under the ownership limits.
WBNE had been operated by Davis Media via LMA until June of this year when it dropped its simulcast of Davis AAA “98.3 The Penguin” WUIN for a filler commercial-free Variety Hits format. When the deals close it will assume the AC format of “Sunny 104.5” WILT. Sunny1037.com and Sunny1037FM.com were registered by Sunrise last October.
The move will give WILT a better signal as 103.7 is a Class C2 operating with 22kW at 150.9 meters, while 104.5 is a Class A with 3.1kW at 137 meters. 104.5 does have a Construction Permit to increase to a Class C3 with 17kW at 120 meters.
