Cumulus uses move-out FM to bring in Pensacola pair

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SoldWABD-FM has to exit Pensacola FL and enter Mobile AL to clear the way for the acquisition of a pair of Florida FMs by Cumulus Broadcasting. At the end of the day, the big signal stations involved will still reach both cities.


The stations, WMEZ-FM Pensacola FL and WXEM-FM Milton FL, are coming from Pamal Broadcasting Ltd., headed by James J. Morrell. The closing of the deal will bring to an end Morrell’s days as a Florida broadcaster, leaving the company with numerous holdings in the northeastern portion of the US.

According to brokerage firm Serafin Bros. Inc., which represented the seller, the deal is valued at $6.5M cash, and includes provisions for an LMA prior to closing and a non-compete.

The two FMs will form a cluster with WCOA AM-FM and WRRX-FM.

Here are station details:
* WMEZ-FM Pensacola is an AC-formatted Class C0 on 94.1 MHz with 77 kW @ 1,601’
* WXBM-FM Milton plays Country of its Class C 102.7 MHz facility with 100 kW @ 1,601’
* WCOA-AM Pensacola is a News-Talk Class B on 1370 kHz with 58 kW-U, DAN
* WCOA-FM Pensacola, which also runs News-Talk programming, is a Class C on 100.7 MHz with 98 kW @ 1,708’
* WRRX-FM Gulf Breeze uses a UAC format on a Class A 106.1 MHz facility with 3.9 kW @ 407’

WABD-FM is accommodating the move by moving from Atmore AL to Saraland AL, taking it out of the Pensacola market and into the Mobile AL market. It will still fire off 100 kW on 104.1 MHz. In Mobile it will be part of a cluster that also includes WBLX-FM, WDLT-FM, WGOK-AM and WXGW-FM.

Are Mobile and Pensacola related in any way? Yes – in the radio world Arbitron provides ratings for each city separately, but in the television world, they are part of the same Nielsen DMA.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks Scott — getting Bs and Ds mixed up is perhaps THE classic sympton of dyslexia — if they’re in lower case. No excuse with caps, though — just a standard old call letter transposition. Thanks for the correction, it is now incorporated in the article…

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