No money is changing hands in an unusual deal filed with the FCC.
Eddie Esserman’s Joule Broadcasting has submitted paperwork to have the license for WTYB(FM) assigned back to Cumulus Media. Cumulus had to divest the station in order to fall within the local ownership limits when it acquired Citadel for $2.4 billion in 2011.
The station was placed in a trust to be divested by Volt Radio in 2011. In 2013, control of the trust was transferred from Scott Knoblauch to Esserman, according to the new filing. The commission approved the change and Volt’s name was changed to Joule.
According to the trust agreement, Joule may reassign “one or more” station licenses back to Cumulus if there has been a change in circumstances that Joule believes would entitle Cumulus to a reassignment of a station license. Joule now tells the commission WTYB’s community of license has changed from Tybee Island, Ga., which was the Savannah radio market, to Bluffton, S.C., which is the Hilton Head radio market.
Class C2 WTYB is licensed to Bluffton, S.C. and has an ERP of 50,000 watts @ 346’ HAAT; it operates on 103.9 MHz.
