Seven Bridges Radio acquired WIOJ-AM Jacksonville Beach FL pursuant to terms memorialized in a 12/4/06 contract with seller McEntee Broadcasting of Florida. The station, now know as WJXL-AM, is getting a companion on the FM dial. WFJO is also licensed to Jacksonville Beach, and is coming from a receiver.
The buyers, which have a number of business names on their organization chart, are buying WFJO-FM as River City Broadcasting LLC. Among the licensee’s principals are Anthony Marinatos, Ken Purcell and Steven L. Griffin.
The seller is Scott Savage, receiver for Tama Radio Licenses of Jacksonville Inc. Savage was appointed to the receiver gig by the Supreme Court of the State of New York as part of the case known as D.B. Zwirn Special Fund L.P. v Tama Broadcasting Inc./Tama Licenses of Jacksonville, Florida Inc. The appointment of Savage took place 9/5/08.
The price for WFJO will be $1.95M cash. A TBA is also going into effect, with a monthly rent of $10K going to the seller. Brokerage Star Media Group worked on behalf of the seller.
In a sign of the times, we must report that the late 2006 acquisition of what is now WJXL came with a price tag that was almost double what the buyers are paying for WFJO. The price for the AM was $3.825M in another cash deal.
The AM has the better coverage of the two facilities. A Class B on 1010 kHz, WJXL boasts 50 kW days and 30 kW at night, both directional, and puts a primary signal over all of the pertinent real estate in the market. WFJO on the other hand is a Class A on 92.5 MHz, with 1.7 kW @ 627’. It gets over most of the high-density population areas in the market, but relies on its secondary contour to reach residents in the western portion.
At least two other company names were mentioned by the buyers in the FCC filings – Emerald Broadcast Broadcasting LLC and Grand Slam Media LLC. If the you think the latter name suggests they utilize a Sports format, you’d be right. According to the station’s website, both stations are bringing Sports programming to Jacksonville listeners.
