Gulf Coast Broadcasting Company is now in possession of a pair of Alabama stations which give it an unconventional AM superduopoly in the Mobile AL Arbitron market. The sale had to go through some legal hoops.
According to a Mobile Press-Register story posted at al.com, the former owner of one of the stations was the current buyer – but the most recent owner, John Bowen, had acquired it from Gulf Coast’s Lee Hagan almost ten years prior. The sale became necessary when Bowen pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse.
That AM is WBZR-AM Robertsdale AL (the calls were recently changed – it was WNSI at the time of the sale), which was sold in combination with WNSI-FM Atmore AL. Lee and Kathryn Hagan are principals of the buyer. The seller was Lonnie L. Mixon, Chapter 11 Trustee for Great American Radio Network Inc.
The total price was $410K, with $220K attributed to the FM and $190K attributed to the AM.
The WBZR is on the eastern outskirts of Mobile AL, and will team up with WCSN-AM Orange Beach AL also to the east of Mobile and with a signal does not reach the city limits; and WABF-AM Fairhope AL, which has blanket coverage of Mobile Bay, but only reaches the waterfront portions of Mobile city. There is no overlap between the trio, nor do any of them overlap WNSI-FM, which is not considered part of the Mobile market.
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