BOCA RATON, FLA. — On April 23, Salem Media Group shares dipped to their lowest value since July 2009.
A $1.85 closing price was seen for SALM, which will release its second quarter earnings results within the next two weeks.
With its stock starting Monday’s trading at $2.09 and earnings forecasts projecting anywhere from a 1% revenue dip to a 1% revenue climb, Simply Wall St. on July 19 noted that “some shareholders are rather upset.”
They may be a bit happier now, as Salem has moved forward with trimming its station roster in the Sunshine State.
An asset purchase agreement finalized Thursday (7/25) and posted by the Commission on Monday indicates that Salem is selling a pair of radio stations and an FM translator serving the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, and an AM and two FM translators — one of them unbuilt — in the Tampa-St. Petersburg DMA.
The stations Salem is selling for exactly $8,218,875 are:
- Class B WKAT-AM 1080 in Coral Gables and FM translator W249DM at 97.7 MHz in Miami, branded as “Radio Luz” and offering Spanish-language Christian Talk and Teaching programming. This facility was originally WVGC and, from 2006-2008, known as WTPS, airing an African American Talk format under then-owner Radio One.
- Secular Business Talk WZAB-AM 880 “The Biz,” licensed to Sweetwater. It is a complex Class B facility with 4kw from 4 towers during daylight hours and a directional 5kw nighttime facility from 8 towers designed to protect Class A WCBS-AM 880 in New York, which can be heard across much of Florida’s East Coast after dark.
- Class B WLCC-AM 760 in Brandon, serving the entire Tampa-St. Petersburg DMA with FM translator W282CI at 104.3 MHz in Tampa as its “AM revitalization” partner. The station mirrors the programming of WKAT, as “Radio Luz.”
- FM translator W260DM at 99.9 MHz in St. Petersburg, which is unbuilt and presently assigned to WWMI-AM 1380 in St. Petersburg — a former Radio Disney O&O that has also been WRBQ-AM, in the early 1980s.
Who is the buyer? It’s IHM.
No, it’s not iHeartMedia … but Immaculate Heart Media, operator of the Relevant Radio faith-based noncommercial Christian Talk and Teaching network. Among the more notable Relevant Radio features is a counter on its website featuring the current number of “prayers to end abortion.”
IHM has delivered a $410,944 deposit to Salem. The remainder will be paid in cash, at closing. Serving as Escrow Agent is Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage, which served as Salem’s exclusive broker in this transaction.
Serving as IHM’s legal counsel in this deal is Mark Denbo of Smithwick & Belendiuk.
For Salem, in-house General Counsel Chris Henderson signed off on the transaction.
With the asset divestments giving Salem a cash infusion, it will now own one station in Miami: Class C WOCN-AM 1450 and FM translator 101.9 “Vida,” airing a Spanish-language Latin Christian music format. In Tampa, it will retain four AMs, and an FM translator.
For investors, this could quell concerns that ownership of Salem stock has been a losing proposition. “Regrettably, last year’s performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 21% per year over five years,” Simply Wall St. notes. “While the broader market gained around 6.2% in the last year, Salem Media Group shareholders lost 49% (even including dividends).”
