More than a decade ago, the company formerly known as Clear Channel Communications and is today iHeartRadio was bought out by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners for a whopping $17.9 billion.
With that deal’s consummation, Clear Channel needed to divest radio stations to comply with FCC ownership limits that they were no longer grandfathered into, given the shift in majority ownership of the company founded by L. Lowry Mays.
Thus begat the Aloha Station Trust, a collection of some 52 stations Clear Channel could not legally own. Today, 42 stations remain in the trust — but one has just been sold.
