Lay preacher Humberto Martinez and wife Margarita Rosario Toth have filed to acquire WFGW-AM Black Mountain NC, serving the Asheville NC market.
The seller is Blue Ridge Broadcasting Corporation, headed by Jim Kirkland and David Bruce.
“Blue Ridge Broadcasting’s ministry today is built upon the legacy of Billy Graham and WFGW,” said Kirkland. “As God has been growing BRB’s outreach both regionally and globally, we believe WFGW’s greatest future potential is in the care of fellow Christian communicators committed to continuing local ministry.”
The station is a Class B on 1010 kHz with 50 kW-D, 500 W-N, DA3.
The price will be $98K cash.
BRB has two other stations, WMIT-FM Black Mountain, which maintains its presence in
Asheville and according to the seller, also reaches listeners in “Charlotte, Hickory, Greenville/Spartanburg, and the Tri-Cities of Va. and Tenn.” The other station is WFGW-FM Norris TN, serving the Knoxville TN market. The presence of the latter station will necessitate a call letter change for the AM being sold.
RBR-TVBR observation: Talk about motivating the buyer. The contract calls for two escrow payments, one amounting to $24.5K and the other valued at $55K. If the FCC denies or delays the transaction by six months or more, the deposits go back to the buyer.
They also provide a strong motivation for the buyer to complete the deal: If the buyer breaches the sales contract, the seller gets to keep both deposits, which between them comprise more than 80% of the total value of the deal.
