In early December 2021, RBR+TVBR shared the details on how a Class B FM once known for its rock ‘n’ roll programming and today offering programming of interest to South Asians became the first radio station in the U.S. to broadcast geo-targeted advertising.
Now, the station’s owner — Universal Media Access — is agreeing to an employee-led acquisition of the station that sees Sanjiv Gupta partnering with UMA’s COO and the company’s digital and programming leader.
Silicon Valley Asian Media Group is the buyer of KSJO-FM 92.3 in San Jose and its FM booster in Pleasanton, Calif.
Gupta, who hosts a weekly finance-focus talk show on the station, holds one-third ownership, as a Manager, alongside Brad Behnke and Gregg Pirillo.
If those names are familiar, it is because Behnke is the VP of KSJO and COO for parent company Universal Media Access (in addition to serving as a senior partner in Anchor & Hope Music, which represents heritage rock act Squeeze and its lead singer, Glenn Tilbrook).
Pirillo serves as VP/Digital & Programming for UMA and its Principle Broadcasting, the Buffalo-based entity known for providing tactical and strategic operations for ethnic brokered time on radio and digital audio platforms.
Thus, it is a coordinated buyout, if you will, of UMA’s ownership of a station known today as “Bolly 92.3” and for the foreseeable future.
The transaction is valued at $8 million, all of which is being paid in cash. A $270,000 deposit paid by Gupta through US Asian Media Group has been made.
Signing off on the transaction for UMA is Sandra Miller, at related entity Mercury Capital Partners. UMA is a part of that entity, and acquired KSJO in 2011 for $9.25 million.
The seller’s legal counsel for the transaction is Miles Mason at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
The buyer’s legal counsel is Bethesda, Md., based sole practitioner Shelley Sadowsky.
In October 2021, KSJO made history by becoming the nation’s first radio station to broadcast geo-targeted advertising. It did so through the airing of several Jack in the Box breakfast promotions solely in the Livermore and Pleasanton, Calif., areas along the I-680 corridor.
It’s part of a previously reported FCC experimental operation of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ ZoneCasting FM booster system, today used to help “rimshot” signals better penetrate urban areas. This includes properties in the Boston and Chicago markets, respectively.
The advertisements airing in the zone area were coordinated by dentsu’s Jennifer Hungerbuhler, the advertising giant’s EVP and Head of Local Video and Audio Investment.
