Blount into Knoxville with Horne AMs

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Horne Radio will continue operating in the Knoxville market, but it will be two AMs lighter after the sale of WKVL-AM and WLOD-AM to Blount Broadcasting Corporation comes to a close.


Horne, headed by Nick Drewry, will collect  $145K cash in exchange for the stations. Buyer Blount is owned by Johnnie Sexton, James R. Sexton, and the Alice Kirby Living Trust.

Horne will hang onto three stations in the market: WFIV-FM Loudon, WGAP-AM Maryville and WMTY-AM Farragut. It also owns WDEH-AM & WLOD-FM, outside the market in Sweetwater TN.

Blount has the option of retaining the WLOD call letters on the AM, despite the fact that Horne will continue to use WLOD-FM calls on its Sweetwater station. However, it is a matter of contract that Horne will assist in the FCC business of changing calls on either WKVL or WLOD if Blount so desires.

Blount has also signed a five-year transmitter site agreement for $1K/month. It has the option, however, of defraying that cost by paying a discounted upfront fee for the entire five year duration. If it pays $40K within the first six months after closing, it’s good to go with no further payment – a savings of $20K over the full one month at a time price. It can pay the deal off with $35K between months 7-12; $25K if it pays any time during year two; $15K if during year three; $10K if during year four; and $5K if during the last year.

Horne will also sign a one-year, $1K per month deal for studio space.

RBR-TVBR observation: Did you ever think attorneys get paid by the word? The studio lease portion of this contract says that Blount is responsible for providing certain items used in the course of a typical day, and specifies what those items are, right down to toilet paper.

So we suppose that if Horne as landlord is ever visiting the property and is left stranded in the restroom, it could become a matter for the courts. And we would not be surprised to find out, this being litigious America, that somewhere out there is an attorney who specializes in this particular aspect of contract law.