Radio and Television Transactions

Two FM translators licensed to the radio broadcasting company founded by the late Gordon Ichikawa and led today by Dawn Ichikawa is being sold to a regional operator led by Tom Hoyt.

An AM radio station offering listeners Classic Country music and agricultural reports and its FM sibling with an Oldies format branded as "The Bear" are poised to be heading into the hands of a new owner. What does this mean for this pair of stations serving Bozeman, Mont.?

One is a family-owned broadcast media company focused on non-secular programming. The other is the nation's largest single licensee of AM and FM radio stations. These two entities have just agreed to swap a pair of FM translators, located in Denver and in San Diego, respectively.

An AM/FM combo serving a small Montana town situated along the Beaverhead River, and Interstate 15, an hour to the south of Butte are heading to a new owner. That's pending FCC regulatory approval, of course, of their transfer to an "Angel."

A noncommercial FM serving a small town in the middle of Central California's cattle country and almond tree groves is being handed to a new licensee, one that intends to use the Class A facility as a home for independent and grass-roots programming.

RBR+TVBR in early June learned that Dish's former treasurer — an individual employed by entities owned or controlled by Charlie Ergen for more than three decades — has acquired a 75% stake in a group of television properties under the HC2 Broadcasting banner. The FCC has now received the Form 314 filings tied to the deal.

In July 2025, a Class B AM radio station serving a portion of the Raleigh-Durham area experienced the wrath of a tropical storm that destroyed the station's AM broadcasting equipment, forcing it to rely solely on its FM translator, which mainly covers Chapel Hill. Now, a buyer has surfaced for both facilities.

With Kalil & Co. serving as the exclusive broker in the transaction, Curtis Media Group in late April filed paperwork with the FCC seeking its approval of a deal that would see it acquire four FMs, one AM and two FM translators in the Wilmington-New Bern-Jacksonville, N.C. market. The Commission has OK'd the deal.

It's a Class B FM licensed for 20kw with much of its signal covering water. Still, it reaches enough of Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach to warrant this station's acquisition by K-LOVE Inc. In exchange, it is handing an FM in the Palmetto State to the seller.

It is a Class D FM translator with all of 10 watts, and that's enough to reach tiny Glide, Ore., and nearby Roseburg. Situated between Eugene and Medford, this facility has served as a rebroadcast partner for the University of Oregon's Classical service. That's about to change.

Serving towns including Glens Falls, Warrensburg and popular holiday village Lake George, a Class A FM offering a blend of Classic Hits as "93.5 The Lake" has been the property of Todd Nixon-led Sticks Media since early 2025. Now, that transaction is unwinding, as Nixon will not proceed with payments tied to the deal.

The broadcast licensee founded by Ivan Gois has sold all of its operational AM radio stations in the Constitution State. This facility, silent under a FCC STA since February, is now being sold. It will leave Gois with properties solely in Massachusetts.

Introducing Bradley Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Wise Support Services. He's poised to become the owner of a noncommercial FM radio station in Bethany, Mo., based on a Form 314 filing awaiting FCC regulatory approval.

It is presently dark under FCC special temporary authority, and has been since February 28, when its owner blamed financial issues for the ability to keep the lights on. Now this dormant AM radio station serving Yuma, Ariz., is poised to return to life with its sale.

They are a Station of the Cross — for now. That's because this broadcast ministry has agreed to a deal that will see a Massachusetts broadcaster acquire the AM with an FM translator serving a city between Worcester and Hartford, Conn.