WRTE-FM is not the biggest kid on the Windy City non-profit block, but it is the most recent kid to be getting a new set of parents.
The station is being sold by the National Museum of Mexican Art, headed by Carlos Tortolero, and will be picked up as a second Chicago signal by Chicago Public Media. Torey Malatia signed off on the application for the buyer.
There will be an ongoing relationship between the two parties for at least four years as part of the compensation package.
For starters, CPM will pay $300K cash at closing. Then, for each of the next two years, it will pony up $25K to NMMA to help fund special projects that are mutually acceptable to both parties, a total of $50K. Finally, CPM will provide NMMA with $100K worth of underwriting announcement time over the course of the next four years, bring the total value of the deal to $450K.
CPM has made the deal contingent on FCC approval to move the station’s transmitter location to the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago.
WRTE is a very small station. It’s a Class D with 73 Watts at 85’ HAAT, serving a small part of the market to the east of and including Cicero.
It will pair up with CPM’s full-market WBEZ-FM. The buyer also owns and operates WBEQ-FM Morris IL, serving territory SW of Chicago; and WBEW-FM Chesterton IN, serving an area to the east.
