An Idaho-based non-secular broadcasting company led by President Dennis Clounch has decided to sell another one of its FM translators, continuing a trend started two years ago.
The latest divestment involves a city in Montana, and the No. 2 licensee of AM and FM broadcast stations in the U.S.
Edgewater Broadcasting, a Twin Falls, Idaho-based noncommercial broadcaster born in 2003, has grown to a national entity, with distribution of its FreeFM and FreedomRadio Christian-focused formats on translator stations across the U.S.
However, in Q4 2016 the company opted to begin selling many of its translator stations — or, should we say, practically give them away.
In a transaction valued at exactly $1 on Nov. 28, 2016, Eldridge F. Mitchell III obtained W240DI, at 95.9 MHz in East Albany, Ga.
That was followed by the Dec. 22, 2016 sale of four other FM translators, in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, respectively, to Elohim Group for $80,000.
Now, Edgewater is selling K255CH at 98.9 MHz in Kalispell, Montana, for $25,000.
This translator has 34 watts, but given its height covers the entire town and can be heard in nearby Whitefish, Montana.
The buyer? Educational Media Foundation, operator of the noncommercial CCM-formatted KLOVE and Air1 Networks.
Serving as the legal counsel representing EMF is Paige Fronabarger of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
The translator is slated to rebroadcast KLKM-FM 88.7, licensed to Kalispell but using a tower to the south, on Blacktail Mountain.
