When it came time for Entercom to place stations in a divestiture trust in order for its tax-free merger with CBS Radio to receive regulatory approval, it went to San Francisco-based media broker Elliot Evers of MVP Capital.
Oversight of a divestiture trust was nothing new for Evers, as he is the sole member of “The Last Bastion Station Trust” — created in 2007 to house stations spun off by the former Citadel Broadcasting to win a federal nod of its acquisition of the ABC Radio division from The Walt Disney Co.
Cumulus Media is now the party tied to the Last Bastion trust, and it is now reaching out to Evers for a new four-station divestment tied to its Chapter 11 reorganization petition in a New York federal bankruptcy court.
Introducing The Mainstay Station Trust LLC, to be headed solely by Evers.
With its creation, Cumulus SVP/General Counsel Richard Denning has effectively signed off on the eventual parting of the ways with the following four stations:
- Class A “Nash Icon”-branded Country WNUQ-FM 102.1 in Sylvester, Ga., serving an area east of Albany.
- Class A KJMO-FM 97.5 in Linn, Mo., serving the Jefferson City area with an Oldies format.
- Class C3 WPCK-FM 104.9 in Denmark, Wisc., a Green Bay-market Country station branded as “Nash 99.5.”
- Class A Sports Talk WTOD-FM 106.5 “The Ticket” in Delta, Ohio, to the southwest of Toledo.
Why the divestment trust is being created is spelled out in Section II, Question 3 of a Form 314 filing made by Cumulus with the FCC, posted Wednesday (3/28) by the Commission.
In short, the company’s Joint Plan of Reorganization requires the station sales. Cumulus currently holds an attributable ownership interest in more radio stations than is
permitted under the FCC’s local radio ownership rule in Albany, Ga.; Columbia, Mo.; Green Bay, Wisc; and Toledo, Ohio.
The reorganization means Cumulus will lose its grandfathered status permitting ownership in these markets of the above stations. Thus, the placement of the four stations in the divestiture trust puts Cumulus in compliance with FCC ownership caps.
Evers is the sole member of TDC Communications, the entity that controls the Entercom divestiture trust. These stations include KBLX-FM, KMVQ-FM & KOIT-FM in San Francisco; KUFX-FM in San Jose; and KHTX-AM, KNCI-FM, KYMX-FM & KZZO-FM in Sacramento. Bonneville International Corp. is operating the stations under a local marketing agreement.
Meanwhile, Evers continues to oversee The Last Bastion Station Trust, which is now comprised of two radio stations: Class A KOKY-FM 102.1 in Sherwood, Ark., and Class A KPZK-FM 102.5 in Cabot, Ark. Both stations are within the Little Rock market.
The Last Bastion trust was also used for divestitures required by the acquisition of Citadel by Cumulus Media.
The most recent spin from the Last Bastion Trust came exactly one year ago. On March 27, 2018, RBR+TVBR reported the sale of KINB-FM 105.3 in Kingfisher, Okla., to Perry Media Group, an Oklahoma LLC headed by Kevin Perry. The total purchase price for KINB was $225,000.
