Dan Deeb runs one AM and two FM stations for Maholo Broadcasting on the Big Island of Hawaii, in and around its main community of Hilo. Now he is making the leap into ownership with KTBH-FM Kurtistown HI.
The seller is Ohana Broadcast Company II, LLC, which is managed by Frontier Radio Investors, and both of which are headed by Jason R. Wolff.
Deeb’s purchasing license company is Resonate Hawaii LLC. One partner is Carla Maria Morris. Another, is a trust owned by a husband and wife, Guy and Sally Dobson, who are Australian nationals. They will have a 20% stake in the operation.
According to the contract, which was dated 1/12/11, third party Visionary Related Entertainment has a right of first refusal to acquire the station under a Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release dated 10/30/09. It had 15 days to enforce its claim on the station, an event which obviously has not occurred.
The stations managed by Deeb include KHNU-AM Hilo, KBGX-FM Keaau and KKOA-FM Volcano. On the application, Resonate Hawaii noted that none of the principals of the buyer have an attributable interest in any station, much less a station in the Hilo vicinity, but even if they owned the trio outright the resulting four-station cluster would be legal under current FCC ownership caps.
