Cox Radio found out some time back — 60M for the five of them, located in iconic Athens GA, the college town with a rep for spawning serious national musical acts. Cox is getting a five-staion cluster there — WPUP-FM, WGMG-FM, WNGC-FM, WGAU-AM & WRFC-AM — pursuant to an option with Southern Broadcasting of Athens and other companies controlled by Paul Stone. Cox has already paid 12M of that total pursuant to the option. "This strong and very profitable group of stations allows us to enhance our service in the Southeast and specifically in the State of Georgia," said Cox leader Robert F. Neil. "The location of these stations in the fast growing I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Greenville is a great strategic fit for Cox Radio due to our existing presence in both of those markets." Arbitron is not active in the market, but competing ratings service Eastlan began rating the market back in 2005 at Stone’s behest.
RBR observation: Cox Radio had been reporting the existence of this option for some time in SEC filings. Until now, though, we did not know the identity of the stations under option or the seller. Now, the mystery is solved.
