In a lower-level conference room beneath the cacophony of consultants, vendors, air talent and radio industry C-Suiters parading around the 2018 Radio Show at the Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando, top-level executives at Hubbard Radio held court on an early morning in late September 2018 with CEO Ginny Morris and President/COO Drew Horowitz.
Few knew that the Minneapolis-based owner of stations in seven top markets would be adding an eighth — just a three-hour drive down Florida’s Turnpike from this Central Florida metropolis.
Portland, Ore.-based Alpha Media reached an agreement in principle to sell its six radio stations in West Palm Beach to Hubbard Radio.
On Wednesday (1/23), Hubbard closed on its acquisition of the six-station cluster in a deal brokered by Kalil & Co. The price: $88 million.
The move impacted some 105 individuals in the South Florida station group, which is comprised of one of Alpha’s most successful radio station: Hot AC ratings leader WRMF-FM 97.9, home of “The KVJ Show” morning program. WRMF’s monster signal patterns includes most of the greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, and the Fort Pierce-Stuart-Vero Beach market just north of Palm Beach County.
The station group also consists of Country WIRK-FM 103.1, which uses the Brooke & Jubal morning program in mornings; the show is based at Hubbard’s CHR/Pop KQMV-FM in Seattle.
The other stations in West Palm Beach Hubbard is getting from Alpha are Sports WMEN-AM 640, AC WEAT-FM “Sunny 107.9,” Urban AC WMBX-FM “X102.3,” and Talk WFTL-AM 850.
Also included in the deal: Urban “Beatz 96.3” W242CI, which uses the WMBX HD2 signal.
The transaction puts Hubbard in a market where iHeartMedia is the main radio industry competitor. Glades Media owns Spanish-language stations and those with specialty formats. The Palm Beach Post is now owned by GateHouse Media, sold recently by Cox Media Group. TV station owners include The E.W. Scripps Co. (WPTV-5), Hearst Television (WPBF-25) and Sinclair Broadcast Group (WPEC-12).
