John Borders and Don Turner are looking east at the City of New Orleans. Their Sunburst Media of Louisiana currently operates KCIL-FM Houma LA, and they now have a deal in the works to acquire WFNO-AM in Norco LA. Houma is about 40 miles southwest of the city, and Norco is safely ensconced in the western suburbs. The seller of WFNO is Davidson Media Group, headed by Felix Perez.
The station is going to $1.4M cash, with $50K retained in a holdback escrow account until any adjustments are sorted out. Davidson has also agreed not to compete with Sunburst.
Davidson has been running Spanish programming on WFNO, branded “La Fabulosa 830.” It operates with 5 kw-D and 750 w-N.
KCIL-FM is playing Country from its 107.5 MHz perch in Houma, but it may soon be bringing its brand closer into town. Sunburst holds a CP to relocate to Jean Lafitte LA. If that happens, instead of Houma’s 40 mile distance, it’ll be about 12 miles south of New Orleans. The station is a Class C1 and now and will be after the move, improving from 69 kw @ 650’ to 100 kw @ 981’.
RBR/TVBR observation: Davidson has been gradually spinning stations, and Sunburst was in a position to take advantage. With a number of ailing large groups in town, will the veteran operators at Sunburst be able to shake loose some more sticks and continue to build a local radio stronghold? We’d love to see that, and we’d love to see it become a trend.
