Here’s a little extra color on the deal sending KSXT-AM Loveland CO from David Westburg’s Loveland Radio LLC to Jim O’Laughlin’s Catholic Radio Network. According to broker John Pierce, who handled the $740K transaction, the alert O’Laughlin had been shopping for a station in the Ft. Collins-Greeley Arbitron market when the KSXT situation came up. It came under Westburg’s control in a default situation. In fact, the application transferring the station to Westburg is still pending at the FCC; O’Laughlin’s application is now lined up behind it. But the bottom line is, O’Laughlin decided under the circumstances that KSXT might be the station to buy, put Pierce on the case and within just about three weeks of Westburg’s 9/2/08 application, had his own deal in place for the station. Westburg was owed $717K on an initial $777K loan. O’Laughlin’s acquisition will come home at $740K, including $690K paid pursuant to a promissory note.
RBR/TVBR observation: One man’s pain is often another man’s gain. In this case, both sides are no doubt happy to arrive at such a speedy handshake moment. The word to the wise is that it is definitely a buyer’s market out there, and will become even more of one when reality sinks in and station values start coming more in line with the new realities of this sludgy economy.
