The stock of Northern Star Broadcasting LLC is being sold to Del and Mary Reynolds, who hold a CP for WQEZ-FM in Cheboygan MI. Attached to the company and its stock are an AM station and seven FMs in the same general area as the CP.
Northern Star is headed by Wade Fetzer.
All seven of the FMs are said to be in the Traverse City-Petoskey MI Arbitron market; the AM is not. This is one of those geographically far-flung markets, and the stations being sold actually form four separate markets using the contour method of local cap calculation, plus one station – licensed to Cadillac, is in the market but without overlapping any of the other stations.
Included in the deal are WGFN-FM & WJZJ-FM Glen Arbor; WCKC-FM Cadillac; WCBY-AM & WGFM-FM Cheboygan; WAVC-FM Mio; WMKC-FM Indian River; and WLJZ-FM Mackinaw City.
The value of the deal is $1.8M, with $1.2M to be paid in cash and $600K paid over time pursuant to terms of a promissory note.
Fetzer/Northern Star also has a deal in the works to sell WIHC-FM Newberry MI to Central Michigan Media Ministries for $150K. The buyers will make sure the $150K makes it to Fetzer, and will assist in reselling the station if the CMMM deal falls through. Unlike the Traverse City stations, which are located in the upstate portion of Michigan’s main body of land, Newberry is located on the Upper Peninsula.
