Posted by ken pang on January 21, 2011 at 23:03:06:
Bonneville sells trio of Chicago radio stations
By Lewis Lazare Media & Marketing Columnist Jan 21, 2011 04:18PM
Lewis Lazare
Bonneville International on Wednesday said it has entered into an agreement to sell its three Chicago radio stations � WTMX-FM (101.9), WDRV-FM (97.1) and WILV-FM (100.3) � to Minneapolis-based Hubbard Broadcasting Co. Hubbard also is buying Bonneville stations in Washington, D.C., St. Louis and Cincinnati. Altogether Hubbard is acquiring 17 Bonneville stations for $505 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in May.
As part of the deal, Salt Lake City-based Bonneville�s two top radio executives, CEO Bruce Reese and chief operating officer Drew Horowitz, will join the radio management team at Hubbard, which currently operates just four radio stations in Minneapolis, in addition to 12 television stations in Minnesota, New York and New Mexico. Chicago-based Greg Solk, who had overseen programming for Bonneville�s chain of radio stations, also will become the senior vice-president of programming for Hubbard�s expanded roster of radio outlets.
Hubbard said it does not plan to make any changes in personnel or programming at any of the stations it is acquiring after the deal closes.
The deal gives Hubbard in one fell swoop three of Chicago�s top performing radio stations. All three are regularly among the Chicago market�s top 10 outlets in the key 25- to 54-year-old demo in the monthly Aribtron rating books. Hubbard also is getting the city�s consistently top-ranked morning drive show with Eric Ferguson and Kathy Hart on WTMX.
Sources say the price tag Hubbard is paying seems surprisingly low, given the quality of several of the Chicago stations Hubbard is acquiring. Bonneville, however, apparently liked the offer. One source called it a deal Bonneville couldn�t refuse. Bonneville is a unit of Deseret Management Corp., a for-profit arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.