Spanish Broadcasting System, divestiture trustee CXR Radio and Cox Radio announced late on Thursday that SBS will purchase WPYO-FM in Orlando and WSUN-FM in Tampa. The sale price was not revealed in the press release. SBS does not own any other signals in either market.
The stations are held in trust by CXR Radio as a result of a divestiture trust mandate by the FCC, which arose from FCC ownership limitations and the sale of Cox Radio in 2019.
CXR, which holds the stations’ FCC licenses and controls the operations of the stations, conducted a sales process resulting in Thursday’s agreement with SBS.
“SBS is pleased to acquire WPYO(FM) and WSUN(FM) per FCC rules in order to serve the Hispanic communities of Orlando, Tampa and Central Florida and to foster minority ownership in media,” commented SBS Chairman and CEO, Raúl Alarcón.
Elliot Evers, the principal in CXR who has overseen the stations since the formation of the trust, said, “I am pleased that our sale process has produced full value for these two impressive stations. We engaged Houlihan, Lokey to assist with the process, and I am grateful for the instrumental role that the Houlihan team played in making this a success. Working with the CMG and SBS teams was an honor and a pleasure.”
Cox Radio Senior Vice President Rob Babin said, “These stations have been a part of our Cox Media Group family for many years. We are saddened to see WPYO(FM) and WSUN(FM) leave our company, but we also are pleased to have fulfilled the FCC’s mandate to sell these stations – and we thank Elliot and his CXR team for all they did to oversee this process.”
The transaction expected to close later this quarter.
