Weeks after closing on it, Connoisseur Media is already parting with the frequency housing Bay Country 94.5 (KBAY) in a seven-figure deal with Christian radio giant K-LOVE. Fans of the Bay Area staple shouldn’t be alarmed, though; the station itself is sticking around.
The 94.5 signal, licensed to Gilroy, CA, covers the southern stretch of the San Francisco Bay Area and has long run alongside sister station Mix 106.5 (KEZR) in San Jose, as well as a simulcast on 92.1 (KKDV) in Walnut Creek. Connoisseur is transferring the frequency to K-Love, Inc. for $2 million as it continues refining its Bay Area portfolio, following last year’s merger with Alpha Media and its acquisition of Bonneville International’s San Francisco cluster earlier this year, which added KOIT, KBLX, KMVQ, and KUFX to the company’s holdings.
That acquisition required a waiver of the FCC’s Local Radio Ownership Rule, since combining the Bonneville stations with Connoisseur’s existing San Jose and East Bay cluster would have given the company nine FMs in the San Francisco market, one over the local cap. The FCC granted the waiver on March 30 after Connoisseur argued the combination would have minimal market impact, citing a revenue share that would still trail both iHeartMedia and Audacy in the region.
This time, though, it’s only the signal changing hands. The KBAY-FM call letters and intellectual property will remain with Connoisseur, and, as the company noted in its release, “Connoisseur’s sale of the frequency does not include the current operation of the format or KEZR-FM, Connoisseur’s flagship station in San Jose.”
The transaction is pending standard FCC approval and is expected to close in early fall. Michael Bergner of Bergner & Co. served as the exclusive broker, with Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP providing legal representation for Connoisseur Media.
Before the sale, K-LOVE already operated at 95.3 in the San Jose market.
Connoisseur Media Founder and CEO Jeff Warshaw said, “We were approached about selling our frequency to K-Love, Inc. who want to expand their Christian offerings in the San Jose market with the addition of the 94.5 FM frequency. We found a way to do that but retain our KBAY-FM country format. Stay tuned!”
