After its president asked the FCC to abolish the radio ownership caps, Zimmer Communications seeks a waiver of the Local Radio Ownership Rule to complete its acquisition of four Mid-West Family stations in Springfield, MO, in an all-stock deal.
The combination would give Zimmer nine full-power stations in the market, three more than the market’s six-station ownership cap allows. The stock purchase carries an aggregate price of $1,241,443.90. Per the filing, the entire amount is payable through a seller-financed promissory note the filing calls the “Buyer Note,” rather than cash at closing.
Under the acquisition, 104.7 The Cave (KKLH), 105.1 The Bull (KOMG), 102.1 The Won (KOSP), and Q92.9 (KQRA) would join Zimmer’s 98.7 The Dove (KTXR), KWTO-AM, 101.3 Real Country (KWTO), 93.7 The Stage (KZMO), and 96.9 The Jock (KBFL).
Zimmer told the FCC that its share of Springfield market revenue would grow from 8.5% to 33.6% with the acquisition, still trailing SummitMedia’s 34.8% share and nudging past iHeartMedia’s 29.8%. The broadcaster argued the combination would also strengthen local news in the market, stating that “only viable local broadcast stations can provide this reliable and trusted disaster alerting and emergency journalism,” and that “despite their greater resources, online and satellite radio outlets … do not offer these types of vital local services.”
Zimmer added that owning more stations would let it “spread the costs of news and other programming across more outlets and to offer a greater variety of programming in our local markets, thereby attracting larger audiences and additional advertisers.”
Radio Ink reported in May that company President John Zimmer had urged the Commission to eliminate local radio ownership caps altogether in the Quadrennial Review, arguing that “radio broadcasters compete with streaming music platforms and podcasters that didn’t exist then,” when the current caps were set.
This new request follows a recent run of similar waivers the FCC has granted elsewhere in the industry. Connoisseur Media secured a Local Radio Ownership Rule waiver in March to close its $10 million purchase of Bonneville International’s San Francisco cluster, a deal that gave Connoisseur nine FM stations in a market capped at five.
The FCC approved that waiver after Connoisseur argued the combination would still leave its revenue share behind both iHeartMedia and Audacy, the same trailing-competitor argument Zimmer is now making in Springfield. Connoisseur is pursuing an even larger waiver in Lincoln, NE, where a pending deal for NRG Media’s cluster would give the company all 11 commercially rated stations in that market.
