MARC Media Group is moving fast on its Florida strategy. Three Space Coast stations are coming into the fold after striking a deal to buy the signals from Cumulus Media. MARC will operate the stations under a local marketing agreement until the sale receives FCC approval.
The purchase, price yet to be revealed, adds 107.1 A1A (WAOA), 102.7 The HitKicker (WHKR), and 95.9 The Rocket (WROK) to the group’s portfolio, bringing its total station count to 22.
The acquisition is the latest chapter in a busy year of growth for the Gainesville-based group. In February, the company closed on the $6 million purchase of five Treasure Coast Radio stations along Florida’s Atlantic coast and filed a $9 million deal for three stations and two translators in the Lakeland-Winter Haven market from Hall Communications.
For Cumulus, the sale fits its pattern of selling off smaller market FMs as it awaits an exit from bankruptcy. In May, the company sold a bevy of signals in Georgia and South Carolina to Radio Training Network for $2.45 million, and made another agreement to divest WIXV in Savannah, GA, and KKEG in Bentonville/Fayetteville, AR, to RTN for $2.05 million in August.
Cumulus also sold two stations in Western Pennsylvania to Family Life Ministries for $2.25 million this summer.
MARC Media Group Chief Operating Officer Scott Miller said, “As planned, our signals now pretty much cover a majority of the central Florida peninsula. We’ve remained true to our objective to bring community-focused, meaningful on-air programming to our growing listener and advertising bases. And we’re just getting started.”
“MARC intends to provide each station with the tools needed to grow those audiences even further. We are very selective when it comes to bringing stations into the MARC fold, applying a formula we’ve fine-tuned for growth and profitability.”
