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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Silent station
sold to SalemRadio station KENT-AM 1170 has been sold by Utah-based Legacy Communications Corp. to California-based Salem Communications Holding Corp. for $500,000.
The purchase agreement was signed this week and Legacy's application to transfer the broadcast license was accepted for filing by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.
The company has yet to firm up plans on the type of programming the station will carry, according to T.J. Malievsky, general manager of Salem Media of Hawaii Inc.
That division of publicly traded Salem Communications operates KAIM-FM 99.5, KHNR-AM 650, KGU-AM 760 and KHCM-AM 940 in Honolulu. It also holds the license for KAIM-AM 870, formerly a 50,000-watt radio station transmitting from Molokai. Salem took the station dark at the end of 2001 in order to boost the power of one of its Los Angeles stations that operates on the same frequency. It was also a huge money-saving move for the company, as it cost more than $12,000 a month to feed electricity to the Molokai transmitter.
The station has operated periodically at reduced power to maintain compliance with FCC regulations.
The purchase of a fifth AM station in a single market would put Salem over the federal limit. But its unclear whether the limit would apply given that two of those stations are dark.
KENT has not carried sustained programming since it was purchased by Legacy.
Legacy President Morgan Skinner and Secretary Lavon Randall formed AM Radio 1170 Inc. and registered it with the state in March of 2000. It is the company name to which the station is licensed. Legacy is based in St. George, Utah, but it is a Nevada corporation.
Skinner did not return calls.
The asset purchase agreement for KENT contains a confidentiality agreement calling on each party to protect information pertaining to the deal to prevent its disclosure. The 55-page purchase agreement is posted on the very public FCC Web site.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com