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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Big bids yanked
from auction
Two companies have withdrawn the high bids for two of the 10 Hawaii FM radio licenses being auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission.That means the licenses for stations at 106.9 in Nanakuli and 107.5 in Kihei on Maui are still up for grabs, said Lauren Patrich, media liaison for the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Maui-based Visionary Related Entertainment LLC had bid just less than $1.8 million for the Kihei license and was still high bidder for licenses in Kaunakakai, Molokai, and Kurtistown on the Big Island at the close of bidding Friday.
Nevada-based Kemp Communications Inc. had bid just less than $2.4 million on the Nanakuli license, which had put the local license among the top 10 most desirable nationwide.
It's not clear why the bids were withdrawn.
The next bid for the Kihei and Nanakuli licenses must at least be equal to the highest bid before the one that was withdrawn, Patrich said.
Hawaii licenses are no longer among those that fetched the top 10 prices after two weeks into the auction.
Friday's top draws were licenses in Mesquite, Nev.; Pacific Junction, Iowa; and Overton, Nev., attracting bids of $7.1 million, $6.8 million and $5.8 million, respectively.
Three Hawaii licenses are among the top 50; Wahiawa at No. 19 with a $2.1 million bid by Kona Coast Radio LLC; No. 29 Haiku with a bid just shy of $1.7 million by Big Island Broadcasting Inc.; and No. 35 Kaunakakai, with a just-below $1.4 million bid by Visionary, the only Hawaii company in the auction.
Merger made
The once-delayed merger of Hilo's Oda/McCarty Architects Ltd. into Honolulu's Durrant-Media Five went through without a hitch -- well, without another hitch -- earlier this month.A September notice announcing the merger was quickly followed by an identical notice stamped with the word "canceled." Essentially, the companies wanted more time to put together the merger.
The merger date was changed to allow additional time for activities such as assembling employee training manuals, marketing coordinator Stacy Warner said at the time.
The pertinent papers having been shuffled, Oda/McCarty founders Russell Oda and Harrell McCarty are now principals in Durrant-Media Five, which veteran staffers George Hanashiro, Kent Kimura and Anthony Fukuoka have also joined.