As foreshadowed here when an AM station moved into the Grand Forks market last month, iHeartMedia is taking a station out of trust due to a higher ownership cap caused by the addition to the market.
iHeart had to turn over Country-formatted “100.3 The Cat” (KSNR Thief River Falls-Grand Forks) to the Sun and Snow Station Trust two years ago when the company went through a reorganization. At the time, there were only 14 radio stations officially considered to be part of the Grand Forks radio market, meaning iHeart’s ownership of four FM stations was one too many.
The market rose to the next tier of ownership caps last month when locally-owned KMSR/1520 (Mayville) changed its community of license to Northwood, which lies within the geographic boundaries of the Grand Forks market. Its Sports format and transmitter site remained unchanged, though it did upgrade its power slightly to 1.5kW daytime to deliver an adequate signal to Northwood.
KSNR trustee Sun and Snow Station Trust has now applied to transfer the station’s license back to iHeart, saying that “subsequent developments” have made it permissible for iHeart to own KSNR. FCC filings have not disclosed whether there was any agreement between iHeart and KMSR.
The official market designation for Grand Forks had fallen to 14 stations when three stations licensed to Bagley and Fosston, MN, were taken out of the market several years ago. Interestingly, Minnesota Public Radio’s two regional stations are not officially considered to be part of the Grand Forks market because they are licensed to Thief River Falls. (Market definitions include both commercial and non-commercial designations.)