There’s no indication of any imminent format changes as iHeartMedia and the Educational Media Foundation swap 13 translator licenses nationally, including some in Minneapolis and Madison.
EMF operates the non-commercial K-Love and Air-1 Christian music networks, which are carried on HD subchannels of some iHeart stations to feed EMF-owned FM translators. In exchange, iHeart has long programmed some translators owned by EMF with formats originating on HD subchannels.
Now, two translators in Minneapolis will be swapped: K244FE/96.7 will be transferred from iHeart to EMF and K273BH/102.5 will go from EMF to iHeart. K244FE currently carries Sports as “KFAN+” originating on KQQL-HD3, while K273BH carries Hip-Hop as “Hot 102.5” originating on KTCZ-HD3.
In Madison, W265CV/100.9 will be transferred from iHeart to EMF. The translator carries a Sports format originating on WIBA-FM HD subchannel which simulcasts with WTSO/1070 during the day.
Applications to transfer the stations’ licenses continue to list KQQL, KTCZ, and WIBA-FM, respectively, as the stations to be rebroadcast. (Such statements are not binding as the input station can be changed at any time without FCC approval, and originating subchannels could also change format.)
No money will change hands as part of the deal.
The publicly-available documents filed with the FCC do not indicate why iHeart and EMF decided to trade translators. RadioInsight noted that all six of the translators going from EMF to iHeart currently carry Hip-Hop formats.