About two months after it took KXSP/590 (Omaha) off the air, SummitMedia has reached an agreement to sell the station to locally-owned Walnut Media.
An asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC on April 17 lists the purchase price at $40,000. The sale includes the station license, two transmitters, and spare parts. Not included is KXSP’s 90-year-old transmitter site at North 56th Street and Kansas Avenue; the station told the FCC in February that the property had been sold.
Walnut currently owns KIBM/1490 (Omaha), KOBM-FM/97.3 (Blair), KHUB/1340 (Fremont), and KFMT-FM/105.5 (Fremont), while sister company Hickory Radio LLC owns KCRO/660 (Omaha) and KXCB/1420 (Omaha). The companies also have several FM translators. Steve Seline is the sole member of Hickory Radio and is 60% owner of the parent company of Walnut Media.
The sale would give Walnut/Hickory a total of five AM stations in the Omaha/Fremont area, while the market cap for Omaha is four AM stations. Since KHUB is not officially classified as an Omaha-market station, the filing says the transaction “would appear to [comply] with the Local Radio Ownership Rule” and a waiver is being sought in case there is concern about KHUB’s overlap with the other stations.
“Walnut is prepared to restore service on KXSP shortly after the transaction is consummated and to use its knowledge of the market to bolster AM service,” the waiver request says.
KXSP had transmitted with 5kW day and night, non-directional, from its previous site. An application to move to a new location has not yet been filed.