I3G Media, owned by members of the Ingstad family, is seeking a waiver of ownership caps to buy a competitor in North Dakota.
The deal filed with the FCC on Sept. 11 calls for i3G Media to pay Chesterman Communications Jamestown $400,000 for Full-Service Classic Country outlet KSJB/600 (Jamestown), Hot Adult Contemporary-formatted “Mix 93.3” (KSJZ Jamestown), and KSJB translator K261FC/100.1 (Jamestown).
I3G Media currently owns 13 full-power radio stations in North Dakota and Minnesota, including four FM stations and two AM stations in the Jamestown/Valley City area.
The Chesterman and i3G groups are the only commercial radio stations in Jamestown, but a waiver request says they actually compete with out-of-town stations for both listeners and advertising dollars.
Since Jamestown is not a rated market, old contour-based methods of defining markets are still in effect for the area. The waiver request questions an FCC rule that limits stations more than 92km (57 miles) away from being counted as part of a market during that process.
The filing states that signals travel farther than 92km in North Dakota due to high ground conductivity, helping AM, and relatively flat topography, helping FM.
When stations with strong signals from farther than 92km away are included, the filing says there are actually a total of 48 radio stations serving the market — three more than would be required for a company to own eight stations in a market.
The filing also states that KSJB/KSJB “have struggled to be economically viable” since 2020, resulting in full-time staff being cut from 13 to 4 employees. It says Chesterman engaged a broker but after four months on the market, i3G was the only interested party. It cites i3G’s history of community involvement and localism.
I3G Media is owned by Tallie Colville (33.3%), Todd Ingstad (33.3%), Stacy Ingstad (30.3%), and Reagan Ingstad (3%). “I3G” stands for Ingstad Third Generation, representing the third generation of the family to work in the radio business, and a letter from Colville included in the filing notes that two members of the fourth generation are now working at the stations as well.
Due to North Dakota’s high ground conductivity and KSJB’s low frequency, the station’s 5kW signal has a large coverage area reaching most of North Dakota as well as parts of Manitoba, Minnesota, and South Dakota. KSJZ uses 100kW/137m (class C1).
The filing is the latest in a trend of requests for waivers of local radio ownership caps; other companies have requested waivers in Lincoln, Neb., and Wausau, Wis. The FCC has not yet acted on those applications.