Madison-based Civic Media is seeking a waiver of FCC market caps to purchase of 13 radio stations in Illinois and Iowa from the Pritchard family.
Broker Kalil & Co. announced Oct. 13 that Civic Media is buying stations in the Galesburg, Illinois, and Burlington, Iowa, markets from Pritchard Broadcasting Corp., Titan Broadcasting LLC, and Galesburg Broadcasting Company. Asset purchase agreements filed with the FCC on Nov. 2 list a combined purchase price of $3.3 million for the stations.
The waiver is necessary for the sale to go forward in the Burlington market. Currently, the Pritchard Broadcasting and Titan Broadcasting stations are located in the same building but operated with separate management, staffs, and offices.
In the Burlington market, the stations include:
- KBKB/1360 and K283CK/104.5 (Fort Madison), Sports (Pritchard)
- KBUR/1490 and K257GC/99.3 (Burlington), News/Talk (Pritchard)
- WQKQ/92.1 (Dallas City, Ill.), Classic Rock “KQ92” (Pritchard)
- KKMI/93.5 (Burlington), Adult Contemporary (Pritchard)
- KHDK/97.3 (New London), Contemporary Hits “Hot 97.3” (Pritchard)
- KBKB-FM/101.7 (Fort Madison), Country “The Bull” (Titan)
- KDMG/103.1 (Burlington), Country (Pritchard)
- KGRS/107.3 (Burlington), Hot AC (Titan)
In the Galesburg market, the stations include:
- WGIL/1400 and W229BO/93.7 (Galesburg), News/Talk
- WLSR/92.7 (Galesburg), Classic Rock “Laser”
- WAAG/94.9 (Galesburg), Country
- WKAY/105.3 (Knoxville), Adult Contemporary “K FM”
- WZIE/106.1 (Abingdon), Classic Hits “Z106.1”
The sale follows the August death of John T. Pritchard, who held 100% of Pritchard Broadcasting and Galesburg Broadcasting. His son, John C. “LJ” Pritchard, holds 100% of Titan Broadcasting, the licensee of KBKB-FM and KGRS.
His obituary notes that John T. Pritchard was a champion of Galesburg, serving on numerous boards and committees and as mayor from 2013 to 2021.
Asset purchase agreements filed with the FCC list a $3.2 million sale price for KBKB-FM and KGRS and $100,000 for the remaining stations.
Current FCC ownership rules allow one company to own up to four FM stations in a market the size of Burlington, while the proposed transaction would give it six FM stations in that market.
Civic Media states in its filing that if the waiver is not approved, it would divest WQKQ and KHDK. The filing says, “it is likely that the Excess Stations would cease operation and Pritchard would be obliged to surrender their licenses because the Excess Stations are not economically viable as a standalone operation.”
The filing includes a declaration from Civic Media CEO Sage Weil stating that the two Titan stations are “critical to the financial viability of the transaction” and that Civic would not have made an offer if the Titan stations were not included.
The request also says Civic is committed to maintaining the current studios in Burlington and Galesburg, continuing the current level of news coverage on KBUR and WGIL, offering severe weather coverage and high school sports broadcasts, and adding digital streams and mobile apps for the stations.
The filing states that Pritchard had been trying to sell the stations since 2019 but had not been able to reach an agreement to sell until now.
Civic is the latest in a series of companies to seek a waiver of ownership caps to assemble groups larger than allowed by current rules:
- Connoisseur Media is seeking a waiver to buy NRG Media’s stations in Lincoln, Neb.
- Midwest Communications is seeking a waiver to buy MRG Media’s stations in Wausau and Rhinelander, Wis.
- Magnum Media is seeking a waiver to buy Sparta-Tomah Broadcasting’s stations in the La Crosse, Wis. market.
The FCC has not yet acted on any of the above waiver requests, though Civic’s filing notes that it has approved several waivers elsewhere. They come amid discussions of changing ownership rules to permanently raise market caps.
The purchase would mark Civic’s entrance into Illinois. Burlington would be its second Iowa market following the recent purchase of NRG Media’s stations in Waterloo-Cedar Rapids.
Civic Media and Michigan Civic Media Alliance currently own 30 full-power stations in Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Minnesota. They are in the process of buying five more, in addition to the Burlington and Galesburg stations.
Civic Media began operating most of the Burlington and Galesburg stations Oct. 1 under time brokerage agreements. However, WQKQ, KHDK, and WZIE are excluded from the time brokerage agreements.
This item was originally posted Oct. 13 and was updated Nov. 4 with details of FCC filings.