Connoisseur Media is selling its radio stations in Brookings, S.D., to a group headed by the stations’ current market manager.
The company announced March 25 that it’s selling the five-station group in Brookings to locally-owned Brookings Radio LLC, which is owned by Cami Powers, her husband Derrick Powers, and Chad Hogie. Cami Powers is the stations’ market manager and Hogie is the business manager.
The stations include Adult Contemporary outlet “B93.7” (KBRK-FM Brookings), “KCountry 102.3” (KKQQ Volga), Classic Rocker “107.1 The Hawk” (KDBX Clear Lake), Classic Country outlet “The Ranch 910” (KJJQ Volga), and Classic Hits-formatted KBRK/1430 (Brookings).
According to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC on March 31, Brookings Radio will pay $1.9 million for the stations.
The news release says the sale “represents Connoisseur Media’s ongoing commitment to refining its portfolio and strengthening its presence in priority markets.”
“The Brookings market did not fit into the long-term vision we set out for Connoisseur,” Jeff Warshaw, Connoisseur Founder and CEO, said in the news release. “As we pursued a potential sale, we looked for local quality operators to purchase these stations and found that the best operators in the market already worked for us! This is not the first time we have encouraged some of our local management to break into ownership so that they could continue to serve the communities we are so committed to. We are incredibly happy that Cami and her group stepped up to the challenge.”
Cami Powers said, “Turning this dream into a reality has been incredibly meaningful, and I’m deeply grateful to Jeff and Connoisseur Media for the opportunity. I’m fortunate to do what I love alongside a team of dedicated professionals who share that same passion. Together, we’ll continue building on what we value most—serving our clients, listeners, and community with trusted, locally focused broadcasting.”
The sale of the Brookings stations follows earlier sales of stations in Madison, S.D., and Luverne, Minn. Connoisseur also owns a six-station group in Watertown, S.D. All of the markets were purchased as part of Connoisseur’s acquisition of Alpha Media last year.