Station sales market explodes Taft, Jefferson, Kaiser, other corporations purchase radio and television stations throughout the nation

The sales of channel 29 WIBF -TV Phila- owner of TV stations in that city in Richmond to Jefferson Standard, the delphia to Taft Broadcasting Co. for an Massachusetts as well as Dayton, Ohio; commission ordered the buyer to change aggregate of $4.5 million; of channel Raleigh, N. C., and Keene, N. H. the call letters in order to distinguish 14 WJZB -TV Worcester, Mass., plus a Springfield Television bought the Wor- corporate ownership of the TV station construction permit for channel 22 cester station in 1958 in a stock deal. and the radio operations. LARVA -Tv WENS -TV Pittsburgh to United Artists Springfield Television also bought the was sold by Larus Investing Co., owner for $800,000, and of WAMO -AM -FM Pitts- Pittsburgh permit in a stock transaction of Larus Broadcasting Co., and of the burgh, WUFO Amherst -Buffalo, N. Y., in 1965 valued at $110,000. Larus and Bros. tobacco company. WOAH Miami and WILD Boston to Cy- United Artists already owns channel Larus Broadcasting also owns WRVA- press Communications Corp. for $2.5 43 wuAB(TV) in the Lorain- Cleveland, AM-FM, which is being retained. At million highlighted station sales last Ohio, area, and holds a construction the time of the sale announcement, week. permit for xuAB(TV) Houston. Larus also announced that it was re- At the same time, the FCC approved The United Artists announcement linquishing a grant it held for channel the sale of WRVA -TV Richmond, Va., to last week is considered likely to com- 54 WTRT -TV Columbus, Ga. WBT -AM- Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Co. plicate the $300 -million Metromedia - Jefferson Standard owns for $5 million; the sale of 40% of Transamerica merger by adding addi- FM and warv(TV) Charlotte, and WKBG -TV and WCAS Cambridge, Mass. tional TV stations to the already over - watt Greensboro, both North Caro- as well as wJxB(FM) Boston to Kaiser the -limit count of the two companies. lina. Earlier this year it sold wBTw- Broadcasting Co., to give it 90% owner- Under FCC regulations, no single (Tv) Florence, S.C., to the Bluefield ship for a total of $2.4 million, and the entity may own more than seven TV (W. Va.) Daily Telegraph for $4.5 transfer Of KTAR-AM -FM -TV Phoenix, stations, of which not more than five million. and KYCA Prescott, both Arizona, to may be VHF. Metromedia now has The action was opposed by Commis- Combined Communications Corp., in four VHF and one UHF and has an sioner Kenneth A. Cox. WRVA -TV the first part of what is estimated to be option to acquire the construction per- began operating in 1956 and is on channel 12 with an NBC affiliation. a $15- million deal. mit of another UHF station (NA/REP[TV] The Taft Broadcasting transaction Boston). Transamerica, through UA, The Cambridge- Boston sale of 40% interest in was announced last week after the Oct. has one operating and one permittee, Kaiser -Globe Broadcasting Corp., licensee of the three stations, 16 meeting of its board. The agreement both UHF.. With last week's announce- gives Kaiser Broadcasting calls for the acquisition of all the ment, it will have two operating and Corp., a 50% stock of WIBF Broadcasting Corp. from two CP's, all UHF. owner, all but 10% ownership. The Boston Globe will retain 10 %. William L. Fox and family of Jenkin- There was speculation, however, that The purchase calls for Kaiser to town, Pa., for $1.4 million. It will also before submitting the merger pay proposal $800,000 for the 40% assume obligations for $2.8 million in to the FCC, the two interest and to companies would assume $1.6 million long -term obligations and $300,000 in "adjust" their holdings in notes held by so that no ques- the Globe. This changes the financing short -term debt. tion of excess TV station ownership of the licensee firm to $5.4 million from WIBF Broadcasting also is the licensee would arise. of WIBF -FM in Jenkintown. This is be- Kaiser and $600,000 from the Globe. The Cypress deal involves payment Kaiser Broadcasting, a subsidiary of ing retained by the Fox family. in cash, notes and convertible deben- Kaiser Industries, is a multiple In addition to TV and radio stations UHF tures. Leonard E. Walk, president of television owner, with in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; stations in De- Dynamic Broadcasting Co., licensee of troit, Corona -Los Angeles, San Birmingham, Buffalo, Kansas City and Francis- the five stations, will continue in that co, Burlington, N. J.- Philadelphia, and Scranton, Pa., Taft Broadcasting owns post; Dynamic will be operated as a a 50% interest in It Hanna Barbera Productions, and only subsidiary Cleveland. also of Cypress. Cypress, a pub- owns an FM station in San Francisco. last month announced agreement to lic firm which operates CATV systems This time Commissioner Nicholas purchase for a maximum of $5.1 mil- in five states with 44,000 subscribers, Johnson dissented to the grant. lion over a period of years, Fouad Said also holds a permit for UHF station WKBG -Tv was founded in 1953 and Productions Inc. (BROADCASTING, Sept. KTXL (TV) Sacramento- Stockton, Calif. 23). is on channel 56. WCAS began in 1967 In approving the sale of WRVA -TV and is a daytimer on 740 kc with 250 Broker in the Philadelphia sale was w. WJIB is 22 years old and operates R. C. Crisler & Co. on 96.9 me with 50 kw. The United Artists' acquisition, In the Phoenix- Prescott transaction, KMST(TV) joins CBS on Dec. 1 which involves the purchase of all the the stations are being transferred to stock of Capital Communication Corp., KMST(TV) Monterey -Salinas, Calif., a CCC, a Phoenix -based complex of licensee of the operating UHF in Wor- new UHF permittee, will become a broadcast and outdoor advertising, cester, Mass., and holder of a for grant CBS -TV affiliate around Dec. 1. It will which will, at the end of a series of came a after Pittsburgh, week an- replace KSBW -Tv, which carried both transactions, be owned 60% to 65% nouncement of the agreement for the CBS and NBC programs, as the CBS by John J. Louis Jr., and associates merger of Metromedia Inc. into United affiliate. KSBW-TV will continue with and 35% to 40% by Karl Eller and his Artists' parent company, Transamerica NBC -TV. KMST, operating on channel group. Mr. Louis and his associates Corp. (BROADCASTING, Oct. 14) 46, is owned by Monterey-Salinas Tele- now own the Phoenix and Prescott sta- Capital Communications is a wholly vision lnc. Stoddard J. Johnston is pres- tions. Mr. Eller owns KBLU-AM -TV owned subsidiary of Springfield Televi- ident and William Schuyler is vice pres- Yuma and Eller Outdoor Advertising. sion Broadcasting Corp., a multiple ident and general manager. Because of the FCC's duopoly rules 48 (THE MEDIA) BROADCASTING, Oct. 21, 1968