Magnum Communications, part of Wisconsin-based Magnum Media, has reached an agreement to acquire country \u201cCow 97\u201d WCOW-FM Sparta, WI, \u201cESPN Sports 1290\u201d WKLJ-AM\/W271CM (1290\/102.1) in Sparta, and \u201cESPN 105.5\u201d WFBZ-FM Trempealeau from Sparta-Tomah Broadcasting Co.<\/p>\n
The acquisition adds the stations to Magnum Media\u2019s growing station portfolio. The company already owns five stations in the La Crosse market, including country \u201cKicks 106.3\u201d WQCC, adult contemporary WLXR (96.1), classic rock WTMB (94.5), classic hits WKBH (102.7) and country WBOG (1460). The proposed transaction would give Magnum ownership of nine stations in the market, raising questions about how the company will address FCC local ownership limits before the deal closes.<\/p>\n
For Sparta-Tomah Broadcasting, the sale represents an exit from the radio business, as the stations are its remaining media holdings.<\/p>\n
WCOW celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and has been named Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Small Market Station of the Year seven times. Its \u201cBen & Arnie\u201d morning show was recognized by the Country Music Association last year as Small Market Personalities of the Year.<\/p>\n
Magnum Media currently operates six AM stations, 14 full-power FMs and 18 FM translators across Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and northern Illinois.<\/p>\n
Company President Reid Magnum noted the acquisition also carries personal significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn June, when my dad was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame, he spoke about WCOW being the very first radio station he was ever in at age 4,\u201d Magnum said. \u201cHis uncle, Len DeSomer, was an announcer at WCOW in 1967. On top of that, my mom and dad sat with Pink Rice at the first Wisconsin Broadcasters Association dinner they attended in 1990.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Magnum Communications, part of Wisconsin-based Magnum Media, has reached an agreement to acquire country \u201cCow 97\u201d WCOW-FM Sparta,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,4975,157,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-560713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}