DMC sells 17 of its Bonneville radio stations

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah-based Deseret Management Corp. has entered into an agreement to sell 17 of its Bonneville International radio stations in four cities across the United States.

DMC, a for-profit arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will sell stations in St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., to Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. Under terms of the purchase agreement, Minneapolis-based Hubbard will acquire the stations for $505 million.

As part of the sale, Bruce Reese, President and CEO of Bonneville, will transition to Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.

The sale is expected to be finalized upon FCC approval.

"Bonneville has built all its media properties into profitable, well-managed media outlets in lucrative markets, which has made them attractive to many potential buyers through the years," said Mark Willes, president and CEO of DMC.

As part of the transaction, Bruce Reese, Bonneville president and CEO, and Drew Horowitz, Bonneville chief operating officer, will move to Hubbard Broadcasting.

DMC will retain its stations in Salt Lake City, which include KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM and 1160 AM), KSFI (FM 100) and KRSP (Arrow 103.5). It will also retain its Bonneville stations in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle with their accompanying station managers and staff.

Virginia Morris, who will become the chairwoman of the newly created Hubbard Radio LLC, called it an exciting opportunity for the company.

"We have long admired the good work, reputation and leadership of Bonneville International and its management team and feel honored to welcome these great stations into the Hubbard family of companies," she said.

Willes said Hubbard Broadcasting is a well-respected business that represents many of the same values Bonneville embraces.

"We felt Hubbard's long-term hold strategy was the right fit for these stations," he said.

As result of the sale, Hubbard Radio will add 547 employees, bringing its full- and part-time workforce to 701.

As part of the sale, Drew Horowitz, Chief Operating Officer of Bonneville, will transition to Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.

Stations included in the agreement are:

DMC plans to expand the regional and the online presence of the radio stations it is retaining. DMC's websites in its western markets reach more than 7 million combined unique users with more than 250 million combined page views each month.

"It is evident that a strong regional component is vital to the success of combined digital and broadcast marketplaces," Willes said. "It makes strategic sense for us to have these western markets continue as part of DMC."

As part of this transition, Jeff Simpson will now oversee the remaining Bonneville markets. Simpson has been with DMC since 2004 and is currently the COO of KSL Broadcasting.

"We have excellent market managers and staff in each Bonneville location and I look forward to working with them to achieve their market goals," said Simpson. "We will maintain our commitment to serve the communities we broadcast in and provide the quality sports, news and entertainment our listeners have come to expect."

E-mail: romboy@desnews.com