Civic Media announced a major milestone in its year-long endeavor to establish Wisconsin’s premier statewide hometown radio network. Civic Media has signed an Asset Purchase Agreement with Magnum Media, which has been filed with the FCC, to purchase radio stations in four Wisconsin media markets.
With this acquisition, Civic Media will have a total of 17 stations, providing news, talk, sports, and music programming with a community-driven objective to inform and entertain listeners across almost the entire state of Wisconsin.
The assets that Civic Media will acquire include two FM signals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, WI, which are the WCFW 105.7 FM station (now broadcasting in HD under the callsign WEZY) and the recently built 93.5 FM translator that will simulcast the HD2 subchannel. Civic Media will also acquire WRJN 1400 AM and 99.9 FM, broadcasting from Racine, the 98.1 FM translator rebroadcasting from Kenosha, and the Victory Avenue broadcast studios and tower site in Racine.
In La Crosse, WI, Civic Media will obtain 1490 AM “The Eagle” and the associated AM land and tower facility. Finally, W239CV-FM, built at a frequency of 102.5 FM in Oshkosh, will be acquired by Civic Media, and will rebroadcast its existing WVXN 1520 AM station in New Holstein and 96.5 FM in Appleton.
“Dave Magnum and I have been actively negotiating this deal since we first met last Summer in La Crosse,” Mike Crute, Civic Media President said in a statement. “I just wanted to buy one radio station in my college town. Since that day, Dave and I have had a dozen clandestine meetings. We’ve spent 40 hours in the most complex negotiations I have ever been a part of. I literally married my wife after fewer dates, and I had to ask less often.”
“My family, co-workers, and I will always consider it an honor to have augmented historic WRJN by adding the 98.1 Kenosha and 99.9 Racine translators and being recruited by the Green Bay Packers to become an affiliate,” said Dave Magnum, President of Magnum Media.
