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Woodward Community Media is set to acquire the stations of Mid-West Family Broadcasting, expanding its recently acquired cluster in Springfield, Illinois, while simultaneously divesting its holdings in Bloomington, Illinois.
The company has identified the Educational Media Foundation as the buyer of those stations.
EMF, the operator behind the Christian AC “K-Love” and Contemporary Worship “Air 1” networks, is set to debut in the Normal/Bloomington and Springfield markets with the acquisition of two radio stations: “Rock 96.7” WIHN and Variety Hits “96.7 Bob-FM” WCVS-FM.
Each station was purchased for $200,000. The “K-Love” network is expected to begin broadcasting on both signals.
The sale of WCVS-FM was necessary to comply with ownership regulations as Woodward prepares to integrate the one AM and three FMs it acquired earlier this year from Neuhoff Media with the one AM and three FMs currently being purchased from Mid-West Family. This will result in the company exceeding the permissible number of FMs.
In Bloomington, Woodward has announced its intention to divest three stations it previously acquired from Neuhoff. Great Plains Media has commenced operations of Variety Hits “97.9 Bob-FM” WBBE under a local marketing agreement (LMA), expanding its portfolio that already includes Conservative Talk “Cities 92.9” WRPW, Adult Contemporary “Magic 99.5” WZIM, and Country “107.7 The Bull” WIBL/92.1.
Following the sale of WIHN, the only remaining station to be sold is Hot AC “Now 100.7” WWHX in Normal.
