Radio Stations KORG-AM and KEZY-FM Reported Up for Sale by Anaheim Firm

Orange County radio stations KORG-AM and KEZY-FM are up for sale, according to industry analysts and trade magazines.

Radio Business Report said in its Monday issue that ML Media Partners L.P. had reached an agreement to buy the two Anaheim stations for $14 million, but the deal fell apart last week. Negotiations between ML and Anaheim Broadcasting Co. have reportedly resumed.

ML Media Partners is a public limited partnership formed by former Ziff-Davis Broadcasting Co. Chairman I. Martin Pompadur, former ABC president Elton Rule and Merrill Lynch & Co., the New York-based brokerage house.

Spokesmen Decline Comment

Representatives for ML and Anaheim Broadcasting declined to comment on the reports.

However, several people in the radio industry said it is considered common knowledge that KORG (1190) and KEZY (95.9) are on the block.

“Negotiations are still continuing with ML and several other parties,” said Patrick Clawson, Washington bureau chief and financial editor of Radio & Records, an industry publication.

Anaheim Broadcasting recently changed the call letters and format of its AM station. KORG has an all-talk format, while its predecessor--KPZE--carried mostly religious programming. KEZY is a Top 40 rock station.

Both target Orange County listeners by airing locally oriented programming including news, traffic reports and public service announcements.

Orange County is the 16th largest radio market in the United States, according to Sales and Marketing Management, an industry publication.

“If these stations are run properly, they can make very hefty profits,” Clawson said. “It’s a very attractive market because of the high income levels and high education levels.”

Limited Reach by Signal

KEZY-FM has a limited reach--its signal is 2,400 watts and its antenna height is only 328 feet, which is tiny compared to, say, KBIG-FM in Los Angeles which projects 105,000 watts and has an antenna 2,950 feet above ground level.

But the stations’ limited power is attractive to small and medium-size businesses based in Orange County that are trying to target local residents.

“It makes sense to a local businessman to advertise on a station like KORG because he may have only one location,” said Gordon Mason, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Assn. “If he buys from a Los Angeles metropolitan station, he pays a much higher price and reaches an audience that is 60 miles away from his shop.”

Bishop Cheen, senior analyst with Paul Kagan Associates, a media research firm based in Carmel, said ML is a company that buys and sells radio stations as investments.

“Their mission is to find properties, develop them over a three-to-seven-year period and then sell them for good returns,” Cheen said.

ML owns radio stations in numerous areas including Cleveland, Indianapolis and Puerto Rico. The company has two ABC-affiliated television stations in Lafayette, La., and Rockford, Ill. It does not own any California radio stations, analysts said.

RADIO STATIONS IN ORANGE COUNTY

Station Frequency City Format AM Stations KORG-AM 1190 Anaheim Talk KWIZ-AM 1480 Santa Ana Adult contemporary FM Stations KSBR-FM* 88.5 Mission Viejo Jazz KUCI-FM* 88.9 Irvine Classical, jazz KBPK-FM* 90.1 Buena Park Adult contemporary KIKF-FM 94.3 Garden Grove Country KEZY-FM 95.9 Anaheim Contemporary KWIZ-FM 96.7 Santa Ana Adult contemporary KOCM-FM 103.1 Newport Beach Adult contemporary KYMS-FM 106.3 Santa Ana Christian music KWVE-FM 107.9 San Clemente Religious

* Non-commercial

Source: Broadcasting/Cable Yearbook 1989