In Canada, Shaw Communications is a serious, publicly traded firm that will not be capable of full its blockbuster merger with Rogers Communications over regulatory considerations about diminished competitors.
In Northern Illinois and in Central Iowa, Shaw Media has been the house of “impartial native information” since 1851, due to its assortment of print publications together with newspapers and magazines.
And, it’s this Shaw, helmed by President/CEO John Rung, that’s profiting from the erasure of the FCC’s media cross-ownership rule by including six FMs, an AM and an FM translator — all within the Land of Lincoln — via an related entity below the Shaw Native Radio Co. title.
For $1.8 million, with an extra $75,000 fee due upon sure circumstances at closing, Shaw Native Radio — an Illinois company linked to Delaware-based Shaw Household Holdings Inc. — is buying the next stations:
- WGLC-FM in Mendota, Unwell.
- WALS-FM in Oglesby, Unwell.
- WBZG-FM in Peru, Unwell.
- WIVQ-FM in Spring Valley, Unwell.
- WSPL-AM, WSTQ-FM & WYYS-FM and W253BX in Streator, Unwell.
The vendor is Mendota Broadcasting Inc. and Laco Radio Inc., owned by the Studstill household’s Studstill Media.
The stations function inside the LaSalle-Peru, Unwell., radio market, measured by Eastlan Analysis. Final measured in March 2022, WALS was No. 1 with its Nation format, with a ten.7 share. High 40 WIVQ ranked third with a 7.1 share, whereas Basic Hits WYYS was No. 4 with a 5.8 share.
LaSalle and Peru sit on the banks of the Illinois River and are bisected by Interstate 80 and Interstate 39. The small cities are a 90-minute drive from Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport.
For Shaw, the radio properties will be part of AgriNews, and the Information-Tribune newspaper.
A $150,000 escrow deposit has been made to the vendor, which is exiting radio possession with this transaction.
Bob Heymann of the Chicago workplace of Media Providers Group served because the unique dealer for the vendor on this transaction.