By Adam Jacobson (Radio And Television Business Report)
An AM radio station with a rich heritage of serving the famed town of Deadwood, S.D., in August 2019 was sold to a husband and wife and their 4 Paws Broadcasting from 37-year owners Al and Jeanne Decker.
Now, this Class B with plenty of local high school sports and “Solid Gold Hits” is being dealt to a nationally renown broadcast company based six hours to the east, in Yankton, led by Carolyn and Doyle Becker.
With properties in its home base and in Rapid City and Pierre, Riverfront Broadcasting has established itself as a major radio broadcasting company in South Dakota. It also owns stations in Blue Earth and Windom, Minn.; and in Algona, Iowa.
Now, it’s bulking up its Rapid City stations with its second AM; it also owns four FMs in the market.
Coming into the fold for the Beckers is KDSJ-AM 980, with 5kw during daylight hours from 1 tower and 1kw at night from two towers.
Riverfront is paying $80,000 for the station, in cash. Of the total price, 45% is for equipment, 45% is for real estate, and 10% is for the FCC license and goodwill.
The sale of KDSJ comes less than a year after Loren and Pace Maier and their 4 Paws Broadcasting purchased the station from the Deckers, who had owned it since 1982.
The sale comes at a loss, as terms called for a $405,000 real estate purchase agreement that saw the Maiers acquire the facilities and license associated with KDSJ.
KDSJ is a 2013 inductee to the South Dakota Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.