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NKU awards contract to Kalil & Co. of Arizona as broker for WNKU-FM, exploring options


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Staff Report

Northern Kentucky University has awarded the contract to a broker to explore the sale of its radio station, WNKU-FM.

Kalil & Co., an Arizona-based firm, received the contract through a bidding (RFP) process.

In April, NKU President Geoffrey Mearns announced that the university would solicit bids for a broker to help explore the future of WNKU, in the face of an $8m budget deficit in the coming fiscal year.

Because the university heavily subsidizes the operations of WNKU, the president said he wanted to explore whether to continue the subside and whether that aligns with the institution’s core mission: educating students.

Subsidizing the operations of WNKU has cost the university $3.3 million over the past five years.

Kalil & Co. will help assess the value of WNKU-FM and its assets and explore a potential sale of some or all of those assets. The contract runs through June 30, 2017.

The assets include WNKN-FM in Middletown and WNKE-FM in Portsmouth.

Kalil is consistently named the nation’s top media broker by SNL/Kagan, an independent media and communications research firm.

“The University has selected Kalil & Co., Inc. to assist in exploring our
options surrounding WNKU,” said university spokeswoman Amanda Nageleisen. “The Arizona-based firm has more than four decades’ experience and is widely recognized as the nation¹s top media broker. We look forward to working with Kalil as we explore all options regarding WNKU.”

WNKU-FM began broadcasting in 1985 as one of the last available frequencies in the Cincinnati area. Since then the University bought three other stations in Ohio for $6.75 million in 2011. The purchase increased the potential reach of WNKU to 3.1 million listeners for its “Adult Album Alternative” format, according to Wikipedia.

Please see the NKyTribune’s earlier story about the possibility of the sale of WNKU.


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One Comment

  1. Mark D. Oliver says:

    Shocking ! as a NKU Radio Television and Film Grad this doesn’t surprise me at all. With the theft of student equipment during the construction of WNKU and the very poor treatment of the students in the RTF program why is anyone surprised at this. If you shut out the students who want to follow Broadcasting as a profession you have no Alumni that have any loyalty to the Station. Purchasing additional Station Licences was a boneheaded move and the person responsible should have been shown the door. With a mediocre format and no strong Talent how do they expect to have anyone donate to the station? I wonder what the future would have been if Students had been given the opportunity to gain practical work experience at WNKU?

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