Alpha Media

Alpha Media LLC was a radio broadcasting company based in Portland, Oregon, and led by Bob Proffitt. The group did business under the Alpha Media name.

It was formed from the merger of Alpha Broadcasting, L&L Broadcasting, and Main Line Broadcasting on July 1, 2014. At its formation, it owned 68 radio stations in 12 markets, along with two theatres (in Portland and San Antonio) and a digital marketing firm in Peoria, Illinois.

Alpha Broadcasting

Alpha Broadcasting was founded in 2009 in Portland, Oregon by Larry Wilson, arising from the sale of stations formerly a part of the CBS Radio Portland cluster with those of Rose City Radio.

On April 17, 2014, L&L Broadcasting announced that it has agreed to merge with Alpha, while purchasing the stations of Main Line Broadcasting. The combined entity became known as Alpha Media.

L&L Broadcasting

The broadcasting group was sometimes referred to as Live and Local.

L&L was formed in 2012 to buy all but two of the radio stations of Triad Broadcasting for $21 million; the deal, involving 32 stations in 5 radio markets, closed in May 2013, and transfer was finalized in June 2013. L&L immediately arranged for the 6 stations in the Fargo, North Dakota market to be sold to Jim Ingstad.

In August 2013, L&L arranged to buy, from YMF Media (Yucaipa Companies and Earvin "Magic" Johnson), the six stations formerly owned by Inner City Broadcasting in the Jackson, Mississippi radio market.

In September, 2013, L&L definitively agreed to purchase an additional 5 stations in Columbia, South Carolina from YMF Media.

On April 17, 2014, L&L Broadcasting announced that it has agreed to merge with Alpha Broadcasting, while purchasing the stations of Main Line Broadcasting.

Post-merger changes

On October 10, 2014, Alpha Media announced that it will be purchasing the remaining stations owned by Buckley Broadcasting in Bakersfield and Merced, California. These were the last stations remaining to be divested by Buckley, which had begun to sell off its radio assets in 2008. The purchase of the Buckley stations was consummated on December 31, 2014, at a price of $5.8 million.

On January 1, 2015, Alpha Media began an LMA on the Access.1 stations in Shreveport, Louisiana and Tyler/Longview, Texas. The purchase was consummated on April 14, 2015, at a price of $13.75 million. Effective February 1, 2017 Alpha transferred control of KFRO to a new owner, and returned operation of KCUL-FM, and KSYR to Access.1.

Effective May 1, 2015, Alpha Media acquired four stations and a translator in the Fredericksburg, Virginia market from The Free Lance-Star, at a price of $8.1 million.

On August 17, 2015, Alpha Media announced it was purchasing Palm Springs, California radio stations KDES-FM and KPSI-FM ("Mix 100.5"). While the purchase price was not originally announced, the transaction was consummated on December 29, 2015 at a price of $3 million.

On February 25, 2016, Alpha Media acquired Digity, LLC for $264 million, adding 116 stations in 26 markets to its portfolio for a total of 251.

In September 2017, Alpha Media announced that it would sell its clusters in Savannah, Kinston/New Bern/Jacksonville, and Myrtle Beach, to Dick Broadcasting Corporation for $19.5 million. Dick assumed control of the stations under local marketing agreements shortly afterward. However, the sale of the Savannah, Georgia stations will not be filed with the FCC until August 2019, with Dick operating them under an LMA for the time being. The sale, at a price of $5,000,000, was consummated on December 1, 2022.

On January 24, 2021, Alpha Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming several factors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the decision. The company had plans to shed most of its debt and restructure agreements with its lenders.

Starting in May 2024, Alpha Media began laying off on-air personalities in several of its markets, starting with a round of cuts at stations in Farmington/Festus and Moberly, Missouri. Later in the month, stations in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota were also targeted for layoffs of on-air personnel. A social media post by a former on-air personality at one of the affected stations in Brookings, South Dakota, stated that the Alpha Media stations where the former personalities were employed "would be switching from local programming to national syndication." Another described this as "destroying anything that is unique and of value for local listeners and instead providing things they can already get from many other sources."

In May 2025, Connoisseur Media announced its intent to acquire Alpha Media. The FCC approved the sale on August 13, 2025, and the sale was consummated on September 4.

Theatres

Alpha Media owned the Skype Live Studio (formerly known as The Bing Lounge) in Portland and The Alamo Lounge in San Antonio, Texas.

Former station list

Divestments after the sale

Divestments before the sale

External links