Connoisseur Moves to Acquire 10 Nassau Stations

The debtor group that applied to take over ten Nassau Broadcasting New Jersey and Pennsylvania radio stations in bankruptcy court is now asking to have its right to buy the stations assigned to Jeff Warshaw's Connoisseur Media. Connoisseur has reached an agreement to buy the 10 remaining Nassau stations, including the company's most notable station, CHR-Top40 WPST-FM, Trenton, NJ. If the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approves the deal, Connoisseur could begin operating the stations as soon as next week under an LMA. The stations were put up for auction in May, but debtholders Goldman Sachs, Fortress Capital and P.E. Capital retained the assets after no buyer offer bested their $38.7 million credit bid. Connoisseur will assume that bid to buy the stations, which also include Classic Rock "99.9 The Hawk” WODE-FM in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Also included in the package are Religion WCHR-FM, Trenton; Rock "107.1 The Bone" WWYY-FM, Allentown, PA, plus clustermates "ESPN Radio 1230" WEEX-AM and its simulcast WTKZ-AM; and Christian "The Light 1160" WBYN-AM; and, in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton market, Hot AC WSBG-FM and Talk WVPO-AM. The deal also includes Spanish Sports Talk standalone WNJE-AM, Flemington, NJ. The debtor group will go before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross in Delaware next week asking for approval of the deal, and to allow Connoisseur to begin operating the stations under a local marketing agreement until the sale closes. Connoisseur will pay LMA fees ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 a month depending on how long the process takes.

In its motion to the bankruptcy court, the debtor group writes: "Rather than proceeding to close the section 363 sale transaction, the Agent has spent considerable time and effort over the past several months in an effort to attract a satisfactory purchaser who is willing to take an assignment of the Agent's successful section 363 bid for such radio broadcast assets. As part of this process, the proposed purchaser (Connoisseur) has requested that it be permitted to enter into a local programming and marketing agreement with the Debtors for the 10 stations which are the subject of the transaction and pending regulatory approval of the underlying sale – and, hopefully, approval – of the transfer and assignment of the licenses and a section 363 sale closing."