Salem Media Group sells remaining Christian music stations

The company on Monday said it sold its seven remaining contemporary Christian music radio stations to Educational Media Foundation, or EMF, for $80 million. The sale ends the broadcaster’s “The Fish” brand and EMF will assume control of Salem’s remaining stations in Portland, Oregon; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Atlanta; Cleveland; Dallas; Los Angeles; and Sacramento. 

The new owners will assume control of the stations on Feb. 1, pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission. EMF is the largest Christian media network in the country and operates the networks K-LOVE and Air1 and plans to convert the newly acquired signals to either of the networks, depending on market needs. Salem has also entered into a $10 million advertising and marketing agreement with EMF.

Why did the company sell? Salem sold its remaining stations to pay off all of its long-term debt, said the company’s executive chairman and co-founder, Edward Atsinger. The company repurchased all $159.4 million in outstanding debt for $104 million in cash and $24 million in unsecured promissory notes. Salem will continue to operate its Christian teaching and conservative talk media networks and programming.

Dig deeper: Listen to Bonnie Prichett’s report in The World and Everything in It about the music of Advent.