A's lagging on purchase of KTRB; Spanish Radio nearing deal

A group of Spanish radio brokers are close to making a deal to buy KTRB, the financially-beleaguered radio station, (860 on the AM dial) that serves as the flagship outlet for Oakland A's baseball and Stanford football and basketball.

The asking price of the station ranged from around $10-12 million, including assumable debt.

Likely buyers, including the Spanish brokers and a religious-oriented company, (Principle Broadcasting) have emerged as "strong candidates" to make a deal.

The A's, who have been in the mix and would like to purchase the station, have now apparently dropped out of any serious discussions to make the move. All along, according to industry people, the A's had no intention of overpaying for a station that has significant internal issues, most notably, a weak signal and a tower maintenance problem. Although KTRB is a 50,000-watt outlet, it is difficult to hear in many parts of the Bay Area.

In addition, the station signs off at sunset daily, with only limited albatross programming and a non-working website.

We should know soon when a deal is brokered.

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