Possible sale pending for four local radio stations

BARSTOW — Dos Costas Communications Corporation is negotiating the sale of its four radio stations in Barstow and Ludlow.

Dos Costas received an offer of $4.3 million from California Communications of Barstow, a subsidiary of the Texas-based First Broadcasting Investment Partners, LLC, to buy the four stations: KXXZ 95.9 FM, KSZL 1230 AM, and KDUC 94.3 FM in Barstow and KDUQ 102.5 FM in Ludlow.

The initial offer came in mid-May, said Dos Costas program director and vice president of operations Mike Garcia.

Dos Costas filed its application with the Federal Communications Commission on June 26 to transfer the stations’ license to California Communications.

Assuming the FCC approves the license transfer, the sale will be finalized and the new owners will take over in late August or early September, Garcia said. Although Dos Costas has accepted California Communications’ offer to buy the station, the final price and terms are still being negotiated, he said.

The prospective owners have not indicated whether they plan to make any changes to the format of the stations, Garcia said. Currently, KSZL specializes in talk radio, KDUC and KDUQ play top 40 hits and ‘70s oldies, and KXXZ specializes in Spanish-language programming.

Representatives of First Broadcasting Investments and California Communications could not be reached for comment.

Until the sale is finalized, the stations will continue to operate as they have since Dos Costas bought them in 2003, said Garcia. A previous sale offer fell through about a year ago at an early stage in negotiations, he said.

“As of right now, day-to-day operations are the same,” he said. “We continue to produce the programming we’ve had for the last five years.”

Dos Costas bought the four stations in 2003 for a little more than $1 million from Tele-Media Company of High Desert, LLC, according to previous Desert Dispatch reports.

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