Nine stations owned by High Plains Radio Network (HPRN) are going dark because a tower lease dispute with Vertical Bridge has left the broadcaster without some of its tower sites. According to its website, HPRN owns 49 stations, in mostly un-rated markets in Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
HPRN owner Monte Spearman filed Special Temporary Authority (STA) applications with the FCC to go silent for eight stations in Arkansas and one in Texas. The Arkansas stations are: KAFN-AM, Benton; KVRC-AM, Arkadelphia; KZYP-AM, Malvern; KWPS-FM, Caddo Valley; KDEL-FM, Arkadelphia; and KYXK-FM, Gurdon. He also filed an STA application for KZZN-AM, Littefield, TX.
The company filed for bankruptcy in March, according to Inside Radio. Spearman told the FCC his company has been trying for about a year to resolve the tower lease problems with Vertical Bridge. HPRN has also been attempting to “meet the needs of the lawsuit filed in the Florida court.” The broadcaster has made “numerous offers to rework the tower site leases for the future,” but Vertical Bridge has decided “not to respond with any type of solution or account adjustments,” said Spearman in the STA filing.
Since a creditors’ meeting on May 2, Spearman says he’s been advised by Vertical Bridge that his company needs to vacate all Vertical Bridge tower sites. “We will voluntarily turn off-air some stations temporarily,” and leave others on-air but move those to temporary tower sites, he tells the agency. “While trying to work with Vertical Bridge over this past year, we have delayed in making these hard decisions and accept now that we should have acted sooner but need to make the changes now,” Spearman writes.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
Reader Interactions