Emmis to Sell Indy AM Tower Site

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Emmis Communications is preparing to sell a 70-acre tower site outside Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports the radio owner could garner between $10.5 million to $28 million. That would help pay down the company’s estimated $74 million debt.

The site in Whitestown is home to six towers for WFNI. The Class B AM broadcasts on 1070 kHz using 50,000 watts of directional power during the day, using four towers, and 10,000 watts of directional power at night, using six towers. WFNI’s sports programming is also simulcast on an FM translator on 107.5 MHz. The parcel is just south of an area where a retail development is planned, according to Inside Radio.

Emmis believes the land’s value is $150,000 to $400,000 an acre. Real estate sources tell the Journal those figures are on point, given that a site to the south where a hotel was just built sold for more than $400,000 an acre. Emmis has held the land for 25 years and plans to move the towers. “It wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world,” Smulyan told the Journal, “but when you’re talking about valuations like this, it’s relatively inexpensive.”

December 21, 2017

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