Sacramento commuters who were looking forward to listening to Mike Gallagher’s might have been surprised to hear Don Cheto during their morning commute on Tuesday.
The switch-up was part of an abrupt format change that saw KSAC (105.5 FM) replace its “Money 105.5” brand and related programming with a simulcast of KVMX (92.1 FM) and its “La Rancheria” format.
Last month, KSAC parent company Salem Media Group sold the station to Lotus Communications for $1 million. The deal is still pending federal regulatory approval, but Lotus took operational control of KSAC on Tuesday through a time-brokerage agreement that allows Lotus to simulcast KVMX programming while both sides move through the regulatory process.
Salem will continue to operate three radio stations in the Sacramento market: KKFS (103.9 FM, “The Fish”), Christian education outlet KFIA (710 AM) and Conservative-oriented talk station KTKZ (1380 AM).
The deal marks the second time this year that a broadcaster has sold an English-language FM radio station to a Spanish-language media firm. In February, Results Radio sold its classic hits station KCCL (101.5 FM, “K-Hits”) to Lazer Broadcasting for nearly $2 million; Lazer flipped KCCL to a Regional Mexicana format two months later.
