NRG Media buys Cedar Valley stations

CEDAR RAPIDS - NRG Media of Cedar Rapids has acquired four radio stations in the Waterloo/ Cedar Falls metro market, expanding its presence in four Midwest states.

KOKZ-FM; KFMW-FM, KXEL-AM and KWLO-AM were purchased from Woodward Communications of Dubuque. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Woodward Communications owned and operated the stations for more than two years. Previously Bahakel Broadcasting of Charlotte, N.C., owned KXEL-AM for 54 years from 1958 to 2012 and KOKZ-FM; KFMW-FM and KWLO-AM from 1996 to 2012.

Mary Quass, chief executive officer of NRG Media, said the company was pleased to add stations in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls market to its ownership.

'We continue to look for great radio properties that are located in the Midwest and are an integral part of the communities they serve,” Quass said.

Tom Woodward, president and CEO of Woodward Communications, said NRG MEDIA is a community-oriented radio broadcast company with a great Midwestern culture and presence.

'Our strategic plans and related growth goals positioned the sale of the Waterloo properties,” Woodward said. 'We will continue to operate, grow and enhance our seven-station radio group in the Appleton/Green Bay, Wis., markets, which we have owned since the late 1970s.”

NRG Media was founded on March 1, 2005, with the merger of NewRadio Group LLC and the radio assets of Waitt Media. The company operates 45 radio stations in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Woodward Communications, owner of the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, is an employee-owned company with operations in newspapers, shoppers, radio, business publications, commercial printing and business agency service.