Owner sells Yuba City radio station KUBA

Nevada County Broadcasters says it wants to focus on its core market and has sold Yuba City radio station KUBA to Results Radio of Santa Rosa.

Scott Robertson, president of the Nevada County company, said its Grass Valley-based stations KNCO, 830 AM, which has a news-talk format, and Star 94.1, an FM music station, have a healthy future.

"The smaller market radio stations — and that includes KUBA — are doing just fine," Robertson said Tuesday.

Stations in cities the size of Sacramento that rely on national advertising face a more difficult future, he said.

"We rely on Main Street," Robertson said.

Ed Sylvester, chairman of Nevada County Broadcasters, said in a statement on the KNCO website that "we have been working, in the last several months, to really refocus our energies into the Grass Valley market and into KNCO specifically — where kind of our roots are from the beginning. And so the opportunity came to make this transition and move KUBA to Results and we think it will be beneficial to everybody concerned."

KUBA, a station with a news and music format, began in 1948. It broadcasts at 1600 AM and 95.5 FM.

Robertson said terms of the sale won't be disclosed.

This marks the third sale of KUBA in eight years.

In 2002, Harlan Communications Inc. sold KUBA and its FM sister station, KXCL, to Midvalley Radio Partners LLC for $3.8 million, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

In 2004, Midvalley Radio Partners LLC sold KUBA to Nevada County Broadcasters for $500,000, the magazine reported.

Robertson noted the Nevada County stations and KUBA serve "two different markets."

Bob Harlan, KUBA's general manager for the past three months, said Nevada County is "a little more of an upscale market."

He said he expects formats at KUBA as well as the other local Results Radio stations here to stay the same after the sale.

Results Radio already owns two stations in the Mid-Valley, adult contemporary Sunny 101.5 FM and country music KKCY 103.1 FM. The company also owns five stations in Redding, four in Chico and one in Sacramento.

Jack Fritz, president of Results Radio, could not be reached for comment.

Harlan said the sale of KUBA to Results "was the right thing to do at the right time."

"It should lead to stronger broadcasting resources for the community," he said.