Good Karma Brands to Acquire ESPN Radio Stations

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, December 13, 2021 | 5:17pm CT

Good Karma Brands

Good Karma Brands has announced plans to acquire ESPN 1050 (WEPN-AM) in New York, ESPN 710 (KSPN-AM) in Los Angeles, and ESPN 1000 (WMVP-AM) in Chicago from ESPN, as well as perform ESPN's obligations under the current Local Marketing Agreement for 98.7 ESPN (WEPN-FM) in New York.

As part of a long-term affiliation agreement, all three stations will remain as ESPN Radio affiliates and continue broadcasting ESPN Network Radio content as well as locally-produced programming. This transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2022. ESPN 1000 in Chicago has been operated by Good Karma under a Local Marketing Agreement since October 2019.

In addition, the companies have agreed to extend their ESPN Digital sales agreement, which began in 2015, in which GKB represents display and video inventory on ESPN.com and the ESPN App to local and regional advertisers in 14 select markets.

"We are thrilled to add ESPN New York and ESPN Los Angeles to GKB," said Good Karma Brands Founder and CEO, Craig Karmazin. "These stations and teammates give us an expanded footprint and increased resources to help meet our mission of serving our teammates, fans and advertising partners at a best-in-class level."

"At ESPN, we are focused on evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of our business, providing the outstanding content that our fans expect, and growing our audience in critical, leading markets," said Scott McCarthy, Vice President, ESPN Audio. "We have a strong, 20+ year relationship with Good Karma Brands and know they will further contribute to the success of these great local audio operations."

Good Karma also owns ESPN Radio affiliates in Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee and West Palm Beach.