Leighton Broadens Minnesota Footprint
• Leighton Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Leighton Broadcasting is expanding its territory into the Alexandria, MN market (about two hours northwest of Minneapolis) with the announcement that the company has inked a purchase agreement to acquire the three radio stations of Paradis Broadcasting of Alexandria, Inc. — News-Talk KXRA-AM, Classic Rock KXRA-FM (KX92) and Hot AC KXRZ-FM (Z99).
“Expanding to Alexandria is a natural fit for us with our stations in St. Cloud, Fergus Falls, Perham and Detroit Lakes,” said Bob Leighton, CEO of Leighton Enterprises, Inc. Leighton further plans to keep the stations operating as usual with local programming and maintain all Paradis employees, including Brett Paradis, currently President of Paradis Broadcasting of Alexandria, Inc., who will remain aboard as General Manager. Leighton added, “We are excited to expand to Alexandria and Brett Paradis joining our team. His knowledge, experience in the industry, and commitment to serve the local community will be an asset to our company. We look forward to Brett helping Leighton Broadcasting’s continued growth.”
Paradis said, “My team and I have worked with Leighton for 10+ years as colleagues, so we are very familiar with their operation and excited about the future. After 31 successful years here in Alexandria, I can tell you that I am so proud of my team, and now I am proud to bring them along and join the family at Leighton Enterprises. We are both second-generation broadcast companies and share the same values. By joining forces, we will be able to provide new resources to our customers and provide better benefits to our employees.”
The transaction is subject to the usual FCC review and approval, which normally takes 90-120 days. This marks the first acquisition Leighton has made since 2015 when the company purchased 10 stations in Winona, Fergus Falls and Perham, MN.
