The Fox 103.9, Star 105.5 radio stations sold in $4.7M deal

Two local radio stations have been sold.

Matrix Broadcasting has sold the Dundee-based radio station WFXF 103.9 FM The Fox and Crystal Lake-based WZSR Star 105.5 to Alpha Media, according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

The $4.7 million sale is in connection with a proposed settlement to the former station owner's bankruptcy case, according to the filing. Matrix and Matrix Broadcasting Holdings LLC, a Texas-based company, filed bankruptcy petitions March 27.

Matrix and Alpha Media entered into a sales agreement Feb. 7, according to the FCC.

Alpha Media cannot legally own more than five stations in the Chicago area and has subsequently agreed to sell The Fox for $900,000 to Educational Media Foundation, which runs contemporary Christian music stations K-Love and Air1. Alpha also will sell its Coal City-based station WRXQ to Walnut Radio in the deal, according to the filing.

Changes are likely coming to the airwaves.

“Educational Media Foundation will prepare and file an FCC form … to convert WFXF … to a noncommercial educational station, as it regularly does with the commercial stations it acquires,” the filing reads.

No one answered the phone at The Fox station, and Star 105.5’s line was busy Wednesday afternoon.

The Fox personality Alex “Quigs” Quigley said in a social media post that a timetable for the changes has not been presented.

“We hold out hope that we’ll be able to give The Fox a proper send-off. But as I’m typing this, we simply do not have a timetable for ... well, our version of The Rapture,” he wrote. “It could be June, it could be tomorrow. As soon as we know, we will let you know. We’re going to keep on rocking as if every day is our last, until it is our last. We hope you stick with us as long as we’re here, too.”