Draper Media is asking the FCC to allow it to exceed local market ownership caps in the central Delmarva Peninsula.
It said the FCC has waived the local ownership rule on several previous occasions, pointing to exceptions granted this year to Sun Broadcasting and Fort Myers Broadcasting to acquire stations in Fort Myers, Fla., from Beasley Media Group, and to Connoisseur Media to acquire stations from Bonneville International in San Francisco.
The company plans to acquire five radio stations in southern Delaware and Maryland from Forever Media. But the sale would leave Draper with a total of nine stations, including eight FMs, in the Salisbury-Ocean City Nielsen metro.
Under current rules, Draper can own no more than seven stations, and no more than four in the FM or AM service, in a market of that size.
Those rules are being studied by the commission in its current quadrennial rule review, but at least for now, they remain in place.
Requesting a waiver, Draper told the FCC that allowing the acquisition “will solidify and enhance local service to the highly diverse and competitive Salisbury Metro and will therefore serve the public interest without causing any countervailing harms.”
In Delaware, Draper wants to acquire WAFL(FM), WCHK-FM and WNCL(AM) in Milford, as well as WXDE(FM) in Lewes, while in Maryland it wants to add WAVD(FM) in Ocean Pines.
Draper lays out an argument that this consolidation will enhance competition, preserve program diversity and serve localism, citing its history as a family-owned radio and TV operator that focuses on the Delmarva Peninsula and Wilmington area.
(Read the filing and associated engineering exhibit.)
The company said that after the transaction, competition would “remain robust” in the market, with iHeartMedia remaining the largest operator in terms of market revenue share and market ratings share. Draper would continue to be second.
“Eighteen independent radio operators will remain in the market and the number of different programming formats will be unchanged.”
Closing the transaction would complete Forever Media’s exit from the Maryland and Delaware markets, it said, which began in 2025 with a sale to Draper of Forever Media’s Wilmington, Del., and mid-shore Maryland properties.
