ZIMMER SELLS 3 RADIO STATIONS

Emmis Broadcasting Corp. said Friday it will pay $42.5 million to acquire three St. Louis radio stations from Zimco Inc., a division of Zimmer Radio Group, headquartered in Cape Girardeau.

WKBQ-FM and AM have top-40 formats and have the top-rated morning show in the market, the "Steve and DC" show, Emmis said. The third station being acquired, WKKX-FM, has a country format.

The deal is expected to close Dec. 1.

Jerry Zimmer, president of Zimmer Broadcasting, which owns 15 stations in Southern Illinois and Missouri, said it was a tough decision to sell.

"We've been up there five years and put a lot of work and effort to build them up," Zimmer said. "And we had a lot of good people up there."

He said the decision came down to dollars and cents.

"Basically, in the major markets the publicly held companies are expanding up there, and there's not much opportunity for privately-owned company's to expand in a top-20 market," Zimmer said.

Zimmer said it was part of the agreement that the employees be kept on.

Indianapolis-based Emmis has an existing St. Louis station, KSHE-FM.

Jim Duncan, an industry analyst and publisher of radio guides, said industry watchers have been waiting for Emmis to make a deal. "This is not a particularly big deal," he said.

Emmis also owns and operates radio stations in Indianapolis, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles and publishes city magazines in Indianapolis and Atlanta.

Emmis broke ground Thursday on a new headquarters to be built on Monument Circle in Indianapolis.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.