GPK Media sells KCHS radio station, but still owns Sentinel

Frances (Baird) Luna, owner of GPK Media, LLC, sold the AM radio station 1400 KCHS to Vanguard Media, LLC for $50,000, according to Insiderradio.com.

GPK Media still owns the Sentinel newspaper.

According to the Sentinel’s website, the newspaper and radio station have been in the Baird family since 1965. They were purchased by Bairdland Broadcasting Corp. owners Neil and Myrna Baird, who were Luna’s grandparents.

After her husband died, Myrna Baird married G. Patrick Kohs and the radio/newspaper business ownership was changed to GPK Media.

Steve Mull, a Sentinel reporter, went to the mic during the Sept. 11 Truth or Consequences City Commission meeting to announce the radio station had been sold and that the new owners had not decided whether or not to broadcast the meetings.

The August 28 and Sept. 11 city commission meetings were not broadcast.

The radio station has been the only means of listening to the meeting off site. The city used to stream city commission meetings via its YouTube account, but got rid of it in 2019.

Mayor Rolf Hechler, without detail, said the city will have “live meetings” by January 2025, mentioning “IT” work needing to be done.

The deal to sell KCHS has been in the works for nearly a year: https://www.insideradio.com/features/deal_digest/deal-digest—october-12-2023/article_9330f5ac-68c3-11ee-8262-db025acc1c3c.html

According to the same source, the deal closed June 6: https://www.insideradio.com/features/deal_digest/deal-digest—june-6-2024/article_80288cd6-23c6-11ef-bff7-4ff1675a171f.html

Vanguard Media, LLC, is owned by Don Davis. He has at least two other radio stations, both in Albuquerque, KIVA and KYLZ.

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Kathleen Sloan
Kathleen Sloan

Kathleen Sloan has been a local-government reporter for 17 years, covering counties and cities in three states—New Mexico, Iowa and Florida. She has also covered the arts for various publications in Virginia, New Mexico and Iowa. Sloan worked for the Truth or Consequences Herald newspaper from 2006 to 2013; it closed December 2019. She returned to T or C in 2019 and founded the online newspaper, the Sierra County Sun, with Diana Tittle taking the helm as editor during the last year and a half of operation. The Sun closed December 2021, concurrent with Sloan retiring. SierraCountySun.org is still an open website, with hundreds of past articles still available. Sloan is now a board member of the not-for-profit organization, the Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project, which supported the Sun and is currently sponsoring the Sierra County Citizen, another free and open website. Sloan is volunteering as a citizen journalist, covering the T or C beat. She can be reached at kathleen.sloan@gmail.com or 575-297-4146.

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One comment

  1. Well I’m sure that the lack of meeting broadcast will be well received by the Commission and staff, but now it is more than ever imperative that Commission meetings be held in the evenings as are by every other Commission/Manager community in New Mexico.

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