The stations involved in the deal are Variety Hits “99.9 Hank-FM” WANK Lafayette, Country “103.1 The Wolf” WWOF Tallahassee, CHR “Hot 104.9” WHTF Havana, and AAA/Classic Rock “106.1 The Sound” WQTL Tallahassee. No terms have been announced.

Red Hills Broadcasting has agreed to sell its radio cluster in Tallahassee, Florida to Adams Radio of Tallahassee, LLC. Bill Fanning of MVP Capital, LLC was the broker in the transaction. The acquisition includes: WHTF – FM, Havana, Florida; WWOF – FM, Tallahassee, Florida; WQTL – FM, Tallahassee, Florida and WANK – FM, Lafayette, Florida.

Ron Stone, President and CEO of Adams said “We are thrilled for Adams Radio to be the next steward of these amazing stations that Hank Kestenbaum has spent over 20 years building and even more excited about the future of the stations under Hank’s continued management alongside Adams Radio.”

This is the fifth market for Adams Radio Group. Adams owns and operates clusters in Las Cruces, NM, Fort Wayne, IN, suburban Chicago (Northwest Indiana) and Salisbury-Ocean City, MD.

Hank Kestenbaum, President of Red Hills Broadcasting, added: “I want to congratulate Ron Stone and his team at Adams Radio on buying four great Tallahassee radio stations. Every day I’m privileged to work with a dedicated and talented group of people at serving our community with entertaining live and local radio. I look forward to leading these stations and this team into a new era of success, service and prosperity under Adam’s ownership.”

A review of state records indicates that Red Hills Broadcasting is owned by Bradford Lewis and Henry Kestenbaum. Kestenbaum is the former general manager of Opus Broadcasting in Tallahassee and is the President and COO of Red Hills Broadcasting.

“While most radio stations are owned by large media groups limiting their ability to make local decisions,” said Kestenbaum, “Red Hills Broadcasting is committed to meeting the specific programming and advertising needs of our listeners and customers in North Florida.”

The other owner, Mr. Lewis, is affiliated with the partnership group that are the original owners/developers of Super-Lube and Red Elephant Restaurants.

Kestenbaum and Lewis have purchased WANK 99.9 FM, WHTF 104.9 FM, WWOF 103.1 FM and WQTL 106.1 FM from Opus Media Partners of New York City. Opus has been a regional radio broadcasting company with station clusters in Louisiana and Florida.

All four stations have consistently been among the Tallahassee’s top rated stations. WWOF, known as 103.1 The Wolf, is currently Tallahassee Metro Area’s top rated country station.

Kestenbaum notes that, “With four distinctly different stations, Contemporary Hits on 104.9, Fresh Country on 103.1 the Wolf, Adult Hits on 99.9 Hank FM and Vintage Album Tracks on 106.1 The Path, we can deliver the programming our listeners want and target the customers that our advertisers need and/or give them diversity. Tallahassee is going to see some real innovation and exciting on-air and marketing strategies for our advertisers over the next few months. It’s going to be fun.”

Kestenbaum, a 38-year radio broadcasting veteran was an investor in Opus and General Manager of its Tallahassee area stations for the past eight years. He has managed radio stations in Tallahassee since 1998. According to Kestenbaum, “Radio stations thrive on local content designed to entertain and inform the folks who live, work and go to school within their coverage areas. The best stations are the ones that reflect the uniqueness of their communities. In short, good radio has to be local. What works in New York City or Miami or even Jacksonville doesn’t necessarily work here.”

Kestenbaum added, “Red Hills Broadcasting’s mission is to deliver unique and creative local radio content in Tallahassee that’s entertaining, informative and fun. The company’s other mission is to offer exceptional advertising value to businesses throughout the region, with knowledge that the dollars spent on advertising in Tallahassee stay in Tallahassee and circulate.”