From the Tyler (TX) Morning Telegraph:
RUSSELL SAYS HE'S NOT INVOLVED IN STATION PROBLEMS
01/26/2006
A longtime local radio station owner said he did not see recourse to a judge's ruling in Pine Bluff, Ark., last week that his company defaulted on its loan to buy four Pine Bluff stations.
A Jan. 21 story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Circuit Judge Berlin Jones ruled Jan. 20 that MRS Ventures Inc. of Tyler defaulted on the loan. The ruling allowed the stations' previous owners to move forward with foreclosure proceedings.
Jones said MRS Ventures owes $295,181, and interest of $48 per day, to Delta Radio Inc. and SEARK Radio Inc., which sold the stations to MRS Ventures.
Jerry Russell, president of MRS Ventures, said, however, other than in name he is really not involved.
Russell said MRS Ventures purchased the stations - KCLA-AM, KOTN-AM, KPBQ-FM and KZYP-FM - in 2003.
The Arkansas newspaper article said Delta and SEARK filed suit against MRS Ventures in July 2004, claiming the company had ceased making payments on $330,000 in financing it used to purchase them.
But Russell said he sold the stations, in an agreement that became effective Aug. 16, 2005, to a New York company, Brandi Communications, for $2.4 million.
Russell said this was primarily a paper, or noncash, transaction. He then assigned the note with Brandi to his lender, SBM Certificate Co., to reduce his debt. SBM supplied the loan to purchase the stations in 2003.
He said the suit also names Brandi Communications and SBM.
"They (SBM) have first lien position on the properties in question," Russell said. "What the plaintiffs are doing is no more than an attempt to force SBM to pay off that secondary note and not have to wait five years to get paid."
Russell said neither he nor Brandi Communications nor SBM had legal representation in the court Jan. 20, and Brandi and SBM communicated to him that, like him, they did not receive notice of the court date.
"The fight is between the plaintiffs, SBM and Brandi, not me, because I can no longer tell Brandi what to do," Russell said. "But in their litigation, they named all three of us."
The Arkansas newspaper article said the assets of the radio stations will be sold at auction, and proceeds will be used to pay the debts of SBM. After that, remaining proceeds will be used to pay the $295,181 debt owed to SEARK and Delta, Slocum Pickell, attorney for SEARK and Delta, told the newspaper.
©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2006
RUSSELL SAYS HE'S NOT INVOLVED IN STATION PROBLEMS
01/26/2006
A longtime local radio station owner said he did not see recourse to a judge's ruling in Pine Bluff, Ark., last week that his company defaulted on its loan to buy four Pine Bluff stations.
A Jan. 21 story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Circuit Judge Berlin Jones ruled Jan. 20 that MRS Ventures Inc. of Tyler defaulted on the loan. The ruling allowed the stations' previous owners to move forward with foreclosure proceedings.
Jones said MRS Ventures owes $295,181, and interest of $48 per day, to Delta Radio Inc. and SEARK Radio Inc., which sold the stations to MRS Ventures.
Jerry Russell, president of MRS Ventures, said, however, other than in name he is really not involved.
Russell said MRS Ventures purchased the stations - KCLA-AM, KOTN-AM, KPBQ-FM and KZYP-FM - in 2003.
The Arkansas newspaper article said Delta and SEARK filed suit against MRS Ventures in July 2004, claiming the company had ceased making payments on $330,000 in financing it used to purchase them.
But Russell said he sold the stations, in an agreement that became effective Aug. 16, 2005, to a New York company, Brandi Communications, for $2.4 million.
Russell said this was primarily a paper, or noncash, transaction. He then assigned the note with Brandi to his lender, SBM Certificate Co., to reduce his debt. SBM supplied the loan to purchase the stations in 2003.
He said the suit also names Brandi Communications and SBM.
"They (SBM) have first lien position on the properties in question," Russell said. "What the plaintiffs are doing is no more than an attempt to force SBM to pay off that secondary note and not have to wait five years to get paid."
Russell said neither he nor Brandi Communications nor SBM had legal representation in the court Jan. 20, and Brandi and SBM communicated to him that, like him, they did not receive notice of the court date.
"The fight is between the plaintiffs, SBM and Brandi, not me, because I can no longer tell Brandi what to do," Russell said. "But in their litigation, they named all three of us."
The Arkansas newspaper article said the assets of the radio stations will be sold at auction, and proceeds will be used to pay the debts of SBM. After that, remaining proceeds will be used to pay the $295,181 debt owed to SEARK and Delta, Slocum Pickell, attorney for SEARK and Delta, told the newspaper.
©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2006