Good Karma To Purchase ESPN Radio Stations in New York, Los Angeles

(Beaver Dam) A company that started here in Dodge County is growing. Good Karma Brands – parent company of WBEV, 95x and DailyDodge – was established in Beaver Dam in 1997. Since that time, Good Karma expanded into markets including Madison, Cleveland and West Palm Beach, relocating its home office to Milwaukee where in 2018 WTMJ radio was purchased.

Good Karma announced plans Monday to acquire ESPN 1050 (WEPN-AM) in New York, ESPN 710 (KSPN-AM) in Los Angeles, and ESPN 1000 (WMVP-AM) in Chicago from ESPN, as well as perform ESPN’s obligations under the current Local Marketing Agreement for 98.7 ESPN (WEPN-FM) in New York. As part of a long-term affiliation agreement, all three stations will remain as ESPN Radio affiliates and continue broadcasting ESPN Network Radio content as well as locally-produced programming. This transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2022.

ESPN 1000 in Chicago has been operated by Good Karma under a Local Marketing Agreement since October 2019.

In addition, the companies have agreed to extend their ESPN Digital sales agreement, which began in 2015, in which GKB represents display and video inventory on ESPN.com and the ESPN App to local and regional advertisers in 14 select markets.

“We are thrilled to add ESPN New York and ESPN Los Angeles to GKB,” said Good Karma Brands Founder and CEO, Craig Karmazin. “These stations and teammates give us an expanded footprint and increased resources to help meet our mission of serving our teammates, fans and advertising partners at a best-in-class level.”

Scott McCarthy, Vice President, ESPN Audio, said: “At ESPN, we are focused on evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of our business, providing the outstanding content that our fans expect, and growing our audience in critical, leading markets. We have a strong, 20+ year relationship with Good Karma Brands and know they will further contribute to the success of these great local audio operations.”

Good Karma also owns ESPN Radio affiliates in Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee and West Palm Beach.

About Good Karma Brands

Good Karma Brands (GKB) is primarily a media and marketing company with an expertise in leveraging the power of sports and local news to build brands. For more information, please visit www.goodkarmabrands.com.

About ESPN Audio

ESPN Radio, which launched January 1, 1992, provides more than 9,000 hours of talk and event content annually, reaching more than 32 million listeners per week on approximately 500 stations – including more than 400 full-time affiliates and clearance in the top 25 markets. ESPN Radio national programming is also available on SiriusXM and via digital distributors Apple Music, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.