At the end of 2021, a trust headed by Alfonso de Alba agreed to purchase an FM radio station serving the Bakersfield market from Juan Carlos Rodriguez, the Coral Gables, Fla.-based Managing Member of Deportes y Música Comunicaciones LLC.
A $420,000 sale price was agreed to. Now, the de Alba trust is selling the facility known to listeners as “Qué Buena.”
Juan Ayala and his Tulare, Calif.-based Agri Care Orchards are moving forward with a purchase of Class B1 KQMX-FM 105.7 from The De Alba Family Trust of 2000. It is licensed to Lost Hills, Calif., and reaches western Kern County and cities due west of Bakersfield. Thanks to terrain, however, KQMX can be heard in vehicles across the San Joaquin Valley’s largest metropolitan area.
A purchase price of $900,000 has been agreed upon, in addition to non-cash consideration of $100,000 of advertising time, at the station’s lowest unit rate, to be run on KQMX after closing for promotion of other businesses owned by de Alba.
The agreement does not include the KQMX studio building, which Ayala will enter into a separate lease agreement with de Alba.
With the total value of the deal at $1 million, a 10% earnest money deposit is being held with Shainis & Peltzman in Washington, D.C. Then, a second payment of $80,000 is to be paid no later than June 15.
As “Qué Buena,” KQMX has targeted those of Mexican and Central American heritage who have come to the region for jobs in the agricultural services sector, given its signal contour. In January 2025, KQMX earned a 1.8 share of all listeners in Bakersfield, even with a shadow signal of the market.
The Bakersfield market is one of the most competitive for regional Mexican radio stations, with some seven signals offering various varieties of the “Country music of Mexico.”
