Bustos Media acquires popular Tucson indie station The Drive

Tucson’s nearly 4-year-old independent radio station KDRI The Drive will become part of Portland, Oregon-based Bustos Media on Saturday, April 1, in a deal signed this week between the two entities.

The Drive, which focuses on baby boomers, joins Bustos’s four other Tucson stations — 106.3 FM The Groove (old school R&B); 1030 KVOI AM The Voice (talk radio); 92.5 FM Urbana, (Latin and Spanish pop, reggaeton); and the Spanish-language station KZLZ “La Poderosa” 105.3 FM.

Bustos Media announced the deal in a news release Tuesday, March 28, but no one would comment on the sale price.

KDRI co-owner Fletcher McCusker said the move could better position the station to build its advertising revenue.

“The biggest challenge we’ve had is that we’re a stand-alone station,” said the Tucson businessman and community activist who owns the station with longtime Tucson radio personality Bobby Rich and veteran Tucson broadcaster Jim Arnold. “Everybody else is a package like Cumulus and iHeart.”

The Drive, on the FM dial at 101.7 and 830 on the AM frequency, has reached No. 2 in the market and consistently lands in the top five Tucson radio stations since it went live on Aug. 6, 2019. While the station has garnered a loyal listener base, advertisers have been less welcoming, McCusker said.

“We could have probably hung on as an independent solo station, but when every other station in the market is bundled, advertisers tend to go to those bundled stations,” he said Tuesday.

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But with five stations and the diversity of those stations, which cross a range of demographics from young people to Hispanics and boomers, The Drive is better positioned to attract advertisers.

“It’s really hard for advertisers to say I’m not interested,” McCusker said.

McCusker and Bustos Tucson General Manager Patty Ruiz said there are no plans to change the station’s format, which targets baby boomers between the ages of 45 to 64 — a niche market that McCusker and his partners say has long been overlooked by Tucson’s other radio stations.

The Drive’s on-air personalities also will remain, McCusker said, but Arnold, who has served as GM, will likely retire once the deal is approved by the FCC.

Bustos Media entered the Tucson market in 2018 when it bought KTGV 106.3 FM The Groove from Lotus and KVOI 1030 AM from Good News Communications. It acquired Urbana in early 2021 and followed up last April with the purchase of “La Poderosa.”

Bustos, an independent Hispanic-owned media company, operates more than 25 stations in Oregon, Washington State, California, Arizona, Wisconsin and Texas. The company is owned by Amador Bustos, who Ruiz said has a home in Tucson.