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KFNS (590 AM), which entered the format in 1993 after briefly starting as KEZK a few months earlier, is in the process of being sold, pending Federal Communications Commission approval under an agreement to take effect Tuesday. The suitors plan to abandon the full-fledged emphasis on sports chatter that has been the station’s calling card throughout its existence. However, a good amount of jock jabber is planned to remain on the outlet, which is to receive new call letters.

“Our conversation will be what ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is talking about,â€� said longtime local broadcast executive Dave Greene, who along with Alabama-based colleague Conrad Thompson has formed Big Toe Media to purchase KFNS.

No hosts have been announced.

“We’re super excited to have other topics and even have sports people discussing other topics,� Greene added. “We used to say sports talk is like a couple guys sitting at a bar. It’s kind of an old phrase now because if they’re sitting at a bar, they’re talking about quite a few subjects — probably a lot of sports but they’re also talking about business, the economy, entertainment, food and culture. Anything except for politics is fair game for everyone to talk about.�

The new owners in waiting have filed a letter of intent to buy the station from Zobrist Media, which is run by Dave Zobrist. He has been trying to sell KFNS for many months and last summer replaced local programming with national shows in a cost-cutting move.

Zobrist could not be reached for comment but when contacted last month by the Post-Dispatch to address rumblings about this move, he said if he “was betting I’d say ‘yes’� to the likelihood of the sale. He also had expressed frustration with the lack of progress in selling the station and said he wanted to leave the radio business, which he entered three years ago when he bought KFNS from Randy Markel.

The station once was so coveted that it sold in 2004 for what sources said was $11.5 million, six years after it was purchased for about $3.5 million. But by 2014, KFNS had tumbled into disarray, with the decline of AM radio and chaos at the station (missed payrolls, employees abruptly dismissed, court judgments rendered against the company, hosts bad-mouthing other hosts on the air). A fistfight between broadcaster Brian McKenna (who died last month) and the person running the operation, Dan Marshall, sent the boss to a hospital and the announcer to jail. KFNS left the airwaves a short time later before Markel and a partner took over.

Current owner Zobrist already is a partner with Greene, Thompson and Cardinals broadcaster Mike Claiborne for Sports Hub STL, which began airing in February and has been billed as the market’s first media outlet to provide video sports content delivered strictly digitally. It operates out of KFNS’ facilities in Kirkwood.

Expect to hear some radio content from Hub personnel, a roster that debuted with several high-profile ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ sportscasters, including Randy Karraker, Bob Ransey, Brooke Grimsley, Charlie Marlow and Claiborne. It has since added Bernie Miklasz. But it won’t be a straight simulcast, as KFNS plans to have a mix of national and local shows, in addition to selling airtime on weekends to “professionals and community voices.â€�

“There will be crossover because that makes sense,� Greene said, adding that the lineup should come into focus before the end of the month, including news, weather and sports updates.

The sale price is believed to be around $250,000, a huge drop from what it was worth in its heyday, although more than some in the industry believe is its value today. But Greene said his company is buying much more than an AM signal because the deal also includes the property the transmitter is located on, near Bethalto.

“We look at this from a business standpoint as a land deal,� said Greene, who has had three stints in a variety of managerial and on-air capacities at KFNS over 12 years. “We invested in a piece of property at a good price and it happens to come with an entity (a radio station) that I have a pretty good idea of how to run.

“I couldn’t have announced it to the world more of how good of a deal it was. It’s more than 36 acres, it’s got quite a bit of equipment and no matter how low you want to think a radio station license might be worth these days, it’s worth something.�

Greene added that it also makes business sense to have another choice, an AM signal, for an audience, in addition to streaming options. Plans are to stream the station’s content on a website and an app and also have it available live and on-demand via YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms. Streaming has been the foundation of the Hub and will be key for the latest venture.

“It’s a digital outlet that has content galore and that content will be on the radio as well,� he said. “As the deal got more and more favorable, we figure now makes sense.�

Greene said he had been helping Zobrist in his efforts to sell the station and got as close “as the 10-yard line� with one prospect before talks broke off. A few others had “kicked the tires,� he said.

“I tried my hardest to try to get somebody else to (buy) it, but that’s OK,� he said. “We’ll give it a run.�

Greene said an event is in the works that will honor the legacy of KFNS.

“I’m excited to celebrate it then put it to rest,� he said. “It was 30 years, and in perfect fashion it went without anyone noticing it. It was a great run, but just like everything else it’s time for a fresh coat of paint, some change and new thinking. It’s going to be bought right, it’s going to be run right.�