Monetize the Station

X1FM, the local digital broadband radio station also known for its Open Door Concert series, has purchased defunct Long Beach nightclub the Vault 350, due to reopen in January 2010.

In partnership with local Medina Investment & Development, X1FM paid $3.5 million for the property. A press release issued by the investment company reads, “For Luis Armen Kaloyan, founder and president of X1FM Network, the Vault 350 will be a flagship venue where a mix of X1FM original music content will be produced and broadcast worldwide via live interactive online radio.”

Despite naming the new locale its “flagship venue,” X1FM’s newly hired marketing director Anthony Miller says the internet radio company will maintain its local presence in National City for now.

“There are still contracts that need to be signed and so many ‘ifs’ right now,” says Miller. “I think that [‘flagship’ reference] was something additional that somebody kind of mentioned in a very early stage.”

The Vault 350 purchase included around $2 million worth of lighting, audio, and visual equipment. The three-story, 29,000-square-foot, 1100-capacity club — closed since May 2008 — is undergoing a $4 million renovation.

Launched online around two years ago, X1FM grew out of Binational Broadcasting Company, Inc., founded locally in 1992 by Kaloyan, owner and president of XHRM-92.5 FM.

Former 91X DJ Chris Cantore worked for X1FM from May to August 2008, later telling the Reader that X1FM “couldn’t monetize the product, couldn’t produce the revenue streams. They were stoked with the results, but I wasn’t satisfied on my end.” (From Thomas Larson’s Why Local Radio Is No Longer Local, published 12/30/08.)

The Open Door Sessions concert series, held at the X1FM Garage studio showcase, has hosted local acts such as Get Back Loretta, Hotel St. George, and Buddy Akai. The next show takes place July 31, with Band of Skulls.