Modern has two broadcasting licenses for St. Petersburg and holds 14 licenses for broadcasting in the regions, including Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad and Sochi.
Berezovsky and Murdoch bought the station from its managers, Sergei Nikolayev and Leonid Kukushkin, and an entrepreneur, Oleg Zherebtsov.
Some 223,000 people, or 5.3 percent of St. Petersburg's radio audience, tune in daily to Modern, making it the No. 10 FM station by audience size, according to market research agency Comcon-St. Petersburg.
Logovaz News Corp., or LNC, belongs equally to structures under Berezovsky and Murdoch and owns Nashe Radio, which has about 40 transmitters broadcasting to 129 cities across Russia and the CIS, as well as Ultra Radio and the recording company Real Records.
"The deal is unique because it was concluded in an absolutely transparent manner without employing any substitutes or offshores," said Nikolayev, also a former board chairman.
"The three owners opened accounts in a Russian bank to which LNC transferred the full amount of the purchase."
Nikolayev said each of the three owners paid taxes worth "several tens of thousands of dollars," but he declined to disclose the value of the deal.
Radio market analysts estimated that LNC paid between $1 million and $2 million for the station. A commercial director at another Petersburg station valued radio Modern, along with its regional network, at no higher than $1 million.
Nashe Radio general producer Mikhail Kozyrev said entering the St. Petersburg market had been a goal of the company since it was founded in December 1998.
"In the course of negotiations with many Petersburg stations, we would suddenly learn that their owners were either killed, or had escaped from or were in prison," Kozyrev said.
Kozyrev said LNC is going to purchase one more radio station in Petersburg, the name of which he did not disclose.
Its frequencies will be used by Moscow's Ultra FM station, or it will be a new project of the Russian-Australian media holding.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.