Sonoma Media Group welcomed as Chamber's newest Media Sponsor member

Sonoma Media Group (SMG) is the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce's newest Media Sponsor member. SMG was formed in May of 2013, with the acquisition of five of Santa Rosa's leading radio stations, to become a locally owned media company. The founder is long time Santa Rosa business executive, Lawrence Amaturo, co-owner of Santa Rosa Nissan, Kia of Santa Rosa and the new Splash Express of Santa Rosa. Joining Lawrence in the formation of SMG is longtime broadcaster Michael O'Shea, who serves as President of SMG.

The company is the largest local radio group, owning and operating 97.7 The River, Froggy 92.9, Mix 104.9, Hot 101.7 and KSRO 1350. All five stations emanate from shared studios and offices at 1410 Neotomas Avenue, in Santa Rosa.

"The overwhelming bulk of SMG’s business is from local businesses ... approximately 90% of our commercial inventory goes towards promoting and advertising locally owned and operated businesses," says O'Shea. "We are currently promoting an initiative of 'buying local' on all five of our stations. With the impending holiday season we’re proactively asking our approximately 200,000 weekly listeners to consider shopping local before they shop big national stores or shop online."

"We're specifically itemizing the virtues of local commerce: keeping our local tax base high, keeping our local companies, who hire local people, supported first," O'Shea continued. "Being a locally owned and operated company, whose existence and success is dependent on our local companies having success first, is a part of our DNA."