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Ex-pol Mark Foley fails in WRMF ownership bid; Station sold to WPB media exec Dean Goodman

Goodman (left) with partner Carl Hirsch, who died hours before the deal for WRMF, at Saturday's Cleveland Clinic gala in Mar-a-Lago

Goodman (left) with partner Carl Hirsch, who died hours before the deal for WRMF. The photo was taken at Saturday's Cleveland Clinic gala in Mar-a-Lago

WRMF-97.9 FM, a one-time leading radio station in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast that fell on hard times, was sold late yesterday to a partnership led by former Paxson Communications executive Dean Goodman, a resident of West Palm Beach’s Trump Plaza.

The purchase price for the station that once hosted the area’s top radio talent was $16.5 million, according to a statement released by General Manager Elizabeth Hamma.

The money barely covers seller Great Hill Partners‘ note on the property. The Boston-based Great Hill bought WRMF from Jim Hilliard in 2002 for a record $70 million.

Former U. S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned from the House in 2006 after a text-messaging scandal, was among WRMF’s current suitors, but he couldn’t gather enough capital down the stretch.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Foley said late Monday. “But Dean Goodman is a great radio professional who can make WRMF great again.”

The WRMF purchase, incidentally, was to include Goodman’s best friend and another former radio station owner, Palm Beacher Carl Hirsch. Hirsch, who ran radio stations in Cleveland and the Midwest, suffered a fatal heart attack while at dinner at Palm Beach’s Cafe Boulud Monday, hours before the WRMF paperwork was signed. (A wake for Hirsch has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Cafe Sapori in West Palm Beach)

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Leno, Allen West star in the season’s biggest gala

(Click on the Mike Jachles photo for the event gallery)

(Click on the Mike Jachles photo for the event gallery)

The Tonight Show’s Jay Leno (above) had ‘em in stitches and rookie U.S. Rep. Allen West, the Conservative Republicans’ new golden child (above), got plenty attention while making face time with rich donors at what could end up being the social season’s biggest fund-raising gala, Saturday night at the Boca Raton Resort.

Click here for the Mike Jachles event gallery

Nearly 1,100 supporters of the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County packed the main ballroom for the Concours D’Elegance’s black-tie, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. And former Miami Dolphins majority owner H. Wayne Huizenga (below, with Jay), the founder of the AutoNation super dealerships, was honored for his contribution to the car biz.

Among the guests: Three-time Indy winner and former Dancing With The Stars champ Helio Castroneves; two-time Indy winner Al Unser Jr.; Latin crooner Jon Secada; and car dealer Rick Case. (Click for Mike Jachles’ 50-photo event gallery)

The gala was part of the weekend-long Concours, which also included Sunday’s collector car show judged by Leno. Leno himself is a well-known collector whose garage is stuffed with more than 100 classic cars, even if he told Page2Live last week that he was through buying — for a while!

(Click on the Mike Jachles photo for more)

(Click on the Mike Jachles photo for more)

For more on the Concours:

Click here for the pbpulse coverage

Howie Mandel’s no car buff, but he can’t wait for Concours D’Elegance gig

Jay Leno to highlight the Boca Raton Concours D’Elegance

Jennifer Lopez shopping for a home in Vero Beach

Lopez and Anthony, March 7 at the Oscars (AP Photo)

Lopez and Anthony, March 7 at the Oscars (AP Photo)

Jenny from Vero may not be as catchy as Jenny from the Block, but the Vero part could come true.

Bootyful Latin diva Jennifer Lopez and her salsero hubby, Marc Anthony, share time between Los Angeles, New York and Miami. But now they’re looking for a beachfront weekend home on the Treasure Coast.

La Lopez and her little guy are particularly interested in the north side of Orchid Island, a barrier island near Vero Beach. She has concentrated her search in the area where Miami sound moguls Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s $1.5 million crib in the dunes.

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At home with Wellington polo star Nacho Figueras

Can’t turn on a talk show these days, or open a magazine, without seeing Wellington polo star Nacho Figueras staring right back at you.

And now you can even see where the pretty face of Ralph Lauren lives when he’s not riding at International Polo Club Palm Beach.

nacho

With Figueras: wife Delfina Blaquier and kids Hilario, Aurora and Artemio (Courtesy Elle Decor/Click on the photo for more)

Figueras’ modern crib near Buenos Aires, Argentina, is featured in the April issue of Elle Decor. The spread opens with this picture of a picture-perfect family, and continues with Figueras’ paintings on the walls and the furniture that wife Delfina Blaquier designed.

Yep. She’s hot and she designs her own furniture!

Click on either photo or here for more.

(Courtesy Elle Decor/Click on the photo for more)

(Courtesy Elle Decor/Click on the photo for more)

Let’s get drunk: Roy Black, polo boss John Goodman’s lawyer, hosts yearly shindig

International Polo Club Palm Beach founder John Goodman, whose alleged killing of a 23-year-old man in a car crash last month is still under investigation, was nowhere to be found among those who paid homage to high-profile South Florida attorney Roy Black.

Funny thing, because when it comes to celebrities attending The Blacks’ Annual Gala in Miami Beach Saturday night, Black and his wife Lea can always count on those he extracted from the criminal justice system. And yes, there may be some of future clients of Black’s there, too.

Girls Gone Wild’s Joe Francis was one of them. He once had tax and public morals problems, but Black made it all better. So he came to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for the big party.

“He wins every case,” Francis said. “His approach is different from other lawyers, partly because he never worked for the government as a prosecutor. He believes in your case 100 percent, and I don’t know any other who does that.”

Roy Black kicks off his yearly gala: "If you don't get drunk, . . . then this party has failed!" (Click on the photo for more Mike Jachles images of the party)

Roy Black kicks off his yearly gala: "If you don't get drunk, . . . then this party has failed!" (Click on the photo for more Mike Jachles images of the party)

Three-time Indianapolis and Dancing With The Stars winner Helio Castroneves showed up. Black got him out of his little tax evasion issue last year.

Yet John Goodman, who could soon be facing DUI and manslaughter accusations but hasn’t been charged, was MIA.

And who could blame him?

Roy Black, after all, kicked off the open bar, three-course fiesta with this announcement to the 1,000-plus guests who’d paid up to $1,000 each: “If you guys don’t get drunk and dance on the tables, then this party has failed!”

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