EX-10.5(b)

        THE WITHIN NOTE HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF
        1933 (THE "ACT") AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD, OR OTHERWISE
        TRANSFERRED OR DISPOSED OF UNLESS AND UNTIL (i) A REGISTRATION
        STATEMENT WITH RESPECT THERETO IS EFFECTIVE UNDER THE ACT OR (ii) IN
        THE OPINION OF COUNSEL, WHICH OPINION IS REASONABLY SATISFACTORY IN
        FORM AND SUBSTANCE TO COUNSEL FOR THE MAKER, SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR
        OTHER TRANSFER IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACT AND ANY APPLICABLE
        STATE SECURITIES LAWS.

                                   TSB IV, LLC
                                Managed Affiliate
                                 Promissory Note

$9,861,000.00                                                December 30, 1997


      For value received, TSB IV, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company 
("Maker"), promises to pay to Tri-State Broadcasting, Inc. ("Payee"), or 
order, at Payee's address located at 420 N.W. Fifth St., Evansville, Indiana, 
the principal sum of Nine Million Eight Hundred Sixty One Thousand and no/100 
Dollars ($9,861,000.00) in lawful money of the United States of America, 
together with simple interest in like money at the rate of twelve per cent 
(12.0%) per annum from the date hereof for so long as payment on any principal 
balance hereof remains unpaid, such principal and interest to be due and 
payable on the following obligatory schedule (except as and to the extent 
offset, anticipated, or prepaid, in whole or in part, as hereinafter provided):

      Beginning June 15, 1998, and on December 15 and June 15 of each year 
thereafter Maker shall pay to the holder hereof interest accrued on the 
outstanding principal balance hereof until January 1, 2001, when final 
payment of all then unpaid principal and accrued interest thereon shall be 
due and payable.

      The Maker reserves the right to anticipate and prepay at any time or 
from time to time, without penalty, all or any part of the indebtedness 
evidenced by this note. Any partial prepayment of principal also shall 
include accrued interest on the unpaid principal balance to the date of such 
prepayment, and each prepayment shall be applied to and be deducted from the 
scheduled obligatory payments falling due hereunder in the inverse order of 
their scheduled due dates. All prepayments on this note shall be 



recorded when made on the reverse side hereof by the then holder of this note.

      The following, and only the following, shall constitute an "Event of 
Default" under this note:

      (a) any failure of Maker to make (or to cause to be made) to the then 
holder of this note any scheduled obligatory payment of principal or interest 
on this note when due and payable, which failure continues for a period of at 
least thirty (30) consecutive calendar days after written notice of such 
failure has been given to Maker by such holder, or

      (b) the commencement by maker of a voluntary case under and within the 
meaning of the United States Bankruptcy Code, or

      (c) entry by a court of competent jurisdiction of an order in an 
involuntary case commenced against Maker under and within the meaning of the 
United States Bankruptcy Code that (i) forbids the Maker to continue to use, 
acquire, or dispose of property as if no such involuntary case had been 
commenced, or (ii) is for relief against Maker, or (iii) appoints an interim 
trustee to take possession of Maker's property, or (iv) orders the 
liquidation of Maker, and, in each case, sixty (60) consecutive calendar days 
shall have elapsed since entry of any such order, such order shall then be 
unstayed and effective, and such involuntary case shall then still be pending 
and not dismissed.

      Upon the occurrence and during the continuation of an Event of Default, 
and not otherwise, the then holder of this note, at such holder's sole 
election made by a written notice executed by such holder (expressly 
referring to and describing this note and the Event of Default) and given to 
Maker, may declare all of the then unpaid principal balance of this note, 
together with any interest accrued thereon, to be, and they shall thereupon 
become, immediately due and payable without presentment, demand, protest, or 
other notice of any kind.

      Any notice to Maker shall be deemed to have been given only upon the 
earlier to occur of (a) actual receipt of such notice by Maker (whether by 
hand delivery or facsimile transmission), or (b) the eighth day after the 
date of deposit of such notice in the U.S. mail, postage prepaid, certified 
or registered, with return receipt or proof of deliver required, addressed to 
Maker at the address for Maker shown herein or at such other address as Maker 
may theretofore establish by notice to Payee as provided in the Agreement.

      Mere delay or failure to act shall not preclude the exercise or 
enforcement of any right or remedy hereunder; all such rights 



and remedies shall be cumulative and may be exercised singularly or
concurrently, and the exercise or enforcement of any one such right or remedy
shall neither be a condition to nor bar the exercise or enforcement of any other
right or remedy.

      The rights of all parties hereto and of each holder hereof shall be
governed by and enforced or construed only in accordance with the domestic,
substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, excluding those relating to
conflicts of laws.

      The payment of any management fee by the Maker pursuant to any management
agreement [other than a Managed Affiliate Management Agreement with the Payee as
an affiliate of Brill Media Company, LLC and Brill Media Management, Inc. (the
"Issuer")] shall be subordinated to the obligation of the Maker under this note
to the same extent as the obligation of the Issuer and its subsidiaries under
the management agreements with Brill Media Company, L.P. are subordinated to the
obligation of the Issuer and its subsidiaries under the Notes and the Subsidiary
Guarantees issued and made by such persons under and pursuant to an Offering
Memorandum dated December 23, 1997, and entered into by the Issuer and the
subsidiaries therein identified.

      Maker agrees to pay all reasonable attorneys' fees that may be incurred in
collecting this note after an Event of Default, but not to exceed 5% of any then
due and payable principal balance.

      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Maker has caused this note to be executed by its duly
authorized officer on the day, month, and year first above written.

                                    TSB IV, LLC

                                    By:   Tri-State Management, Inc.
                                          Its Manager


                                    By:_______________________________
                                          a duly authorized officer