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WADL Detroit Sold On Spectrum Valuation

This is sad that Detroit is going to lose a station...

...to nobody but Trifecta Media, who no longer can pass off their eighth-tier syndicated cable reality and Canadian content programming to a station which still is the stupidest of all time for spurning CBS in 1994. Who thinks Forensic Files, a show run to death by 'HL''N', is being watched in the afternoon at all (locally where I am it gets the deserved 3am slot)? With WMYD under actual management with WXYZ, this was definitely a dead station walking once they threw off the MyNet chains and just went neutral with their branding. And I still find it surprising that WDIV trusts them to air pre-empted NBC programming when they can just air it in-house on 4.2 and keep all the ad money.
 
All the planets have to align just right for the FCC to actually come thorough with that kind of money. The biggest hurdle will be clearing 126 MHz of spectrum in every market. The chances of that happening are slim to none. And the FCC has consistently warned that these values may not be real.

These are basically sucker numbers designed to lure in broadcasters. If Kevin Adell thinks he's actually going to get 170 million for WADL then he's just the kind of sucker the FCC is looking for.
 
I doubt it goes for anything near $170M. Either way, Adell will cash out. The only good thing about the station is that it carries Antenna TV on one of its subnets and a few of the better older sitcoms, like 'Coach' once per week. Someday another entity will provide competition to 'Word Network' and that cash cow will disappear.
 
WADL may command even larger auction price than expected: up to $380M, FCC says

Local broadcaster Kevin Adell’s potential payday for selling his independent TV station keeps getting bigger.

The Federal Communications Commission has significantly increased its expected opening bid for Adell’s WADL TV-38 in Clinton Township to a maximum of $380 million with a median price of $360 million.

That’s up from a possible $170 million last year.

The revised estimate comes from a new report issued this month on behalf of the FCC by New York investment firm Greenhill & Co. LLC.
Click to expand...

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...larger-auction-price-than-expected-up-to-380m
 
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We'll see. Adell was in Crain's earlier this month asserting that his purchase of AM910 would increase his billings by $30M per year.

If he can get even $150M for the spectrum than he is making out like a bandit, but I'm skeptical.

He is only leasing the right to transmit in that spectrum. Any windfall like this should be shared with the citizens. If he loses the ability to operate his business, WADL, because of a change in how that spectrum can be used, he certainly needs to be compensated for the business and the income he would lose from that business, but to get this kind of windfall for something that belongs to the people is unseemly. Not just for WADL but for the auction in general.
 
Hmmm, an AM billing $30 million a year in the Detroit metro, starting from zero. Would seem to decrease Mr. Adell's credibility, but given recent spectrum auctions I think WADL could bring well north of $200 million.

But you bring up an important point. Why should there be a windfall for a private broadcaster that is using, by legal definition, public spectrum? At the same time, how does the government persuade broadcasters to close down to free up spectrum if there isn't a strong incentive?
 
mrschimpf said:
a station which still is the stupidest of all time for spurning CBS in 1994.
Click to expand...

...well, Vic Eliason's WVCY-TV/30 in Milwaukee did the same thing at the same time; CBS was being dislodged from WITI/6 and found itself pretty much locked out of its former o&o, WVTV/18. They offered to buy WVCY-TV from Eliason; all that led to was Eliason, one of the more politically venomous of televangelists (his nickname in certain pockets of Wisconsin's body politic is "Vic The Vampire"), using CBS as a point of ridicule for months on his radio show. CBS wound up on WDJT/58 -- and still has a larger viewership than WVCY-TV will ever have...
 
Ultimajock said:
...well, Vic Eliason's WVCY-TV/30 in Milwaukee did the same thing at the same time; CBS was being dislodged from WITI/6 and found itself pretty much locked out of its former o&o, WVTV/18. They offered to buy WVCY-TV from Eliason; all that led to was Eliason, one of the more politically venomous of televangelists (his nickname in certain pockets of Wisconsin's body politic is "Vic The Vampire"), using CBS as a point of ridicule for months on his radio show. CBS wound up on WDJT/58 -- and still has a larger viewership than WVCY-TV will ever have...
Click to expand...

WVCY had a weaker signal than WDJT, much like WADL was weaker than WGPR/WWJ. In the end, I think CBS wanted a stronger signal.

WVCY Old Analog: 961' 1070 kW DA
WDJT Old Analog: 1112' 5000 kW DA

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=72342#station
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=71427#station
 
mvcg66b3r said:
WVCY had a weaker signal than WDJT, much like WADL was weaker than WGPR/WWJ. In the end, I think CBS wanted a stronger signal.

WVCY Old Analog: 961' 1070 kW DA
WDJT Old Analog: 1112' 5000 kW DA

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=72342#station
http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=71427#station
Click to expand...

CBS wanted WVCY said no. Another station it approached, home shopping outlet WJJA, refused because the local minister who owned it at the time said he wanted the station to be able to employ people that might not otherwise work at a television station.

And to say WGPR was strong was an outright lie; WKBD, which Paramount held back for UPN, was three times stronger. CBS offered Frank Adell one year, no compensation; Adell wanted five years with comp, CBS thought it unreasonable and that door shut pretty quickly.
 
Raymie said:
CBS wanted WVCY said no. Another station it approached, home shopping outlet WJJA, refused because the local minister who owned it at the time said he wanted the station to be able to employ people that might not otherwise work at a television station.
Click to expand...

WJJA had signal issues too. Their analog stick in Oak Creek had only 489' HAAT. Its poor condition actually held up the station's sale to Weigel.

On August 1, 2007, Weigel Broadcasting announced its intention to purchase WJJA. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted approval for the transfer in mid-September 2007, though the license and financial transfers between the two parties, along with the poor condition of the station's transmitter tower in the southeastern Milwaukee County suburb of Oak Creek took months longer to settle before Weigel could take full control of the station.
Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMLW-TV#As_WJJA
 
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