• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Savannah: Dick Broadcasting Acquires Stations From Alpha Media

FilmCritic3K

FilmCritic3K

Wow. Anyone know anything about Dick Broadcasting? Apparently they previously only owned two stations. And they don't even have a website!

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/119582/dick-broadcasting-acquires-three-markets-alpha-media/

An LMA will start later this month.

I certainly didn't see this coming. The linked article states that Alpha Media selling stations all of a sudden after rapidly acquiring them the past few years doesn't bode well for the future of the company.
 
My information would be sketchy and old at best. 50 years ago Dick Broadcasting had stations like WKDA, a legendary top 40, in Nashville. It seems they had other stations. I understand, possibly a brother, acted as a broker of radio stations but that was about 30 years back. Even then there was a Dick Broadcasting. It might be possible the kids of these folks are still in the radio business. It seemed they centered more on East Tennessee by the 1980s. Jumping in to Georgia would still be in their territory, should my sketchy details are accurate.
 
Wow, indeed. Dick owned several big stations in several markets. They sold many of them to Larry Wilson at Citadel in 2000 for a big chunk of change. Ironically, in 2017, Larry Wilson at Alpha sells some back to Dick.

This is a family-owned company, in it's 3rd generation. They made a fortune when radio prices skyrocketed. Now they are using some of that money to pick up a handful of stations, as opposed to biting off more than they can chew. In Greensboro, they have 2 stations with a full slate of local personalities and they pride themselves on serving the community. These are broadcasters. This is very promising. If I worked in one of these clusters (Myrtle, Savannah, Eastern North Carolina), I'd be optimistic about the future.
 
As some of the others point out, Dick owned WKDF and WIVK in addition to WKRR and WKZL (the latter of which it acquired from Nationwide about 25 years ago). I'm thinking it also owned a station in Birmingham, possibly WZRR. It was never the largest company, but it's been around for awhile.
 
So will this wind up being similar to Adventure Radio Group which eventually sold to Triad which became L & L and then finally Alpha Media? I just don't see a small company staying small for too long in this era of consolidation, unfortunately.

If they truly are live and local, that would be terrific and very awesome. The industry is a slave to voice tracking so live jocks and community outreach is always a wonderful thing.

But first things first...how about a website? ;)
 
Your guess is as good as mine, but Dick Broadcasting has been around for decades. It has expanded and contracted several times during its existence. It also turned down several offers on WKRR/WKZL, though it obviously accepted offers on some of its other properties.

As for the lack of a website, I doubt it sweats that too much. It's not a publicly traded company. Maybe now that it's expanding outside of Greensboro/Winston-Salem, it'll see some value in adding one. However, besides being neat to us radio geeks, it may not be worth the cost to a privately held and relatively small operation like Dick Broadcasting.
 
A decent website can be done very economically. The cookie cutter DIY site providers (Go Daddy WIX etc.) are less than than my son's cell bill. Most towns have Webmasters that will usually work for $50-$75 per hour with a token monthly retainer to monitor the site plus provide you with a way to change content using a form of WordPress. If you are streaming, your service can also help with station site or know firms that will get you up and running. Most radio engineers know or know someone who can help.

The real “need” for a website is from a sales point of view. You have to have is a way to email clients and down load agency spots. If you can find one of the few Microsoft cellphones they should handle wav files quiet easily. Any smartphone should work using a Gmail or other free email address.* Then commercials can be sent via USB into the production PC if you are worried about someone hacking you with ransom-ware thru the Wi-Fi router.** A good web security service with a secure automatic back / archiving is really important from a legal and business angle.

BTW I briefly worked for the brother who was a broker and owned a few stations when I got out of the service in 1975. He owned 1550 Soddy Daisy TN at the time. He had sold 1450 Chattanooga a few years earlier and did very well. They treated me and paid me very well knowing I would be going to college in 6 months. I personally have never heard anybody in east Tennessee radio speak ill of either.

* It is always a good policy to provide all station personnel who need cell phones with company owned phones, phone numbers and web addresses. Even with a non-complete clause, simply not answering calls, texts, or emails from clients can cost the station money.

** at least change the easily hacked manufacturer passwords.
 
The linked article has been updated.

Apparently the filing of the sale of the Savannah stations will not be made until August 1st, 2019, and will not close until 12/31/19.

Is this normal for an LMA?
 
It's not unheard of. It was actually quite common about 25 years ago when LMA's were legal, but duopoly hadn't yet started. Operators would LMA a station with an option to buy on a certain date. Usually, the potential buyer would either get credit for fees paid during the course of the LMA, or the purchase price, usually slightly below market value, would be specified upfront in the agreement. If the LMA operator declined the purchase option, the station could be sold to any potential suitor.
 
secondchoice said:
A decent website can be done very economically. The cookie cutter DIY site providers (Go Daddy WIX etc.) are less than than my son's cell bill. Most towns have Webmasters that will usually work for $50-$75 per hour with a token monthly retainer to monitor the site plus provide you with a way to change content using a form of WordPress. If you are streaming, your service can also help with station site or know firms that will get you up and running. Most radio engineers know or know someone who can help.
Click to expand...

I work in IT and have for about 10 years now. Websites are easy from my point of view, but getting people to maintain them is not. I'm only as good as the information I get, and too many people don't send information. A lot of people just don't have passion for an extra job they didn't want in the first place. The website just becomes something they'll get around to eventually and another task on top of more than they can handle at the moment.

The real “need” for a website is from a sales point of view. You have to have is a way to email clients and down load agency spots. If you can find one of the few Microsoft cellphones they should handle wav files quiet easily. Any smartphone should work using a Gmail or other free email address.* Then commercials can be sent via USB into the production PC if you are worried about someone hacking you with ransom-ware thru the Wi-Fi router.** A good web security service with a secure automatic back / archiving is really important from a legal and business angle.
Click to expand...

The last broadcasting company I worked for didn't have much of a web presence and downloaded its agency spots either directly from the agency or another company with a creative services department. The two big creative services departments had secure portals and would give us a username and password. For at least one of them, the portal itself was not part of the corporate website. We did have a domain for email that we traded out with a local provider, who also provided our internet services and bandwidth for streaming, but there was no website for the company. Even today, 8 1/2 years after leaving my part-time radio job, punching in the domain on our email still just leads to a white page, though it looks like it no longer outsources the individual station websites to its satellite provider, which was where we got half of each day's programming.
 
Kent said:
Even today, 8 1/2 years after leaving my part-time radio job, punching in the domain on our email still just leads to a white page, though it looks like it no longer outsources the individual station websites to its satellite provider, which was where we got half of each day's programming.
Click to expand...

If the satellite provider in question was ABC Radio Networks, they stopped offering that service to affiliates as part of one of the rounds of cuts there. I forget if it was under Citadel or Cumulus. Probably Citadel.
 
Yes, it was ABC. They stopped providing website services after I left (and it was Citadel then), but it always seemed odd to me that they did it in the first place. My guess is that my former employer is trading that service out, too.

Checking out one of its station's websites, it looks like it dumped "Hometown Country" for a news/talk format. Seems odd as it just applied for a translator in the most recent FM window, but welcome to radio.
 
Kent said:
Seems odd as it just applied for a translator in the most recent FM window, but welcome to radio.
Click to expand...

If I had a station that there was a chance of a translator "fitting in" I would file too. If you get the translator, that is one less competitor. You can always program it to mess with a competitor or give your local clients "added value". IIRC translators do not count against station count in a market.
 
Just one thing, translators cannot originate programming. In the situation of a daytime only AM station, the translator can be 24 hours airing what essentially is the AM station if it had night power. I'd file too. There are only so many frequencies that can fit at one geographic spot. That has value and the investment is minimal. Plus, right now everyone has 'translator fever'. It doesn't matter what is covered by the translator, the AM has increased value by simply having one, so chances are the income goes up.
 
What I found odd wasn't that my old station applied for a translator but that it applied for a translator after dropping its music format to become a second talk station. I don't fault my former boss for applying for the translator. It just seems odd to decide music doesn't work on AM only to decide to add an FM.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom