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Reading into Entercom's Divestures

As I mentioned before, it's possible that Entercom could move the Jack format to one of their stations. Until Entercom reveals the buyer of their Seattle stations, we don't know what will happen.

I know Entercom will not put Jack on one of their Seattle stations. I see Entercom moving forward with two Country stations, KISW, KNDD and KHTP with no "major" format change. 96.5 has a 96.5% chance of becoming sports.
 
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The thought that occurred to me was that Bonneville makes a trade with Entercom with their Phoenix cluster, keeps KJAQ and takes it sports, trades KZOK to another broadcaster who wants classic rock, for an under performing signal (Hubbard and KVRQ comes to mind, or iHM and KPWK), and sells KFNQ to Salem.

Entercom and Bonneville have done trades before, and like to make deals that bring in $$.

All that trading sounds very confusing. Bonneville could also sell one of their AM stations they already own to Salem, like when they sold 860 AM in Phoenix to the Cesar Chavez Foundation in March.
 
I know Entercom will not put Jack on one of their Seattle stations. I see Entercom moving forward with two Country stations, KISW, KNDD and KHTP with no "major" format change. 96.5 has a 96.5% chance of becoming sports.

Even though it would be interesting if Entercom wishes to retain the Jack format, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack hits the road in Seattle.
 
Since we are going through all the possibilities. I would like to mention it's possible that I could be buying one of or all 3 spin off CBS stations in Seattle. I would also like to mention that if I don't get the CBS spin offs I could advocate Sinclair, to sell me their radio cluster.
 
Since we are going through all the possibilities. I would like to mention it's possible that I could be buying one of or all 3 spin off CBS stations in Seattle. I would also like to mention that if I don't get the CBS spin offs I could advocate Sinclair, to sell me their radio cluster.

While you could consider buying Sinclair's Seattle radio stations, Entercom would rather swap the stations they're divesting in Seattle than selling them.
 
Your point does not guarantee that a new owner will not change it. For example; when Bonneville acquired what is now KMVP, it had a format like Jack, and they blew it up for sports.

I was wondering why Phoenix doesn't have a Jack FM. While it's great to see sports move to FM where there is better sound quality, it's disappointing that it came at the expense of a Jack FM.
 
I was wondering why Phoenix doesn't have a Jack FM. While it's great to see sports move to FM where there is better sound quality, it's disappointing that it came at the expense of a Jack FM.

98.7 was never Jack FM, it was The Peak. The format later resurfaced when iHeartMedia flipped 95.5 to The Mountain.
 
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What is the continued fascination here with talking about JACK going sports? JACK is a top ranked stations that advertisers buy all the time and it's cheap to run. Replace that with a sports station that is either syndicated = no ratings or local= expensive makes NO SENSE. We already have 4+ sports stations if you count KJR, ESPN710, KIRO FM with Seahawks and Sounders, KOMO A/F with Huskies and AM 1090 and a couple of smaller ones. And gone are the days when radio carried things not on TV, virtually ALL the sports content is on TV/Cable now as well with MANY choices there. There is zero financial incentive to blow up a perfectly good format to chase sports. Get over it and move on, please.
 
So in one breath you say Jack is Top rated and the next they are a cheap buy. If they are so top rated why don't they command a top price? Maybe because they are leaning towards Oldies, no new Listeners?

I see some consolidation of listener base coming
 
What is the continued fascination here with talking about JACK going sports? JACK is a top ranked stations that advertisers buy all the time and it's cheap to run. Replace that with a sports station that is either syndicated = no ratings or local= expensive makes NO SENSE. We already have 4+ sports stations if you count KJR, ESPN710, KIRO FM with Seahawks and Sounders, KOMO A/F with Huskies and AM 1090 and a couple of smaller ones. And gone are the days when radio carried things not on TV, virtually ALL the sports content is on TV/Cable now as well with MANY choices there. There is zero financial incentive to blow up a perfectly good format to chase sports. Get over it and move on, please.

What band do virtually all radio listeners listen to? Do you like AM with its static and fade outs, just when a great play is happening? Maybe you're the exception.

I guess you never got the message that AM is dying, and that most low power class B's and C's will be a thing of the past. You should get with it.

If a broadcaster already has sports in-house, then its easy to move the prime sports and talk to FM and let the AM run syndicated programming. For example, if Bonneville is the one, they could move the local & live shows to FM, and keep the national shows on 710 ESPN.
 
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So in one breath you say Jack is Top rated and the next they are a cheap buy. If they are so top rated why don't they command a top price? Maybe because they are leaning towards Oldies, no new Listeners?

I see some consolidation of listener base coming

KJAQ is oldies now, and I think that this is one of the reasons Entercom chose to divest it along with KZOK (the demos will age out). They did this with KBSG as well a decade ago, when Bonneville wanted back in the market.
 
Interesting speculation here. KJR-FM, which (from what I understand) does fairly well in the ratings (#4 in 18-34, acc. to All Access), has a "96.5" chance of being blown up for sports. Jack, which apparently makes some money (#3 in 25-54, acc. to All Access), is going to be blown up for sports or whatever.

I don't get it. When companies buy or swap stations, do they often kill stations that are rating and making money?
 
If you are in business of buying or selling radio advertising and disagree with my view that JACK will stay as is, please speak up. If you are NOT in the business of buying or selling advertising, or manage the overall budgets of a station, or have some broad market knowledge like someone like David Eduardo, then I respect your opinion but this is a business and decisions are made that put dollars in shareholder and owners pockets. Period.
 
If you are in business of buying or selling radio advertising and disagree with my view that JACK will stay as is, please speak up. If you are NOT in the business of buying or selling advertising, or manage the overall budgets of a station, or have some broad market knowledge like someone like David Eduardo, then I respect your opinion but this is a business and decisions are made that put dollars in shareholder and owners pockets. Period.

It all depends on who buys Jack. If it's Bonneville, then yeah maybe they could/would move ESPN to the FM, but I don't think they would do that without pressure to do so (i.e. another owner in town forcing the issue by putting their own sports station on the FM).

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think if sports on the FM is going to happen it will be Entercom that does it. When you talk about one local station's ratings and billing as the reason why they wouldn't flip it, you're thinking in the micro. David Field is thinking bigger picture. He hired Mike Dee as the President of Entercom Sports. Dee said to Ad Age: “It’s a local approach, and it’s at the core of our DNA. There’s nothing more local in any community than sports. To be able to extend the partnership we have with teams in a way that makes us the go-to source for news and information around that team is at the center of our sports strategy. The opportunities are vast, and in our case, having stations in 23 of the top 25 markets, we will (also) be able to offer scale for national advertisers that’s unprecedented and unmatched in the industry today.”

Entercom knows that content is the key to survival in radio, and nothing generates more content than sports. Pair that with national radio buys (don't you think they'd like to have stations in 24 of the top 25 markets), new revenue opportunities that sports partnerships bring, and a desire to clear CBS Sports Network in this market and you have all the reasons why this could make sense for Entercom.

You could have a NHL team that needs a broadcast partner soon. I'm sure WSU would love to move off of KTTH. The Mariners deal will be up in a couple of years, and Mike Dee and Jerry Dipoto know each other from their time in the Red Sox organization and as MLB neighbors when Dee was in SD and Dipoto in LA. There are a lot of reasons why this would make sense for Entercom. But who the hell knows.
 
Interesting speculation here. KJR-FM, which (from what I understand) does fairly well in the ratings (#4 in 18-34, acc. to All Access), has a "96.5" chance of being blown up for sports. Jack, which apparently makes some money (#3 in 25-54, acc. to All Access), is going to be blown up for sports or whatever.

I don't get it. When companies buy or swap stations, do they often kill stations that are rating and making money?

Traditionally, they usually didn't. But there were exceptions. KXRX got blown up for "Young Country" after Shamrock sold it to Alliance in 1994. In fact, lightning has struck many times on 96.5 MHz.

The most legendary (and most extreme) example is WAVA in Washington, DC, a #1 CHR bought by Salem who promptly flipped it to religion. And strangely kept the WAVA CHR logo. it really depends on what the new owner wants. And sometimes money-making and ratings aren't even a factor (as in the case of WAVA)

Also as a side note, Carol Handley's back, doing afternoons on KBCS. If you really miss the old KEZX type mix of music, you're in for a treat....
 
Traditionally, they usually didn't. But there were exceptions. KXRX got blown up for "Young Country" after Shamrock sold it to Alliance in 1994. In fact, lightning has struck many times on 96.5 MHz.

The most legendary (and most extreme) example is WAVA in Washington, DC, a #1 CHR bought by Salem who promptly flipped it to religion. And strangely kept the WAVA CHR logo. it really depends on what the new owner wants. And sometimes money-making and ratings aren't even a factor (as in the case of WAVA)

Also as a side note, Carol Handley's back, doing afternoons on KBCS. If you really miss the old KEZX type mix of music, you're in for a treat....

Wow, this has been pure entertainment with so many speculating on what will happen and won't - Comedy gold from some of you. Hubbard is not going to pickup the 102.5 and 96.5 bank on it all day. Please tell us why they would blow up 95.7 The Jet? That is the stupidest comment on here. That station bills more than any other in their cluster. Has the best ratings and blowing it up for a sports station coming off "Hooker-gate" yeah... whatever... This is will more than likely be a swap between Entercom and another company for signals in another market. Look for a 3rd party to gain some smaller sticks in the market maybe? A new sports station at Entercom with CBS sports on 1090 that makes more sense.
 
Wow, this has been pure entertainment with so many speculating on what will happen and won't - Comedy gold from some of you. Hubbard is not going to pickup the 102.5 and 96.5 bank on it all day. Please tell us why they would blow up 95.7 The Jet? That is the stupidest comment on here. That station bills more than any other in their cluster. Has the best ratings and blowing it up for a sports station coming off "Hooker-gate" yeah... whatever... This is will more than likely be a swap between Entercom and another company for signals in another market. Look for a 3rd party to gain some smaller sticks in the market maybe? A new sports station at Entercom with CBS sports on 1090 that makes more sense.

Who said 95.7 was going to be blown up. Are you saying iHeart will be involved in this.....Interesting. Or were your eyes blurry when you read the thread. FYI CBS is selling 1090, if all goes well Entercom will not own it, if they don't own it, how will this new sports station at Entercom get on the air? I read your post and it sound like iHeart is buying the Seattle CBS spin offs. your post kinda does not make sense.
 
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