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KPFA/Pacifica in trouble because of NYC mismanagement

Wow I don't know if Pacifica could do though given how they are handling the WBAI fiasco and how they are going to manage the transmitter issues at WBAI and KPFA.
 
Those of us in Houston are keeping an eye on Pacifica’s KPFT, which could be thrown under the bus to raise money. KPFT is a Class C1 signal, and a C2 non-comm here was sold for $10 million in 2016. That would probably pay down most of the bills and debt, and Houston is probably the least important Pacifica market. Evangelist Joel Osteen has been mentioned as a potential suitor for the station.

Amazing how long the Pacifica troubles have dragged out.
 
Losing KPFA would be a tragedy of epic proportions. We can't afford to lose Free Speech Radio like Pacifica when this nation is under assault from hate from the current Orange haired idiot and his cronies in the White House
 
goriajk said:
Losing KPFA would be a tragedy of epic proportions. We can't afford to lose Free Speech Radio like Pacifica when this nation is under assault from hate from the current Orange haired idiot and his cronies in the White House
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True it was a historical venue for the free speech movement.
 
goriajk said:
Losing KPFA would be a tragedy of epic proportions. We can't afford to lose Free Speech Radio like Pacifica when this nation is under assault from hate from the current Orange haired idiot and his cronies in the White House
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Your statement can be filed in the folder labeled, "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it..."

KPFK in LA reaches about 100,000 persons weekly in a market of nearly 14,000,000. The leading station reached over 3,700,000 each week in December.

WBAI in NYC reaches about 65,000 weekly in a market of 19,000,000. By comparison, the leading station there reaches just over 5,000,000.

KPFA and KPFB in San Francisco reach about 79,000 persons weekly in a market of 7,600,000. The leading station reached 1,550,000 weekly.

Each station is last or nearly last in markets with well over 50 stations each.
 
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I think most of Pacifica's target audience is listening to podcasts or NPR. WBAI and KPFA would be more valuable than the other Pacifica sticks because they're on the commercial portion of the band. Coincidentally, both the New York and San Francisco markets have major format holes
 
ftballfan said:
I think most of Pacifica's target audience is listening to podcasts or NPR. WBAI and KPFA would be more valuable than the other Pacifica sticks because they're on the commercial portion of the band. Coincidentally, both the New York and San Francisco markets have major format holes
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For at least a decade, both NY and SF have had a small group of big FM signals stations playing at the "bottom end" of the ratings and billing spectrum. There are no gaping holes, format-wise, in either market.

At present, it looks like NYC has closed any presumed gaps, while San Francisco is in a state of confusion / transition with all the station sales and LMA situations.

In New York, essentially all but two significant FMs were "Created Equal" but SF has the issue of vastly different coverage areas and powers in a market where no FM actually covers 100% of the geography which runs from Gilroy to Geyserville.
 
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ftballfan said:
I think most of Pacifica's target audience is listening to podcasts or NPR. WBAI and KPFA would be more valuable than the other Pacifica sticks because they're on the commercial portion of the band. Coincidentally, both the New York and San Francisco markets have major format holes
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Just because there may be a Polka station in Chicago, doesn't mean there's a formatic "hole" for Polka everywhere else.
 
semoochie said:
Just because there may be a Polka station in Chicago, doesn't mean there's a formatic "hole" for Polka everywhere else.
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I suspect he is talking about country, which was discussed in another thread. That format is served in both markets by smaller class-A's and/or rim-shots that have been found by fans of that music from what I can tell.

Dave B.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Those of us in Houston are keeping an eye on Pacifica’s KPFT, which could be thrown under the bus to raise money. KPFT is a Class C1 signal, and a C2 non-comm here was sold for $10 million in 2016. That would probably pay down most of the bills and debt, and Houston is probably the least important Pacifica market. Evangelist Joel Osteen has been mentioned as a potential suitor for the station.
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It would be very ironic (and not in a good way) if KPFT, a likely extreme left leaning station (I haven't listened, but I know Pacifica) would sell to Evangelist Joel Osteen.
 
What if Pacifica sold KPFA to a commercial broadcaster! That will probably never happen!
 
HenryOchs said:
What if Pacifica sold KPFA to a commercial broadcaster! That will probably never happen!
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They have a lot of other things they will sell before they sell any radio stations.

Even with all of the financial issues they have, they haven't even begun to touch the non-radio assets.

So it will be a very long time before anyone there thinks about selling stations.
 
AMRocks said:
It would be very ironic (and not in a good way) if KPFT, a likely extreme left leaning station (I haven't listened, but I know Pacifica) would sell to Evangelist Joel Osteen.
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The new SFGate article does mention signal swaps, but not outright sales. Joel Osteen has nothing to swap, and I'd have to imagine his agreement with SiriusXM has some restrictions on over-the-air broadcasts. Not to mention that a Joel Osteen station would be Houston's third player in the Christian talk/teaching space.

That said, Houston's flat geography and varied building densities would make it more advantagous for a signal downgrade than some of the other markets. A swap with EMF for KHJK would be the no-brainer.

KHCB is Houston's WBAI when it comes to underutilized FM real estate -- if Pacifica was looking to exit the market, that's where the money swap would be.
 
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