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Wkqx & wlup to cumulus

leethalweapon

leethalweapon

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...us-buys-wkqx-chicago-and-wlup-calls-intellect

“I am truly pleased that we have reached an agreement to bring WKQX into the CUMULUS CHICAGO family and fully focus on driving growth in the CHICAGO market,” said CUMULUS CHICAGO VP/Market Manager MARV NYREN. “We have lots of great programming planned for WKQX and our other stations in the CHICAGO market, and we look forward to growing these legendary stations and providing great content to our listeners and effective marketing strategies for our advertisers in and around CHICAGO.”

Where will the LOOP get it's re-birth???
 
The "undisclosed price" will be interesting. I suspect, since everything that happens in bankruptcy has to be declared at some point, the details will be disclosed very soon.

A lot of very relieved music fans in Chicago. At least for now.
 
Only WLUP's intellectual property was purchased by Cumulus. My guess is it'll continue to be used in its current format - i.e. online and at WKQX-HD2.

I would put the chances of a full rebirth on a Chicago analog FM signal at close to zero.

The bigger story by far is the fact Cumulus apparently will be holding onto WKQX.
 
There are more than a few pieces to the puzzle on this deal, some of which should fall into place in the next week. It will be interesting to see if and how past and present employees figure into the equation. Could be a few U-Haul reservations will be cancelled.
 
According to the Tom Taylor newsletter: "But a sharp-eyed NOW reader reports something - a March 10 registration for 947TheLoop.com. Stay tuned."
 
RBR reports the sale price was $18 million. Which may be covered under the LMA fees Cumulus paid over the past 4 years.
 
Element9 said:
There are more than a few pieces to the puzzle on this deal, some of which should fall into place in the next week. It will be interesting to see if and how past and present employees figure into the equation. Could be a few U-Haul reservations will be cancelled.
Click to expand...

Tim Virgin and James Van Osdol were moved to WKQX.

I forgot what happened to the Midday jock.

Wade Linder was moved to WLS-FM.

Mancow was running as third party I think.
 
Given the fact Wade Linder's background is very deeply entrenched in Rock radio, perhaps I discounted the possibility of a WLUP rebirth too deeply.

That said, why would Cumulus want to relaunch a station that perennially over many, many years has been a soft biller?

If there is an inclination to use the WLUP calls & "Loop" branding on 94.7 as part of a rock-based classic hits format, I'm not so sure that would be a good idea. It would confuse WLS-FM's current audience, and longtime listeners of the original Loop would likely be disenchanted with the softer sound of the new station.

So, I am going to stand by my original prediction - The Loop will be confined to HD2 and online.

The fact WKQX's price tag was only $18 million suggests to me no other serious buyers were out there. Perhaps one or two other parties submitted low-ball offers.

I forgot what happened to the Midday jock.
Click to expand...

She was voicetracking from Rock 100.5 in Atlanta, I believe. She's still there.
 
MarkW said:
The fact WKQX's price tag was only $18 million suggests to me no other serious buyers were out there. Perhaps one or two other parties submitted low-ball offers.
Click to expand...

Cumulus needed WKQX a lot more than other interested parties. And at that price, the deal makes sense. The WLUP deal made more sense to Randy Michaels.
 
There's no way that WKQX billed anywhere near $11.5 million in 2017.

Also, the article fails to mention how much Merlin Media paid for WLUP & WKQX in the first place, not to mention the operating losses incurred as a result of the FM News 101.1 debacle.

Cumulus took a gamble and came up lucky on WKQX. Apparently, no other legitimate bidders were willing to pay more (or they had unacceptable conditions precedent). The fact Hubbard was unwilling to submit a superior offer is stunning. I mean - $18 million should not be a tough price to beat!

WKQX's billing - and in particular, actual cash collections from such billing - must be lousy!
 
Concur, although the fly in the ointment to the possibility of selling 'KQX to another operator (such as Hubbard) may have been Cumulus' previous or existing contractual relationship with Merlin.
 
MarkW said:
Also, the article fails to mention how much Merlin Media paid for WLUP & WKQX in the first place, not to mention the operating losses incurred as a result of the FM News 101.1 debacle.
Click to expand...

My recollection is Merlin paid $100 million.
 
Element9 said:
Concur, although the fly in the ointment to the possibility of selling 'KQX to another operator (such as Hubbard) may have been Cumulus' previous or existing contractual relationship with Merlin.
Click to expand...

Yup...and it's doubtful Hubbard, or anyone else would have wanted to sign a purchase contract and possibly face a lawsuit from Cumulus? Merlin got LMA fees for both WLUP & WKQX from Cumulus, cash from EMF for WLUP, and soon cash from Cumulus for WKQX & WLUP's IP. So how much did Merlin make, or lose from the sale of their Chicago stations?
 
Please don't take this personally, but your argument that a third-party buyer could "face a lawsuit from Cumulus" is nonsense. First of all, if Cumulus had legal recourse against anyone, it would be Merlin Media. A competing buyer would have ZERO fiduciary responsibility to Cumulus. Second of all, if Cumulus were to file such a ridiculous lawsuit against Merlin Media, Merlin would most likely prevail on summary judgment.

Cumulus lost their exclusive right to purchase the station when they breached the terms of their original contract with Merlin.

The new LMA - executed several weeks back - clearly stated that Merlin Media had the right to entertain purchase offers from other parties (and if it deemed appropriate, to actually sell the station to one of those other parties). This is why Merlin was able to sell WLUP to Educational Media Foundation.
 
MarkW said:
Cumulus lost their exclusive right to purchase the station when they breached the terms of their original contract with Merlin.
Click to expand...

Breached or canceled? My recollection was the contract was canceled by the bankruptcy judge.

As you state, Cumulus then entered a new LMA with Merlin.
 
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