Entercom Sells WKSE Tower for $1.5 Million

[Rob Piotrowski]

https://buffalonews.com/2019/03/16/entercom-sells-radio-tower-on-grand-island/

Not to worry, the transmitter's staying put through a lease-back deal.

 

[four4rock]

Interesting that broadcasters are in the real estate biz at all. Sounds like that's changing. Also, seems that holding this specific property has been a struggle in the past (or are all these entities simply name changes?)...

1976 - 1981,,, WHLD, Inc.... 5 years
1981 - 1984... Butler Communications... 3 years
1984 - 1986... Porter Broadcasting... 2 years
1986 - 1994... Empire State Bradcasting... 8 years
1994 - 1995... Keymarket of Buffalo... 1 year
1995 - 1996... River City Broadcasting... 1 year
1996 - 1999... Sinclair Radio... 1 year
1999 - 2019,,, Entercom... 20 years

 

[Element9]

That's a somewhat deceptive list because "WHLD, Inc." may have been a component of the original licensee, Earl C. Hull who first put WHLD AM & FM on the air.

Similarly, Porter Communication may have morphed into Empire State Broadcasting. Porter bought WZIR-FM from Butler, who retained WHLD-AM. Porter changed the call letters to WRXT, instituted an album rock format, but that format faltered and the station went CHR as WKSE "Kiss 98 point 5" which survived a four station CHR battle and endures to this day.

Keymarket was the typical mid to late 90s "small fish being eaten by a larger fish" evolution. Kirby Confer's company bought WBEN and WMJQ (now WTSS), subsequently purchased WKSE and WWKB, then did an LMA with WGR and WWWS, eventually taking ownership of those stations. Keymarket was purchased by River City. River City was purchased by Sinclair (the TV company once had a radio division.) Sinclair sold its radio division around in late 1999-early 2000 to Entercom. Not quite 1 Chronicles 1, but an interesting legacy.

Purely speculative, given Entercom's flaccid stock price of late ($5.83 at closing 3/19), one wonders if the company plans to hold on to its medium market facilities such as Buffalo and Rochester.

 

[TheBigA]

Purely speculative, given Entercom's flaccid stock price of late ($5.83 at closing 3/19), one wonders if the company plans to hold on to its medium market facilities such as Buffalo and Rochester.

Do they make a profit? If they do, then they'd be crazy to sell, especially since any such sale will likely be at a loss.

As for stock price, selling assets isn't going to help. Cutting costs and playing tough with unions might.

For example, GE has been selling off assets, and has it helped its stock price? No. It just hurts the value of the stock.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I don't think that Entercom is looking to sell medium market stations, but once the current round of frying the fish in big markets resolves I expect another round of tightening, lightening, and brightening. They've already restructured sales commissions and I hear that it's brought on a lot of grumbling as people figure out how it really works. They haven't quite gone the iHeart "programmatic buying" route, but they certainly seem to be looking to do "more with less."

Isn't it interesting that companies are still pursuing the "economies of scale" and "synergies" that put both iHeart and Cumulus/Citadel into bankruptcy? Take a look at Alpha Media to see how well that's working out now. Let's hope that Entercom has learned what NOT to do to an industry that depends on local dollars and local audiences.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

Similarly, Porter Communication may have morphed into Empire State Broadcasting. Porter bought WZIR-FM from Butler, who retained WHLD-AM. Porter changed the call letters to WRXT, instituted an album rock format, but that format faltered and the station went CHR as WKSE "Kiss 98 point 5" which survived a four station CHR battle and endures to this day.

WRXT was a pretty wide open album rock station in its day. IIRC, their slogan was "Buffalo's Finest Rock."

 

[TVEngineerArk]

That's a somewhat deceptive list because "WHLD, Inc." may have been a component of the original licensee, Earl C. Hull who first put WHLD AM & FM on the air.

Similarly, Porter Communication may have morphed into Empire State Broadcasting. Porter bought WZIR-FM from Butler, who retained WHLD-AM. Porter changed the call letters to WRXT, instituted an album rock format, but that format faltered and the station went CHR as WKSE "Kiss 98 point 5" which survived a four station CHR battle and endures to this day.
r.

Actually before the branding of the station as Kiss in the spring of '85 it was Hit radio 98 and a half WRXT for a while.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't think that Entercom is looking to sell medium market stations, but once the current round of frying the fish in big markets resolves I expect another round of tightening, lightening, and brightening. They've already restructured sales commissions and I hear that it's brought on a lot of grumbling as people figure out how it really works. They haven't quite gone the iHeart "programmatic buying" route, but they certainly seem to be looking to do "more with less."

Programatic is only a tiny percentage of agency sales in cases where a buy is totally transactional (no value added, no promotions, not activations, just a bunch of spots with no conversation between buyer and seller.). It's barely a factor in markets like Buffalo.

Isn't it interesting that companies are still pursuing the "economies of scale" and "synergies" that put both iHeart and Cumulus/Citadel into bankruptcy? Take a look at Alpha Media to see how well that's working out now. Let's hope that Entercom has learned what NOT to do to an industry that depends on local dollars and local audiences.

"Economies of scale" are not what caused those specific bankruptcies. It was the combination of things like the recession, lack of revenue growth, the introduction of the smartphone.

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Eight years ago Entercom was exploring opportunities to sell off the Staley Road property and move WKSE to Bush Road to co-locate with WBEN (the location of the STA.) Another property they were hoping to unload was a chunk of the 103 acre parcel they own on Big Tree Road in Hamburg, home to the WGR/WWKB plant. About half of that property is not used, but at the time (around 2011) there was no right-of-way access to the southern part of the parcel...and you wouldn't want someone digging up your ground system to put a road in.

 

[Element9]

Do they make a profit? If they do, then they'd be crazy to sell, especially since any such sale will likely be at a loss. As for stock price, selling assets isn't going to help. Cutting costs and playing tough with unions might. For example, GE has been selling off assets, and has it helped its stock price? No. It just hurts the value of the stock.

No arguing that. The low Entercom stock price also gives the wily and wealthy Joe Field (estimated worth more than $60 million) a chance to buy back chunks of stock at a relatively favorable price.

 

[TheBigA]

No arguing that. The low Entercom stock price also gives the wily and wealthy Joe Field (estimated worth more than $60 million) a chance to buy back chunks of stock at a relatively favorable price.

Which is what most companies seem to be doing with their tax refund, much to the surprise of the gov't.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Apparently the lesson learned by companies is that too much leverage is bad. It's tough to make money when you overpay and your potential profit goes to debt service. The other lesson learned over and over is that you can't cut your way to prosperity.

 

[Element9]

Which is what most companies seem to be doing with their tax refund, much to the surprise of the gov't.

"much to the surprise of the gov't" That would be framing the issue... diplomatically.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Somehow, I don't think a company like Saga would do a sale/lease-back of its towers. Reminds me of the chumps yelling "It's my money and I want it NOW!" in the J.G. Wentworth ads. Quick upfront money but they discount the future cash flows.