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WABC Sold?
- Thread starter mets18
- Start date
No, they are not in deep trouble. Cumulus emerged from bankruptcy with far less debt and a station group that is profitable and able to carry the new debt. With the sale of inefficient clusters, they can pay down more debt and will eventually be much more profitable.
Just because they pay down debt doesnt mean they will be more profitable if they sold most of theyre popular stations and content.
The stations they are selling are not the most probable, as they are stand-alones and very small clusters.
Where on earth do you get the notion they're among the most popular? And, yeah, paying off debt helps a company's overall bottom line. Seriously.
Also, their.
I think he may be incorrectly assuming that what he personally likes is popular, and not really taking the time to understand the business side of broadcasting.
And thinking that any business that voluntarily leaves New York City is automatically a failure. To paraphrase Sinatra, it hasn't made it there.
Lots of big radio companies don't have radio stations in NYC: Bonneville, Hubbard, Beasley, Cox, and Townsquare. Some operate in nearby NJ or LI, but not with stations in Manhattan.
Anyone who tunes in between Friday night and Monday morning, for example.
The challenge for the new owner is finding something else that can replace the revenue they make on the weekends.
Looking at similar (low rated AM talk) stations around the country, the options aren't good.
You know that's not exactly a ton of people? And that it's hardly unique among stations in the format?
I didnt say that i said WABC was a popular station and westwood one.
WABC has been much less than a "popular" station for many years.
This is why this sell is so interesting on many levels, BigA. What would the going rate be on WABC for time on this station? I have my idea on what "direction" they will steer this station on the weekend.
What's difficult to quantify is the long-term impact of not having 24/7 consistency.
At first a few infomercials are placed in "dead" times on weekends and overnight. A few listeners drop off but the revenue far outweighs the loss.
Then gradually more infomercials are added to the point where the station is essentially listenable 22/5. The listeners whose dials were glued to their "favorite station" are no longer there on Monday morning because the glue has been removed. Not to mention that good weekend programing promotes the station as a whole. It's advertising you don't pay for directly although you do give up the infomercial revenue. Advertising isn't cheap so at what point is the paid programming a better deal? At what point does the frog in boiling water begin to die?
At first a few infomercials are placed in "dead" times on weekends and overnight. A few listeners drop off but the revenue far outweighs the loss.
Then gradually more infomercials are added to the point where the station is essentially listenable 22/5. The listeners whose dials were glued to their "favorite station" are no longer there on Monday morning because the glue has been removed. Not to mention that good weekend programing promotes the station as a whole. It's advertising you don't pay for directly although you do give up the infomercial revenue. Advertising isn't cheap so at what point is the paid programming a better deal? At what point does the frog in boiling water begin to die?
It depends on if they listen to the station or a particular host. For music stations, the format is the attraction. But there is no generic talk. It's specific to the particular hosts. So even though the listeners may tune out on weekends, if they're loyal to a host, they will return for that host. If they're not tuning in for the host, then you have a problem.
That's true, but even a popular host will do better with a strong lead-in. WABC once had a roster of popular local hosts, even on the weekends, so in a sense the format was the attraction. Entertaining hand-offs and other interaction between the hosts helped strengthen the cohesiveness of the format.
Perhaps the "NEW" WABC can assemble a lineup of hosts to again make the station itself a destination. That might mean, for example, taking a chance on some promising podcasters on the weekends. Will it happen? I have my doubts but we'll see.
The question is how much money does the new owner want to lose. Because those infomercials were basically subsidizing the rest of the week. If you give them up, the alternative is having your weekday hosts becoming more aggressive in sponsorship opportunities. You have to make money somewhere. New ownership won't change the fact that the big ad agencies aren't interested in talk radio.
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