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Sinclair selling KOMO, KVI & KPLZ

Wow... That is a bit of a surprise. Judging by the fact that Sinclair doesn't have the best reputation in the broadcast journalism industry, this is probably positive news for KOMO. To be honest, I've always felt that the quality of KOMO news has always been strong, and hasn't been impacted by the infamous Sinclair influence. Does anyone know how KOMO news has performed in local ratings against some of the other stations in Seattle?
 
If true it will be interesting to see who steps up. Many of the major groups are already in the market and capped-out, or close to being so. I don't expect this group to exactly fly off the shelf.
Could be an opportunity for another group like Beasley to enter the market, or one of the existing to shed some under-performing AM's to an independent who doesn't know better, and pick up (marginally) stronger AM's with KOMO and KVI. With two out of three being AM stations, (one connected to a rimshot FM signal), KPLZ is the one asset that will draw the most attention. Either way, accumulating more debt to purchase AM stations with rimshot FM's these days is a bad bet.
 
Sources say the KOMO branding is not part of the deal so expect changes there.
They also say to expect Star to flip to a Spanish format.
And they will be leaving KOMO Plaza.
 
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DN14224 said:
Sources say the KOMO branding is not part of the deal so expect changes there.
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Makes sense.
DN14224 said:
They also say to expect Star to flip to a Spanish format.
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Could very well be. If you look at Lotus' existing stable of FM's there's only two formats: Rock or Espanol
DN14224 said:
And they will be leaving KOMO Plaza.
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Makes sense too. Anymore, they don't need all that expensive office and studio space. They could run KPLZ out of their LA operation.
May need some studio and newsroom space for KOMO, assuming they keep it all news.
It would surprise me if they keep KVI as talk.
The owners of the Plaza can convert that space on the third floor to more profitable data center or high end commercial office space.
 
Interesting this this deal only includes the radio assets. With the KOMO branding out of the deal, I would assume that 1000 is sure to see a format change soon. UNLESS, they want to keep a news format without KOMO, of course.
 
fordranger797 said:
Interesting this this deal only includes the radio assets. With the KOMO branding out of the deal, I would assume that 1000 is sure to see a format change soon. UNLESS, they want to keep a news format without KOMO, of course.
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It may be hard to do the kind of news format they do without some kind of deal with TV. The website is a sub-directory of the TV site, so obviously that will change. However, there's no question the format has attracted a big audience, and so Lotus will want to try to keep it somehow. The sale price seems low, but that reflects the lack of real estate and resources.
 
TheBigA said:
It may be hard to do the kind of news format they do without some kind of deal with TV. The website is a sub-directory of the TV site, so obviously that will change. However, there's no question the format has attracted a big audience, and so Lotus will want to try to keep it somehow. The sale price seems low, but that reflects the lack of real estate and resources.
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That makes sense. I'm actually surprised that Sinclair didn't keep at least one radio asset to have control over the news format. Even though it's not cheap, at least they already have the tools to run it with the TV newsroom.
 
fordranger797 said:
That makes sense. I'm actually surprised that Sinclair didn't keep at least one radio asset to have control over the news format. Even though it's not cheap, at least they already have the tools to run it with the TV newsroom.
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They have their previously announced ATSC channel, so it may go there.
 
I'm not buying KPLZ going Spanish, as Lotus also runs AC in Tucson, and they don't run any Spanish in Boise. I could see them taking 97.7 out of the simulcast and flipping that to Spanish, but that seems like an extremely crowded field to go after.
 
fordranger797 said:
That makes sense. I'm actually surprised that Sinclair didn't keep at least one radio asset to have control over the news format. Even though it's not cheap, at least they already have the tools to run it with the TV newsroom.
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I suspect that the news format without the TV synergy and cost sharing is in danger.

Lotus is not a high-budget company, and they have succeeded by careful cost control while maintaining localization of many of the formats. Howard Kalmenson is a true radio person, having bought his first station in the 60's. He's amazingly bright and perceptive and sees opportunities where others do not.
 
bobdavcav said:
I'm not buying KPLZ going Spanish, as Lotus also runs AC in Tucson, and they don't run any Spanish in Boise. I could see them taking 97.7 out of the simulcast and flipping that to Spanish, but that seems like an extremely crowded field to go after.
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Lotus's Spanish language stations in LA are all AM, and are both successful. They also have a really profitable Farsi station on what is a dreadful facility. They optimize performance by using format strategies that match the signal potential and which are not likely to be "jumped" by a better signal.
 
Spanish programming on 101.5 would definitely be a game changer in the Seattle market, as this would be the first full market FM signal with programming that is not in English. I wonder what that means for other other Spanish signals in the area that have traditionally been stuck on rimshot signals.
 
fordranger797 said:
Spanish programming on 101.5 would definitely be a game changer in the Seattle market, as this would be the first full market FM signal with programming that is not in English. I wonder what that means for other other Spanish signals in the area that have traditionally been stuck on rimshot signals.
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Generally, when a good operator like Lotus gets a good full signal, the Class A's and rimshots just die. If there is enough Spanish language business in the market, those bottom feeders can find enough revenue to be successful, but that generally happens when the market is upwards of a third Hispanic, not a market like Seattle.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Generally, when a good operator like Lotus gets a good full signal, the Class A's and rimshots just die. If there is enough Spanish language business in the market, those bottom feeders can find enough revenue to be successful, but that generally happens when the market is upwards of a third Hispanic, not a market like Seattle.
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I had a similar thought. I think that KDDS and KZTM would still be viable, but that would probably be an automatic "game over" for some of these smaller AM properties.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Generally, when a good operator like Lotus gets a good full signal, the Class A's and rimshots just die. If there is enough Spanish language business in the market, those bottom feeders can find enough revenue to be successful, but that generally happens when the market is upwards of a third Hispanic, not a market like Seattle.
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KPLZ is a C0, so coverage-wise, that's a big win. There are already too many Rock-formatted stations in an already saturated radio market. I have to believe they would make that station Espanol, because going Rock or AC will be a tough road to hoe.
 
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