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WEPN 98.7 To Be Sold Next Year?

B

Barry

An article in InsideRadio states that the arrangement to lease the station to Good Karma for broadcasting ESPN Radio ends about a year from now. CEO Jeff Smulyan says he intends for Emmis to leave the radio business, and will put up WEPN for sale, along with WLIB 1190 AM.
As ESPN has made recent cuts to its radio programming, it wouldn’t be surprising if they also leave radio. Any guesses who may be interested in buying WEPN FM? Perhaps EMF to broadcast Air1?
I believe it would be the first major local FM frequency to be sold since WPLJ.

Emmis Article
 
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TheBigA said:
I would imagine with the deal Good Karma just signed as ad sales rep for ESPN Radio, the need for an NYC station is important.

radioink.com

Good Karma Brands Takes On All ESPN Audio Sales From Disney - Radio Ink

Good Karma Brands, led by CEO Craig Karmazin, is taking on an expanded role in sports radio operations, via an agreement with ESPN Audio.
radioink.com radioink.com
Click to expand...
Plus Craig Karamzin has a history of lining up investors for his business deals, both broadcast and non-broadcast. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Knicks and Rangers are involved with Good Karma in any bid for 98.7 (especially if Smulyan is going to do the “highest bidder” deal, which would take EMF out of the running right away).
 
I would be very surprised if anyone other than Good Karma or a company affiliated therewith were the buyer.
 
MarkW said:
I would be very surprised if anyone other than Good Karma or a company affiliated therewith were the buyer.
Click to expand...
There might be a dark horse candidate with a lot of cash to burn that we don’t know about, or maybe not. But its not practical to just assume GKB is a fait accompli for 98.7.
 
Nathan Obral said:
There might be a dark horse candidate with a lot of cash to burn that we don’t know about, or maybe not. But its not practical to just assume GKB is a fait accompli for 98.7.
Click to expand...
Agree, Good Karma is the most likely buyer, unless Emmis asking price is so unreasonable that it just does not make sense for GK to buy. Not having an FM in Market #1 would be a big hit to them for national sales.
 
Barry said:
An article in InsideRadio states that the arrangement to lease the station to Good Karma for broadcasting ESPN Radio ends about a year from now. CEO Jeff Smulyan says he intends for Emmis to leave the radio business, and will put up WEPN for sale, along with WLIB 1190 AM.
As ESPN has made recent cuts to its radio programming, it wouldn’t be surprising if they also leave radio. Any guesses who may be interested in buying WEPN FM? Perhaps EMF to broadcast Air1?
I believe it would be the first major local FM frequency to be sold since WPLJ.

Emmis Article
Click to expand...
I believe Good Karma brands might jump at a chance and buy the radio station.
 
Barry said:
An article in InsideRadio states that the arrangement to lease the station to Good Karma for broadcasting ESPN Radio ends about a year from now. CEO Jeff Smulyan says he intends for Emmis to leave the radio business, and will put up WEPN for sale, along with WLIB 1190 AM.
As ESPN has made recent cuts to its radio programming, it wouldn’t be surprising if they also leave radio. Any guesses who may be interested in buying WEPN FM? Perhaps EMF to broadcast Air1?
I believe it would be the first major local FM frequency to be sold since WPLJ.

Emmis Article
Click to expand...
I was hoping Summit Media would come back to New York City, buy the station and re-launch 98.7 Kiss FM...<But that is just an illusion.
 
As the consensus here is that Good Karma is the likely buyer of WEPN 98.7, I wonder why they have been content to lease it for several years, rather than purchasing it by now.
 
ESPN Radio is a well-built, consistently sellable brand. If you’ve kept up with Emma’s, you know they’re about 99.99% out of radio already. They sold WEPN-AM to Good Karma Brands 2 years ago. They still own WEPN-FM, but only do a couple of local shows. Good Karma already provides 60% of the programming and 100% of the ad sales for WEPN-FM, and pays Emmis a flat fee for that, from which Emmis pays Studio rent, licenses, utilities and transmitter maintenance. Logically Good Karma is in line to buy WEPN-FM.

That leaves WLIB 1190-AM to sell. Ideally, I-Heart should buy it, take it dark and return WOWO in Ft. Wayne to a full 59kW night signal.

At least that’s what I think.
 
BJSteigner said:
I was hoping Summit Media would come back to New York City, buy the station and re-launch 98.7 Kiss FM...<But that is just an illusion.
Click to expand...
Summit has never been in New York City. They specialize in markets 50 to 100 that are not PPM markets.
 
Radio guy said:
ESPN Radio is a well-built, consistently sellable brand. If you’ve kept up with Emma’s, you know they’re about 99.99% out of radio already. They sold WEPN-AM to Good Karma Brands 2 years ago. They still own WEPN-FM, but only do a couple of local shows. Good Karma already provides 60% of the programming and 100% of the ad sales for WEPN-FM, and pays Emmis a flat fee for that, from which Emmis pays Studio rent, licenses, utilities and transmitter maintenance. Logically Good Karma is in line to buy WEPN-FM.
Click to expand...
In the Emmis financials, it apears that WEPN-FM is a total LMA from Emmis to Karmazin.
 
Radio guy said:
Read the skinny on Federated Media. They have been an IHeart affiliate company since 2012.
Click to expand...
The "skinny" shows that iHeart's streaming division carries the Federated stations. There is no cross-ownership.

New York, NY – August 6, 2012 – Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, the leading media company in America, today announced that 17 Federated Media radio stations are now available on iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s industry-leading digital radio platform.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The "skinny" shows that iHeart's streaming division carries the Federated stations. There is no cross-ownership.

New York, NY – August 6, 2012 – Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, the leading media company in America, today announced that 17 Federated Media radio stations are now available on iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s industry-leading digital radio platform.
Click to expand...
And even if Federated were owned by iHeart, what possible up side would there be in returning WOWO to 50,000 watts, other than to listeners far from Fort Wayne who would never patronize a single local business advertised on the station?
 
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