There is no way Salem is even going to consider a ~20 million dollar purchase to put CCM on in NYC. Or WMCA for that matter.
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ESPN 98.7 FM to be no more come August 31, 2024
- Thread starter NYAZSporty
- Start date
They’re having to sell off their Greenville-Spartanburg stations. If they need the cash from
a market that size, they certainly don’t for 98.7.
The other option is ethnic, probably. What's the trend lately? It's either religious operators or (sometimes) ethnic operators buying out these FMs.
But I bet there's a way EMF gets the $50 mil. (my mistake!) for 98.7 and puts Air 1 on if anything else to complement 95.5 K-LOVE. The next fundraiser will ask for "500 people at $1,000 a month!" ad nauseam until they get that cool $50M...and voila! "Air 1, Worship Now" on 98.7 mHz in NY/NJ on September 1st of 2024.
Anyone enticed by the $3,000 gas cards you might win for donating?
But I bet there's a way EMF gets the $50 mil. (my mistake!) for 98.7 and puts Air 1 on if anything else to complement 95.5 K-LOVE. The next fundraiser will ask for "500 people at $1,000 a month!" ad nauseam until they get that cool $50M...and voila! "Air 1, Worship Now" on 98.7 mHz in NY/NJ on September 1st of 2024.
Anyone enticed by the $3,000 gas cards you might win for donating?
Where are you getting that $20 million figure? Emmis says the price is $50 million.
VCY already has 103.9. Not happening.
I completely forgot about that sorry
This guy's offered to loan me the $50 million dollars if everyone will send him any unused Monopoly bucks they have laying around:
One guy who seems to be able to get his hands on money is this guy:
radioinsight.com
He may be close to the limit with his stations on Long Island, but he seems very persistent.
Report: Jeff Warshaw Led Group Makes Offer To Acquire Cumulus Media For $1.2 Billion - RadioInsight
Reuters is reporting that a consortium led by Connoisseur Media head Jeff Warshaw has made a $1.2 billion offer to acquire Cumulus Media. The report states that Warshaw told Cumulus he'd be willing to take the company private for between $15 to $17 per share and potentially more subject to due...
radioinsight.com
He may be close to the limit with his stations on Long Island, but he seems very persistent.
Hard to imagine someone like that would be interested in picking up a single station in the city, though. Out of all the scenarios, that one doesn't make much sense. I see it going to one of the clusters mentioned earlier (including potentially Cats), or another religious operator, ugh.
I know everyone here thinks Audacy has no money to buy it but being billions in debt hasn't stopped other conglomerates from buying stations in the past. If they do it for the signal upgrade and spin off 94.7, their net cost wouldn't be $50M. They could even work out a 3-way deal with someone else. It wouldn't be the first time for that frequency.
Another operator who could be interested for the sake of a signal upgrade is NY Public Radio, to put WQXR on it. I don't know if that's a priority for them but seems worth mentioning. Also, they are not at the market cap so who knows, they could even add a station for another noncommercial music format like a NY-centric AAA variant.
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Yeah, this is what I was gonna say. Instead of competing with WBLS, instead compete with WQHT and WPWR. After all, it's not like WXBK would be starting from scratch as they have a decent amount of listeners in the market. At least enough to keep themselves above the two 107.1s, WADO and more.
With the exception of John Catsimatidis, who would likely desire the signal as a plaything and political mouthpiece via a 77WABC simulcast, there’s no one or no group who would do such a thing. Simple as that.
It would be very difficult for an ethnic operator to afford $50 million. Or probably even $20 million.
Keep in mind, on a 10 year loan at 6.5% interest, $50M becomes $567,000 a month in debt service (and in today's environment, 6.5% interest is probably too low). So to make this work, you must have either serious wealth or significant cash flow from an existing business.
To put that into perspective, the top revenue stations in New York (e.g. Z100 or WFAN) bill between $2.5 and $3 million a month. So the debt service is not a trifle.
Normally ethnic radio stations, such as those run by Multicultral in NYC, operate on pretty slim margins.
Doesn't WFUV already have a AAA format? How many AAA stations does a hardwired-for-rhythmic city need?
They too have had budget deficits and staff layoffs.
New York Public Radio lays off 14 staffers, including newsroom leaders
"We cannot achieve our goals and meet our commitments while shouldering a fourth year of losses,” said CEO Goli Sheikholeslami.
current.org
Probably no more than one. It's just an observation that NY Public Radio has room to grow. Not that I expect them to pick up this station but who knows?
In case anyone hadn't noticed, radio companies lay off staff and complain of budget deficits all the time but then you see them buying more stations anyway. Remember, in 2010 Clear Channel RIF'ed tons of employees and announced that it was facing the possibility of bankruptcy due to its "crippling debt" but then in the same breath it bought WOR, an acquisition that was finalized in 2012. Then as iHeart in 2020, still nearly $6B in debt after emerging from bankruptcy, it bought WWRL.
I think they view radio as the Good Karma people do, and their areas for growth are not in broadcast radio.
But they had a specific budget for BIN at the time that fed that. On the public radio side, I'm not aware of a company that spent money buying a station for the AAA format. Houston bought one for classical, and then had to sell it because they couldn't pay off the debt.
I'm not a media broker, but it seems very doubtful they will get anything close to 50 million for 98.7.
Emmis sold Hot and WBLS for $96.5 million to MediaCo in 2020. Those are two very prominent and established brands with solid positions in the market and strong cashflow.
98.7 is an equivalent signal, technically, but will be just a "stick" with no cashflow or established brand/position. Further, the pool of potential buyers is likely smaller than it has been in years past, since so many of the large radio groups have challenging balance sheets.
If I had to wager a guess, the price will end up being in the 30-35 range.
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