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ESPN 98.7 FM to be no more come August 31, 2024

It appears that every potential format for 98.7 that has been mentioned in this thread is either already available on other stations, or deemed unviable.
That would seem to only leave religious broadcasters, or the owner of WABC as potential buyers.
 
Barry said:
It appears that every potential format for 98.7 that has been mentioned in this thread is either already available on other stations, or deemed unviable.
That would seem to only leave religious broadcasters, or the owner of WABC as potential buyers.
Click to expand...
No one has brought up a 24-7 dance format?!
 
Why are we predicting a new format now when the potential change won’t occur for another year? Who knows what market conditions or trends will be by then? Seems like a waste of time to discuss this now.
 
Barry said:
It appears that every potential format for 98.7 that has been mentioned in this thread is either already available on other stations, or deemed unviable.
That would seem to only leave religious broadcasters, or the owner of WABC as potential buyers.
Click to expand...

I think the point is that most niche formats are small niches and aren't currently being done for a reason. We tend to have this feeling that radio should serve everyone, and everyone should be able to find their favorite genre on the dial. That's just not how business works, though.

None of us know what will happen with 98.7 (as RMarino mentions, if anything happens, it will be at least a year away), but, if I were guessing, it will switch to a format already available in the market that is already known to work and would likely be viable with a smaller share. Either that or a company like SBS will buy it and will try to fill another Spanish-dominant hole in the market. I don't know enough about that segment of the market to know if that would be viable, but Raul Alarcon almost certainly does.

I'm also not entirely convinced that Good Karma won't eventually turn out to be the buyer. While it says it's not interested and Emmis says talks of a sale didn't go well, I could see both sides coming back to the table if Emmis can't get the top dollar price it wants. 98.7 might look a lot more appealing to Good Karma if it can get it for substantially less than $50 million.
 
Karmazin would not detail the financials of the decisions, but he said that Good Karma data shows that 60 percent of ESPN New York’s listenership is outside of radio and, of the 40 percent who rely on the radio, eight out of 10 are expected to find the station on AM.

nypost.com

ESPN New York ditching 98.7 FM signal in $12.5 million decision

The New York sports radio wars as we know it will end a little less than a year from now.
nypost.com nypost.com
 
Kent said:
I'm also not entirely convinced that Good Karma won't eventually turn out to be the buyer.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea. The basis for this entire thread was an article that says the negotiations didn't go well. When you look at the deal Good Karma made with Disney for three AM stations (WEPN NY, WMVP Chicago, KESPN LA), you get an idea what kind of deal they would want.

radioinsight.com

More Details On Good Karma’s ESPN New York, Los Angeles & Chicago Purchase - RadioInsight

Craig Karmazin's Good Karma Brands will acquire ESPN's local radio properties in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Update 12/20: The deal has been filed with the FCC showing that Good Karma Brands will pay $15 million for 1050 WEPN New York, 710 KSPN Los Angeles, and 1000 WMVP Chicago. Good...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

They paid $15 million for three AMs, paying Disney $500K a year. That's very different from $50 million. I imagine the $12 million LMA they have now is losing money.
 
Kent said:
Either that or a company like SBS will buy it and will try to fill another Spanish-dominant hole in the market. I don't know enough about that segment of the market to know if that would be viable, but Raul Alarcon almost certainly does.
Click to expand...
In that case, my guess might be a pure reggaeton format, much like their sisters WODA in Puerto Rico, WRMA in Miami, and possibly the model to follow in NYC considering the population, Turbo 98 in the DR.
 
Good Karma may be indicating it was a mistake to lease the FM in the first place, when they already owned a sports AM station. They've apparently realized that the small gain in listeners from being on FM may not have been worth the high leasing cost, let alone buying the station, even for substantially less than the 50 million dollar asking price.
 
Identnut said:
In that case, my guess might be a pure reggaeton format, much like their sisters WODA in Puerto Rico, WRMA in Miami, and possibly the model to follow in NYC considering the population, Turbo 98 in the DR.
Click to expand...
They would either do that or a Regional Mexican format to move WPAT more towards Spanish CHR.
 
Barry said:
Good Karma may be indicating it was a mistake to lease the FM in the first place, when they already owned a sports AM station. They've apparently realized that the small gain in listeners from being on FM may not have been worth the high leasing cost, let alone buying the station, even for substantially less than the 50 million dollar asking price.
Click to expand...
It’s not like 98.7 was ever beating WFAN AM/FM with regularity. Michael Kay has been the lone show to consistently come close and incidentally has a TV simulcast via YES.
 
crainbebo said:
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?
Click to expand...
EMF has enough cash in the bank to buy 98.7 and put Air 1 there...If you were asking about 96.7 reception, EMF might put K-Love Classics on there. <Correct me on this.
 
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