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SBS Buys KROI for $7.5 million

lanceventa said:
Don't expect either of them to swoop in...
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I don’t see why not. An EMF purchase of KROI, in a simulcast with KLVH, would give K-Love awesome coverage of southeast Texas and the upper Texas Gulf coast. And there is not much overlap between the 60dBu contours of 92.1 and 97.1.

VCY is now in DFW and has a few other Texas markets. Why wouldn’t they want Houston?
lanceventa said:
The latest I've heard is that local Radio One Houston people do not expect the sale to close
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Thus the disappearance of the “We’re moving!” promos. Still branding as “102.1 HD-2”.

If not EMF or VCY, who might buy KROI? KHCB for its Spanish language service is always a possibility. But we are always being told that iHeart, Audacy, Univision etc. aren’t buying anything these days. Who will KROI wind up with? Is this one of those trust situations that drags on for years?
 
Mediafrog+ said:
I don’t see why not. An EMF purchase of KROI, in a simulcast with KLVH, would give K-Love awesome coverage of southeast Texas and the upper Texas Gulf coast. And there is not much overlap between the 60dBu contours of 92.1 and 97.1.
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It also complements 105.3 really well
 
Mediafrog+ said:
I don’t see why not. An EMF purchase of KROI, in a simulcast with KLVH, would give K-Love awesome coverage of southeast Texas and the upper Texas Gulf coast. And there is not much overlap between the 60dBu contours of 92.1 and 97.1.

VCY is now in DFW and has a few other Texas markets. Why wouldn’t they want Houston?
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97.1 hits enough of the core audience for EMF. The $7.1 million that SBS is supposed to pay for 92.1 could easily go towards getting stations in multiple other markets. The lawyers that have taken over EMF's upper management have curtailed the amount of spending the company is doing on acquisitions. There have been multiple deals that we shut down at the highest levels of the company this year. The audience for Christian in Houston is in the northern suburbs.

VCY is looking for bargains. They would want Houston, but not at the $7 million plus price. If Radio One is desperate and the price comes down a bit, they'll definitely be there. But as parent Urban One's stock has now lost half of its value from closing yesterday after the rejection of their casino project in Richmond VA, they are going to need to maximize all of their assets.
 
lanceventa said:
97.1 hits enough of the core audience for EMF. The $7.1 million that SBS is supposed to pay for 92.1 could easily go towards getting stations in multiple other markets. The lawyers that have taken over EMF's upper management have curtailed the amount of spending the company is doing on acquisitions. There have been multiple deals that we shut down at the highest levels of the company this year. The audience for Christian in Houston is in the northern suburbs.
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Agree about the northern suburbs, but there are also heavily Evangelical areas where the KROI signal is solid. But you are likely correct that EMF is satisfied with KLVH.
lanceventa said:
VCY is looking for bargains. They would want Houston, but not at the $7 million plus price. If Radio One is desperate and the price comes down a bit, they'll definitely be there.
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Thought crossed my mind that VCY might wait for an eastern rimshot stick to become available, in order to also cover B/PA. KQBU would fit that bill if Univision decides to unload it.

In any case, RO is probably going to take a further haircut on the KROI sale price if the SBS deal fails. Wonder if there is anyone who would be interested in LMAing 92.1? Launch a new format, or simulcast an existing one, see if it gets any traction, and if so, complete a purchase.
lanceventa said:
But as parent Urban One's stock has now lost half of its value from closing yesterday after the rejection of their casino project in Richmond VA, they are going to need to maximize all of their assets.
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The weird thing with KROI is that it is still essentially operating as a sixth RO signal in the market. They promote RO events, and even solicit sales for the group. The programming is also on KMJQ HD-2. They are pretty much dancing on the edge of the spirit of market cap rules. I figured the FCC was looking the other way as the trust is supposedly a temporary situation, but more eyebrow raising if this drags on.

Edit to add: More about that casino defeat. Article was not paywalled for me: Urban One Shares Slide As Voters Deliver a Big Casino ‘No’ | Radio & Television Business Report
 
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radioislife2020 said:
yeah but that was not urban one that was a guy covering for someone else they took him off the air and Alfred apologized.
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Read the story. There were additional comments made by Cathy Hughes. The other guy was hired by the company to help promote the casino with his show.
 
I’m guessing 92.1 would be too expensive for one of the smaller religious broadcasters - Family Life Radio (who recently bought a full market, powerful Detroit signal) or BBN (although they haven’t expanded at a very fast rate in recent years like EMF and even VCY). I’m not aware of each company’s ability to spend but it would seem to me it’d be hard for another interested religious broadcaster to outbid VCY.

I’ve read several other comments about EMF slowing down the expansion. I would assume the recent Houston and Greenville/Spartanburg acquisitions were strategic exceptions, those were some pretty big additions (for K-LOVE) just a week or so apart.
 
radioislife2020 said:
yeah but that was not urban one that was a guy covering for someone else they took him off the air and Alfred apologized.
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You're giving Mr. Tejano a run for his money here 🤦🏻‍♂️.


THE FOUNDER OF URBAN ONE literally called the Black residents of Richmond House "n-words" and Field "n-words". That's absolutely disgusting and appalling! What's worse is that NO ONE has apologized for it. Urban One apologized for the antisemitism, but not for racially degrading and trying to bully African Americans based on their political/social views.
 
101tm said:
I’m guessing 92.1 would be too expensive for one of the smaller religious broadcasters - Family Life Radio (who recently bought a full market, powerful Detroit signal) or BBN (although they haven’t expanded at a very fast rate in recent years like EMF and even VCY). I’m not aware of each company’s ability to spend but it would seem to me it’d be hard for another interested religious broadcaster to outbid VCY.
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It would seem VCY would be the most likely candidate if EMF is indeed hitting the brakes on expansion. I still don’t see why VCY would pass over Houston after having entered DFW recently. Not what I want to happen, but that’s the state of the radio industry these days. I would love to be surprised by a dark horse entry, but not holding my breath. We’ll see how desperate Radio One and the trust are to get KROI off their hands.

Wonder how low the price would have to fall before KHCB made a bid. Solid new home for their Spanish language service, and they could cancel plans for the 89.7 translator as well as selling off 1400 and its 101.5 translator.

I’ll say it yet again: Michael Stude was a genius. Amazing to think he got $72.5M for 92.1 almost 20 years ago. Perfectly timed.

Curious if SBS ever formulated any format plans for 92.1 or hired any staff for its Houston operation.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Curious if SBS ever formulated any format plans for 92.1 or hired any staff for its Houston operation.
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Of course they did... it would parallel either the CHR format in LA or the Regional formats in LA, Chicago and San Francisco.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Of course they did... it would parallel either the CHR format in LA or the Regional formats in LA, Chicago and San Francisco.
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Well, yes, we are aware of the various SBS format brands (two of which can’t be used in Houston under their current names, and a third may also have a conflict) but was curious if planning might have been far enough along for a format tweaked for our specific Hispanic demographics and music preferences.

Meanwhile, how is studio space being handled? Radio One took over the former Cox facilities for their local operations, while SBS was supposed to get the former RO space. If the SBS deal fizzles, is RO stuck with paying rent on two locations?
 


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