Good Karma To Lease 880; WCBS News Programming To End

[K.M. Richards]

No I was talking about news reports, I don’t think anyone reported at least from what I saw that the Mets/Audacy broadcast deal ends after the 2025 season, many of these deals can be in the 4-8+ year range.

As has been pointed out, there is no requirement to make those terms public if Audacy chooses not to. And contracts to carry sporting events are renegotiated all the time, so that's not really news.

 

[K.M. Richards]

They most likely got some kind of Court OK. This is not a business as usual transaction. The fact they are in bankruptcy can give them leverage with the Union.

Since it does not involve the actual sale of the station and its license (an asset transfer) even under Chapter 11 no court approval would be required.

And yes, in this industry a LMA is considered business as usual.

 

[Kent]

Is it really aging? Or has news always attracted an older audience?

If the station always had an audience of geezers, it wouldn't have outbilled its ratings share by roughly 2:1 for decades on end.

I don't think young people ever listened to news radio much, whether it was in the 80s, 90s or today. People get more interested in news the older they get, so it stands to reason the format attracts 50 year-olds and then as they get older they are replaced by more 50 year-olds, and that's always been the case. The demographics would remain constant if that's true. If you can show evidence to the contrary though, I'd love to see it.

I'm sure the audience at WCBS has been 35+ for a long time. That's a lot easier to sell than 50+ and 55+, which is what it mostly has now. The other problem is that, being on AM, the 50 year old replacing 50 year olds are fewer than they have been in the past. I turn 50 in January, and AM has been an afterthought to most everyone my age since we've been able to select the station. I can remember my parents listening to music and news on AM, but those stations weren't targeting me by the time I turned 18.

I believe this was an opportunistic move by bankrupt Audacy to lease the signal to a tenant and put less effort into doing the work themselves. I also think it may end up being a short-term tenant if the business model doesn't work out the way GKB thinks it will. But does bankrupt Audacy care what happens 3 years down the road? Will anyone currently at the company even still be around by then? Given their situation why should any of them care the slightest bit about the quality or heritage of the portfolio they oversee?

Audacy didn't walk away from a cash cow to cut costs. Companies don't generally do that. It got a deal that allowed it to keep the bulk of its revenue and get compensated at what it thought was a good rate for the time it's leasing out. I suspect the station could've ambled on profitably for a few more years if Audacy had so desired. I also suspect Audacy thinks the lost revenue will be made up by better numbers at WINS. There is, of course, no guarantee that will happen. Every business move has potential risk. If it turns out something doesn't work as expected, it wouldn't be the first time Audacy would have made a bad business decision. As I'm sure you've noticed, it has made a few of those over the last seven or eight years.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York returned from vacation today (Monday) and made their first statements on the move to 880 next week.

In his comments, Michael Kay mentioned that they will still be on 98.7 even after the official switch. Either he dropped a dime, or even he's not sure what the plan is.

Fast-forward to the 30-minute mark.

The Michael Kay Show - WEPN-FM - Aug, 19, 2024 (3:00 PM hour)

 

[MarkW]

They most likely got some kind of Court OK. This is not a business as usual transaction. The fact they are in bankruptcy can give them leverage with the Union.

I am sure the lenders / bond holders are watching every move. If this was not a cash positive deal (at least on paper) the debt holders would be filing claiming the "unnecessary destruction" of an asset, the "WCBS 880 brand". Asset protection for the lenders is a duty of the court.

An LMA where existing ownership is retained is most likely viewed as an ordinary course of business dealing by the court.

 

[MarkW]

Since it does not involve the actual sale of the station and its license (an asset transfer) even under Chapter 11 no court approval would be required.

And yes, in this industry a LMA is considered business as usual.

I agree completely, K.M.

First day orders in debtor-in-possesion Chapter 11 cases indeed allow the debtor to conduct ordinary course business activities with no further court approval necessary. Entry into an LMA as lessor / licensor where no asset transfer is occurring almost certainly qualifies as "ordinary course," as you stated.

 

[KMan]

As has been pointed out, there is no requirement to make those terms public if Audacy chooses not to. And contracts to carry sporting events are renegotiated all the time, so that's not really news.

At the time it was signed, it was reporting to be a 7 year deal (so ends after the 2025 season).

New York Mets Broadcasts Move To WCBS Next Season.

The New York Mets are changing radio partners next season as Entercom “NewsRadio 880” WCBS becomes the new flagship radio station of the MLB team under a new seven-year agreement.

www.insideradio.com

There was a renegotiation MLB wide a few years ago that allowed the games to be streamed by the rights holder (and not part of a standalone MLB package), but no public news on if an extension was part of that.

 

[NYRadioFan22]

The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York returned from vacation today (Monday) and made their first statements on the move to 880 next week.

In his comments, Michael Kay mentioned that they will still be on 98.7 even after the official switch. Either he dropped a dime, or even he's not sure what the plan is.

Fast-forward to the 30-minute mark.

The Michael Kay Show - WEPN-FM - Aug, 19, 2024 (3:00 PM hour)

Maybe that means the 98.7 switch is still on the 31st?

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Maybe that means the 98.7 switch is still on the 31st?

Well, the lease with Emmis runs until then. It would make sense.

 

[NYRadioFan22]

Well, the lease with Emmis runs until then. It would make sense.

Yeah with the 880 news, now I feel like we got the 2 dates confused

 

[davideduardo]

Is it really aging? Or has news always attracted an older audience?

The format used to have a median age of about 45, and did OK in 35-44 and very well in 45-54. Now the 25-44 is mostly gone except for "forced listening" and the 35-54 won't push such stations over 15th to 20th at best in 25-54.

I don't think young people ever listened to news radio much, whether it was in the 80s, 90s or today.

Before the Internet, lots of younger people did use all news... partly for information and also for weather and traffic.

People get more interested in news the older they get, so it stands to reason the format attracts 50 year-olds and then as they get older they are replaced by more 50 year-olds, and that's always been the case. The demographics would remain constant if that's true. If you can show evidence to the contrary though, I'd love to see it.

Look at the rankers in ARB / Arbitron back in the 70's and you can see it all over... NY, Chicago, Philadelphia, LA, SF and others. That is why NBC did its all-news network syndication in the later 70's.

I believe this was an opportunistic move by bankrupt Audacy to lease the signal to a tenant and put less effort into doing the work themselves.

They were not making much money due to the cost of all news and the rights payments for sports. They got rid of the money losing all news, and kept the sports franchise without a declining radio station.

I also think it may end up being a short-term tenant if the business model doesn't work out the way GKB thinks it will.

Karmazan has years and years of experience in this and he makes his operations pay off. Of course, he has a good adviser in Mel.

 

[davideduardo]

If the station always had an audience of geezers, it wouldn't have outbilled its ratings share by roughly 2:1 for decades on end.

A lot of clients want all news formats, and there is a huge amount of special interest money that is not available to other formats.

And all news stations generally run about 50% more commercial minutes an hour than music stations, so they can sell at lower rates but still bill more.

Audacy didn't walk away from a cash cow to cut costs. Companies don't generally do that. It got a deal that allowed it to keep the bulk of its revenue and get compensated at what it thought was a good rate for the time it's leasing out.

The revenue was substantially coming from the play by play. They kept that. They got rid of a marginal or non-profitable news operation instead.

I suspect the station could've ambled on profitably for a few more years if Audacy had so desired. I also suspect Audacy thinks the lost revenue will be made up by better numbers at WINS.

That in part is true. But they are also keeping the sports rights and revenues with a time deal with Good Karma.

There is, of course, no guarantee that will happen. Every business move has potential risk. If it turns out something doesn't work as expected, it wouldn't be the first time Audacy would have made a bad business decision. As I'm sure you've noticed, it has made a few of those over the last seven or eight years.}

Every company makes some bad decisions. The secret is winning more times than losing... just like pro sports, in fact.

 

[RMarino]

David, why do you always answer everyone’s questions except mine? I’ve waiting patiently (well maybe impatiently now) since 3pm on Friday for you to answer my very simple question on this thread in reply to one of your posts.

 

[MTNProductions]

Remember what happened back in the 1990’s when Cousin Brucie and Ron Lundy put to together a promo for WCBS called “Musicradio 88”? This take me back to around April Fools Day in the 1990’s when this happened.

https://donswaim.com/musicradio.mp3

 

[davideduardo]

Is it really possible that those expenses would exceed the $29 million it was bringing in annually? I’m not disagreeing, I just wanted to know your opinion.

I already answered this in another response, but let's look at it again:

First $6 to $7 million go to commissions to sellers, ad agencies and the station national rep. Then look at the 8-figure rights deal for sports rights. Just there you are down by well over half.

The rest is consumed by the expenses of running a horribly expensive all news operation along with all the regular expenses such as technical costs, insurance, office expenses, utilities, taxes, etc., etc.

 

[davideduardo]

David, why do you always answer everyone’s questions except mine? I’ve waiting patiently (well maybe impatiently now) since 3pm on Friday for you to answer my very simple question on this thread in reply to one of your posts.

I can't and don't read every post. And your question had already been answered once.

 

[JeeperOne]

How bad of a shape is Audacy in if they just killed off one of the few good AM stations they have left?

Why the WHSQ calls? And what does Good Karma do with WEPN?

A terrible day for the AM band at large. I feel horrible for the WCBS-only staff that may not be kept at WINS that also never saw this coming...

Not only that but it would appear the WCBS call will now only exist on 101.1 (The Classic Hits station in NYC)

If I were Audacity, I'd take the WCBS call & move it to 1010 despite the long legendary history of the WINS call, which dates back to 1932. Add the location of the WCBS call on FM at 101 & it's only natural that the WCBS call be moved to 1010 as well as then the station can boast an image of something like "AM or FM, you're listening to WCBS"

They can keep the WINS call on 92.3 if they want if for no other reason than to warehouse it somewhere but that's it

As for signing WEPN off on 98.7, I fail to see the logic of that because FM signals are better suited to handle live sporting events like those broadcast by ESPN Radio than AM is (The days of broadcasting live sports have LONG since been numbered since Sports Talk stations either began MIGRATING FROM (Or SIMULCASTING ON in whole or in part) AM frequencies

It will be interesting to see what is done with WEPN as a music formated station now

As for Audacy's "Excuse" for the format change on 880, I don't buy their "Broadcasting landscape" excuse although since Audacy also owns WINS, they at least get rid of a redundancy that's existed FOR YEARS if nothing else

 

[CTListener]

It will be interesting to see what is done with WEPN as a music formated station now

No guarantee that its format will be music with teach-and-preach religious potential operators lurking in the weeds.

 

[ixnay]

Who else is going to miss WCBS's "88 Seconds in Sound"? That said, they always seemed to be moving back and forth along the time line during those 88 seconds which I found intriguing. But it always seemed to be used as irregularly scheduled filler, I couldn't know when to expect it. At least KYW's "Rewind" (a "this day in entertainment history" feature) is regularly scheduled.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Not only that but it would appear the WCBS call will now only exist on 101.1 (The Classic Hits station in NYC)

And, importantly, WCBS-TV 2, with whom Audacy has an agreement on how their call signs should be shared.

If I were Audacity, I'd take the WCBS call & move it to 1010 despite the long legendary history of the WINS call, which dates back to 1932. Add the location of the WCBS call on FM at 101 & it's only natural that the WCBS call be moved to 1010 as well as then the station can boast an image of something like "AM or FM, you're listening to WCBS"

Blowing up a successful brand (1010 WINS) in order to preserve a less successful brand (WCBS) would certainly be a choice.

As for signing WEPN off on 98.7, I fail to see the logic of that because FM signals are better suited to handle live sporting events like those broadcast by ESPN Radio than AM is.

$1 million a month in rent. That's the logic. 40%-50% of WEPN's billing went directly to Emmis as rent.