Zoellner Media Group’s Purchase Price For Cox Tulsa
Zoellner Media Group, led by local Tulsa optometrist Dr. Robert H. Zoellner, is acquiring Cox Media Group's Tulsa OK cluster.
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Cox Spins Off Tulsa Cluster
- Thread starter Huff
- Start date
radioinsight.com
I've known for a year or two that you could have pretty much any Cox Radio cluster for the right price. Still, this one is a shocker. Dr. Zoellner seems like someone who likes to see and be seen (pun intended), but I wouldn't have thought he would buy KRMG and company. Steve Hunter, though, is a great hire and should be able to produce good results for the cluster. He's well-liked, comes from the programming side, and has roughly 35 years of experience in Tulsa radio.
With the exception of the iHeart cluster, I believe all the commercial radio stations in Tulsa will be Oklahoma-owned now.
With the exception of the iHeart cluster, I believe all the commercial radio stations in Tulsa will be Oklahoma-owned now.
Win a free eye exam!
I'm wondering in Cox's radio station will be sold off in Dayton, Ohio, separating from TV.
Dr. Z was home of the “$99 Deal!”
I’ve been told that cluster’s radio is really integrated into the rest of the holdings there. So, I’m not sure how easy that one is going to be to split up.
I’ve also been told Dr. Z is pretty right wing politically. So, if anyone is hoping this will mean KRMG shifts more to the center, it’s probably not happening.
A friend of mine heard Dr. Z was interested in radio, but he didn’t imagine it would be this big. We’re guessing the price is going to be in the $15 million range.
I wonder what the mood is today inside the building at 21st and memorial. I wonder what the likely potential impact will be upon local staff
I agree Steve Hunter is a great hire. The staff at the music stations is probably pretty comfortable with what it's seeing so far. Zoellner is also in multiple businesses and has been successful at most of them.
I might be a little nervous if I worked at KRMG, though. Zoellner would seem to be tight with Clay Clark, and he doesn’t seem like anybody I'd want controlling my product. I'd probably be dusting off my resume in case he walks in the door.
Without any knowledge, based on recent valuations I'd guess about half of that at most.
who is Clay Clark and what does he do, if anything, for KRMG? Reviewing KRMG’s lineup indicates a lot of Fox programming, many of it repeated, which is probably cheap to do but tired and lazy. Hopefully Steve will be allowed to make whatever changes he sees fit and not be micromanaged.
At this point, he's not involved with KRMG, at least as far as I know, but he's apparently a good friend of Dr. Zoellner, and Dr. Z has appeared on his podcast several times. I could see Dr. Z hiring him for KRMG. If you want to know about him, search “Clay Clark Tulsa,” and you’ll get a better picture of who he is than I can paint for you here.
Despite having a lot of syndicated programming, KRMG still has a lot of local news and information. If I still lived in Tulsa, it would still be my go-to choice in severe weather and in winter weather. When the tornado went through Claremore last Memorial Day Weekend, I was visiting family in Tulsa and had just gotten out of the Bricktown Comedy Club when the warnings started hitting north of town. KRMG was my soundtrack on the ride to my mom's house in Midtown. She just moved to Owasso earlier this month, and her new house is just a few blocks from where the Owasso tornado hit last month. I'd have been tuned to KRMG as soon as the sirens went off.
So does that mean the morning show on mix 96 will be local again or are we still have that Tad in the morning still.
The FCC filing has hit...looks like the price for the cluster is surprisingly $20M according to the asset purchase agreement attached.
Code:
Section 1.4 Purchase Price.
(a) The purchase price to be paid for the Station Assets shall be Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00), ...I'm shocked by the price. Yes those stations bill well, but no other recent deals hold that valuation. It will be interesting to see if Cox is able to find buyers for its other markets based on the amounts they received for Houston and Tulsa.
From what I'd heard, Cox had received at least one offer on that cluster in the $10 million range and rejected it. It didn't seem willing to take a price like that unless they buyer wanted the entire group. I, too, was surprised by the purchase price.
Agreed. From what I've been told, stations aren't even getting the 3-5 times multiples they were getting a few years ago.
I suspect it's going to be a cash deal as Cox sold its tower assets roughly 10 years ago. I don't think Zoellner does private equity deals, and getting a bank loan for stations that have no real property assets is somewhere between difficult and impossible.
Does this optometrist have more money than sense?
I too am very surprised by the richness of the deal. Griffin bought the five Scripps stations in Tulsa seven years ago for 12.5 for reference.
I'm putting up a lemonade stand in the good Doc's neighborhood this weekend based on this purchase price
If your son still works at the taproom, bring some beer cans for the adults. That'll make you some real money!
(Also, pass along some good words from Kara and me. We hope he’s been well!)
Hopefully he wasn't advised by Rob U. Blind.....
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