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Cumulus comments in silent STA extensions for KLIK, KJMO, KZAC

Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts

(I'm putting this in General Radio Topics rather than Missouri or San Francisco because there may be implications for multiple markets.)

Cumulus has filed to extend the silent STA for KLIK(AM) Jefferson City, Missouri, with an exhibit that has some interesting language:

Cumulus Licensing LLC (“Cumulus”), licensee of Station KLIK(AM), Jefferson City,
Missouri, respectfully requests an extension of its silent authority. Cumulus is in the
process of considering proposals by interested parties to purchase stations like this one
that are currently silent. Since there are several Cumulus stations that have filed for silent
authority, it has taken longer than expected to conclude the process.

Emphasis mine. In the same market, Cumulus used the same language to require a silent STA extension for KJMO(FM), Linn, Missouri.

That last sentence in the exhibit is also notable. Would these be possible individual station sales, or sales of groups of stations?

This boilerplate language was used in at least one other instance, judging by the title of the PDFs with both the KLIK exhibit and the KJMO exhibit: "WYMB Silent STA Extension Exhibit.docx". WYMB is in South Carolina. (The PDF title probably comes from the document metadata..."Properties"...that the author overlooked.)

Last week, Cumulus filed an STA extension request for KZAC(AM) San Francisco using somewhat different wording:

Radio License Holdings, LLC (“RLH”), licensee of Station KZAC(AM), San
Francisco, CA, respectfully requests authority to remain silent. RLH is in the process of
selling this station and inadvertently failed to file this STA within the 30 day period and to
file a resumption of service notification after having suspended operations previously in
March 2025. Now that RLH is negotiating a purchase contract, it hopes to clear up its
operation status and resume service in the near future.

Again, emphasis mine. This seems to be more definite about an impending sale than the Missouri language, and the title for this document is simply "Document1". It could indicate that any sale of KZAC is on its own track compared to some of the other silent Cumulus stations. That wouldn't be surprising.

Edit: The KZAC request is for a silent STA, not an extension, since Cumulus indicated that it failed to file a timely STA earlier in the year.
 
Mark Roberts said:
(I'm putting this in General Radio Topics rather than Missouri or San Francisco because there may be implications for multiple markets.)

Cumulus has filed to extend the silent STA for KLIK(AM) Jefferson City, Missouri, with an exhibit that has some interesting language:

Cumulus Licensing LLC (“Cumulus”), licensee of Station KLIK(AM), Jefferson City,
Missouri, respectfully requests an extension of its silent authority. Cumulus is in the
process of considering proposals by interested parties to purchase stations like this one
that are currently silent. Since there are several Cumulus stations that have filed for silent
authority, it has taken longer than expected to conclude the process.

Emphasis mine. In the same market, Cumulus used the same language to require a silent STA extension for KJMO(FM), Linn, Missouri.

That last sentence in the exhibit is also notable. Would these be possible individual station sales, or sales of groups of stations?

This boilerplate language was used in at least one other instance, judging by the title of the PDFs with both the KLIK exhibit and the KJMO exhibit: "WYMB Silent STA Extension Exhibit.docx". WYMB is in South Carolina. (The PDF title probably comes from the document metadata..."Properties"...that the author overlooked.)

Last week, Cumulus filed an STA extension request for KZAC(AM) San Francisco using somewhat different wording:

Radio License Holdings, LLC (“RLH”), licensee of Station KZAC(AM), San
Francisco, CA, respectfully requests authority to remain silent. RLH is in the process of
selling this station and inadvertently failed to file this STA within the 30 day period and to
file a resumption of service notification after having suspended operations previously in
March 2025. Now that RLH is negotiating a purchase contract, it hopes to clear up its
operation status and resume service in the near future.

Again, emphasis mine. This seems to be more definite about an impending sale than the Missouri language, and the title for this document is simply "Document1". It could indicate that any sale of KZAC is on its own track compared to some of the other silent Cumulus stations. That wouldn't be surprising.

Edit: The KZAC request is for a silent STA, not an extension, since Cumulus indicated that it failed to file a timely STA earlier in the year.
Click to expand...

Okay. So someone's gonna buy 560 (maybe), put it back on the air (maybe), and try to get people to tune to 560 on the AM dial in San Francisco after that frequency has been vacant for months.

When we find out who that is, if anyone here has been taking investment advice from them---or worse, giving them money for a "can't miss media venture", be very, very afraid.
 
We’re rapidly coming up on the six month anniversaries of many Cumulus stations going silent, so I would expect a number of STA extensions to be filed in the next week or so. For instance I noticed today that silent KIKR and KBED in the Beaumont/Port Arthur market in Texas both filed and were granted Silent STA extensions.

Text of the KIKR filing:

“Cumulus Licensing LLC (“Cumulus”), licensee of Station KIKR(AM), Beaumont, Texas, respectfully requests an extension of its silent authority. Cumulus is in the process of considering proposals by interested parties to purchase stations like this one that are currently silent. Since there are several Cumulus stations that have filed for silent authority, it has taken longer than expected to conclude the process. Accordingly, Cumulus respectfully requests continued authority for Station KIKR to remain silent.”

Same verbiage for the KBED filing.
 
michael hagerty said:
Okay. So someone's gonna buy 560 (maybe), put it back on the air (maybe), and try to get people to tune to 560 on the AM dial in San Francisco after that frequency has been vacant for months.

When we find out who that is, if anyone here has been taking investment advice from them---or worse, giving them money for a "can't miss media venture", be very, very afraid.
Click to expand...
One silent Cumulus station I’m keeping an eye on is KPUR in Amarillo, as I used to live there decades ago. Amarillo is a market that is down to five AM stations: Two right wing talk, and three religious. The AM band there is pretty much an irrelevance. I have no idea of what a new owner of KPUR would do, other than create a fourth religious AM in the market.
 
A second 6 month Silent STA extension is usually automatically granted. The bigger test is one year of being silent and the license is cancelled by operation of law. Of course, some owners will go back on the air with a long wire for a few days and then get another year of STA silence, but I don't think Cumulus will play that game for all the currently silent AM stations.
 
I think were reading too much into these STA extensions. Wasn't it expected ,so Cumulus would have the full year to shop them around. In 6 months from now, that's when things will get real interesting. Or sooner....
 
KilowattKat said:
I think were reading too much into these STA extensions. Wasn't it expected ,so Cumulus would have the full year to shop them around. In 6 months from now, that's when things will get real interesting. Or sooner....
Click to expand...
While agreeing with you regarding the mass extension requests, I have to differ regarding KZAC. The wording on that request is different. I think it’s reasonable to assume that the KZAC filing is an attempt to clean up paperwork before sale negotiations go any further…no one is going to buy a license where the compliance status isn’t entirely clean. Overlooking a silent STA in this case is probably not that big a deal, since a notice of suspension of operations was timely filed, but the KZAC filing is, in effect, making sure the “title” to the license has no outstanding questions about its status.
 
Mark Roberts said:
Overlooking a silent STA in this case is probably not that big a deal, since a notice of suspension of operations was timely filed, but the KZAC filing is, in effect, making sure the “title” to the license has no outstanding questions about its status.
Click to expand...
It apparently wasn't an issue, since the STA was granted today.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
One silent Cumulus station I’m keeping an eye on is KPUR in Amarillo, as I used to live there decades ago. Amarillo is a market that is down to five AM stations: Two right wing talk, and three religious. The AM band there is pretty much an irrelevance. I have no idea of what a new owner of KPUR would do, other than create a fourth religious AM in the market.
Click to expand...
Wasn't it bad enough when a 1970s song about Amarillo was far more popular in Britain than America?

(At least the BBC was better at making singers sing live on TV, as Christie did on Top of the Pops back in '72 backed by Johnny Pearson's orchestra.)
 


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