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1110 New Format
- Thread starter amos1001
- Start date
I suspect, at least with respect to 1110, Urban One will try to find a sucker, I mean buyer, to take it off its hands should it sell the land the towers are under. That doesn’t mean anyone will actually bite or that anybody who might would ultimately be successful in building it out, but we saw something similar in Indianapolis when Emmis took 1070 off the air and sold the land.
I'm sure these larger tracts of land in metro areas (like those that 610 and 1110's towers sit on) are valuable and can be better utilized for a greater ROI than AM broadcasting. With that said, in this day and technological environment, would it even be worth it for the license to be sold to a station in Charlotte or another city as an upgrade, say from 1kw to 10 or 50kw? Maybe a daytimer on a clear channel frequency wanting night power?
Now I'm confused. Wouldn't a "WHKY 1110" have the same nighttime signal as WBT 1110 has now?
I'm assuming the new station would be a 50 kw clear channel station just as WBT is now. WBT's nighttime signal isn't all that great, but WHKY's is minuscule, barely covers Catawba and about half of Burke counties.
For this scenario, someone would have to have deep enough pockets to build a new tower site at significant cost. Is there someone on the AM band in Charlotte who can afford to spend millions on that?
There aren't a ton of stations that would be eligible, and even fewer that would be likely to be interested.
The adjacent channels are largely prohibited from upgrading due to WTAM/Cleveland and KMOX/St. Louis.
The daytime-only stations on 1110 in the Eastern US are mostly tiny independent operations.
Like WBIB in Centerville, AL. WBIB has a translator, and thus probably doesn't want to upgrade its AM.
Same story for WSLV in Tennessee; WKDZ and WCBR in Kentucky; WYMW in West Virginia; WGNZ in Ohio and WTJZ in VA. All have FM translator(s) which already give them 24/7 operation and a spot on the preferred band. Almost all are small cities where a translator or two can adequately cover the population.
WJSM in Pennsylvania has had a full-power FM simulcast for 30 years.
I believe that's all the daytimers on 1110 within 500 miles of Charlotte. Certainly no one who seems likely to do a deal with Urban One in order to upgrade their night power in their own communities.
Only if they bought the existing WBT transmitter site. A new transmitter would have different coverage, simply because it would likely be further out from downtown, or share diplexed towers with another AM broadcaster, or use shorter towers. WBT without its three tower antenna array could have similar coverage, but it probably would not unless the new owner had very deep pockets.
WBT went off the air one night for about 20 minutes, and I started getting all kinds of stations such as these. Different ones would fade in and out. It was kind of like listening to the extended AM band. Pretty trippy.
I'm not suggesting that a buyer build new towers or new anything else (other than perhaps originating studios, which could be located anywhere). Is there any reason a new WBT licensee on 1110 (who would very likely change the calls) couldn't have the exact same signal contours that WBT has right now?
The stations I listed are all day timers, so you should have heard none of them at night. There's only two stations on 1110 east of the Sierra Nevada with more than 10 watts at night: WBT and KFAB/Omaha. There are a couple of stations on 1110 with under 10 watts in the Great Lakes (MI and OH), and a half dozen in CA, OR, and WA that are all directional out to sea.
Not saying some of them weren't on at night.
If Radio One intends to liquidate the tower site, a buyer of WBT would have to build something, and whatever that is will not exactly match what WBT currently has.
It may have been before what would be considered local twilight. I don't recall for sure, that was a few months ago.
And why is that? What would be the prohibition on their simply using WBT's existing towers, if they had the 1110 license with 50 kw clear-channel, and presumably FCC permission to have the same service contours that WBT presently has? Or does all of that go away when a new licensee gets the frequency that goes with that license? AFAIK all of the existing equipment is still in fine working order.
As was stated several times in this thread, it is generally assumed that the landowner wants to sell the site where the WBT towers are currently located. The cost of building a comparable site somewhere else is an enormous cost and logistical problem.
I forgot the 3 channel limit. So if they buy the 1110 license then they could be creative? Is Urban One willing to sell it? Extra money never hurts.
I was just looking at 1290's physical spacing and plant* going directional away from Charlotte daytime. A reversal direction pattern should be doable. They already have a 50kw transmitter. A new phaser cabinet is costly but I doubt 7 figures. I also believe commercials sell for a lot more in Charlotte than Hickory. They could easily save the existing revenue from 1290 by making it a day timer using the existing night transmitter to keep the translator.
*Last century they had a really nice transmitter site.
Because WHKY has an east-west nighttime pattern, I hear them quite often in Huntsville, AL. I suppose they would cover Hickory and the surrounding towns nearby, such as Conover or Morganton.
Although this has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING, I find it curious that WHKY has a null over GASTONIA in their nighttime pattern, just like WBT.
Funny how a thread about what we wondered about a potential new format for 1110 has come this far. But yeah, even if 1290 and 1110 simulcasted, the Gastonia area isn't served.
But people who are speculating that WHKY would somehow want to move to 1110, that would simply be WHKY buying 1110. There would be no reason to shut down 1290. And U1 has put the LAND up for sale, not the station, meaning the land has more value than the station. I would imagine if a non competitive company (BBN, EMF, etc) were to offer U1 more for the station than the land will sell for that would work. But apparently that's not happening. It actually would only need to be more than 40% of what the land would sell for, because Beasley gets 60% if they sell the land. If they sell the station, Beasley still would own the land other than under the towers and building.
I didn't catch that part. Nonetheless, anything in business is negotiable, and there's no intrinsic reason they couldn't sell the whole thing lock, stock, and barrel.
I've wondered the same thing. That is a lot of listeners both stations are losing.
If you want to introduce the "business" aspect into this, it becomes even less feasible. Someone buying the whole thing "lock, stock and barrel" to operate as an AM radio station is financial suicide.
With the price of prime real estate climbing so, are there other examples of sales contracts where the land except over the towers and xmitter shack stays with the seller? What other stations are you guys aware of that if they sell the land the proceeds would be split with a previous station owner that had the foresight to keep as much of that real estate possible when they sold the AM? Keep in mind that if U1 sold 1110, the new owner would have that same situation; they would only own the land under the towers and building. Was this smart lawyering by Beasley, or is this simply how it's done nowdays?
Let's try to reset a little here:
It's a pretty safe assumption that the 1110 site is worth several million dollars just for the land alone.
Where's the business case for any buyer to pay that much just for the land, plus whatever Urban One would take for the 1110 license, just to keep the signal on the air, when that same amount of money now can buy an FM signal that's going to be much more viable and less expensive to run?
It's a pretty safe assumption that the 1110 site is worth several million dollars just for the land alone.
Where's the business case for any buyer to pay that much just for the land, plus whatever Urban One would take for the 1110 license, just to keep the signal on the air, when that same amount of money now can buy an FM signal that's going to be much more viable and less expensive to run?
And 97.3 WKBC with its CP to move much closer to Charlotte is likely going to be for sale soon. Who would want 1110? Nobody.