After turning in the license for WPRY (AM) in 2024, Dockins is now surrendering 92.1 WPRY-FM.
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Tallahassee Dockins cancels WPRY-FM Perry
- Thread starter JJSPC
- Start date
Perry is a very poor city and there may not have been any interest in acquiring the station at any price. It was probably a money pit while still operating.
Fred still has WFDZ in Perry, which is a C3. Fred has owned the stations in Perry for over 25 years. He's certainly seen the decline, and, after having to rebuild the stations there several times after hurricanes, has probably chosen to stop fighting Mother Nature and a dying economy. Nobody is rushing to buy stations in that area, and it is painfully obvious that the stations would cost more to rebuild and maintain than to shut down. I am reasonably sure that Fred is probably shopping WQLC and WJTK in the Lake City area. Unfortunately, there are a ton of stations for sale in Florida and Georgia at the moment that have been waiting literal years for a new owner.
As for why someone would shut a station down rather than selling for an extremely low price, you still have to find someone willing to pay the extremely low price. I can give you the telephone numbers of over 30 owners who would like to find that buyer of last resort today rather than keep pumping money into a failing operation.
As for why someone would shut a station down rather than selling for an extremely low price, you still have to find someone willing to pay the extremely low price. I can give you the telephone numbers of over 30 owners who would like to find that buyer of last resort today rather than keep pumping money into a failing operation.
Keep in mind that selling a station costs money, too. Selling a station for $1 doesn't mean you walk away with $1 more than what you'd get if you had surrendered the license.
As Ted mentions, you have to sell to someone who will at least pay enough to cover your attorney's fees and those of any other third parties involved in selling the station or getting it ready to sell. That buyer doesn't always exist. Plus, if it does, that buyer might become competition. Granted, FM's remain on the city's frequency allocation table. So, you might get competition anyway, but making that competition bid on and build that competitor itself might make better sense than handing it the keys yourself.
Simple. Fred doesn't want competition. He was willing to sell to a non profit group with provision that they can't go commercial while he owns a station in the market. There were no takers. He would rather turn in the license than to enable a competitor. The same thing happened in Lake City with WGRO a couple of years ago. I suspect WJTK will also get its license turned in. Last I heard, it had only a $50k price tag, but similar format restrictions.
I guess sooner or later the 92.1 allocation will be up for bids. At least you will have no format restrictions. If you want to put a station in an economically bad place here is your chance:
Taylor county had an estimated population around 20,700 which is around a 8.25 % drop from the 2010 census of 22,595. They have a Walmart which is never good in a small town. 17% of the population live in poverty.
BTW you will have to sell against WAJP Hispanic C3 FM @;107.7 and WFDZ C3 @ 93.5 both are less than 325 HAAT high so there is no great coverage difference between them and a 6 kw class A @ 300ft. They will have better building penetration.
IMHO: too small of a retail base to support 3 competing stations.
Taylor county had an estimated population around 20,700 which is around a 8.25 % drop from the 2010 census of 22,595. They have a Walmart which is never good in a small town. 17% of the population live in poverty.
BTW you will have to sell against WAJP Hispanic C3 FM @;107.7 and WFDZ C3 @ 93.5 both are less than 325 HAAT high so there is no great coverage difference between them and a 6 kw class A @ 300ft. They will have better building penetration.
IMHO: too small of a retail base to support 3 competing stations.
I see that WFDZ is a country station. Would an Urban or Rhythmic CHR work there?
I doubt it the county is 72% white or around 19% black or less than 2,900. Maybe something female friendly since 55+% of the population is female.
Very eventually. It won't make it into the 2027 auction, whose allocations have already been announced. There are only two in Florida, one at Big Coppitt Key and one at Otter Creek.
The FM auction after that will probably be a while. Typically they auction FM broadcast allocations every 5 years or so.