1 Million dollar sale of WWWK 105.5 in the Keys.

[Groove1670]

In a word. Wow. ???

 

[jmtillery]

Miami based SMS 3 Communications, Inc. got a very good deal in its favor acquiring that Florida Keys 50kw C2 signal for $1 million.

 

[top4odj]

It's good news. I knew a few people who worked for "Radio Exito" and they weren't too happy with the soon to be previous owners. According to them she wasn't the nicest person to work for and because of that there was a slight exitous of employees.

Their current website is down. I went to one of their former DJ employee links and this is what came up:

http://exito1055.ning.com/profile/KeysDAN

And here is another reason they're gone:

http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-293418A1.html

Karma sure has its ways of paying back to those who deserve ;D

 

[cd637299]

For the briefest time after signing on, they were running WPIK 102.5's Radio Ritmo programming, whose music I somewhat enjoyed. I felt it filled a niche....then they went Exito.

Any idea what they'll be doing w/ the K?

cd

 

[Groove1670]

Considering the 60db contour line reaches only about 60,000 people.

 

[jmtillery]

Considering the 60db contour line reaches only about 60,000 people.

Ordinarily the pop count plays a major role in assessing only "stick" value. If one is only considering the 60,000 pop count within the 60dbu service contour, WWWK will have a fair market value that is much different than a realized fair market value when all factors are considered.

The pop count includes the 70dbu, 60dbu and 54 dbu contours respectively, and WWWK appears to have a very decent 54dbu and 60dbu rimshot signal over Sobe and Southern Miami-Dade respectively. Additionally, one also has to consider current and potential cash flow and location as well as future technical potential such as the ability to move the "stick" into a more populated area and other technical upgrade possibilities such as the ability to reclassify as a C1, C0 or full C if an engineering study determines any such technical upgrades are feasible. In rare instances, a technical downgrade will increase a station's fair market value. Ex: if by downgrading to a C3 or even a class A will enable the "stick" to be moved closer to the Center of poplulation of Miami-Dade, the pop count actually increases and becomes greater than the previous C2 60dbu pop count which greatly increases the overall station value.

 

[Groove1670]

Don't see any potential upgrade unless the FCC relaxes second and third adjacent channel restrictions. That would be the dream of many. Stick values would soar in many markets.

 

[jmtillery]

Technical and class upgrades are not possible with all stations, but sometimes a hidden treasure can be found with a sharp eye while no one else ever noticed. However regarding 105.5, it will be interesting to see exactly what happens with WWWK.

 

[Davie123]

The new owner is Isidro Gonzalez, so you can bet it will stay spanish language.
SMS 3 is no doubt buying the station because it "reaches" the hispanic population
in south Miami, but it doesn't really have a competitive signal against the big guns.

 

[Stormychuck]

If their tower site is the old 100KW-WXOS 100.3 FM back in the 70's the station at that time was housed in a former bowling alley, just a hair north of the Plantation Key yacht club, in Plantation key. The tower itself was nearly 500ft hat, and basically sat in salt water, and at 100KW the station covered all of the key's
and Cuba all of Dade County southern parts of Broward County, and the island of Bimini and all of the fish who had FM radio's at the time. The tower site is still there, so at 50KW and with that height and location, in my opinion, WWWK should have great coverage of nearly all of Dade County if this is their primary target area.....Tower's and salt water make great pair's!

 

[cd637299]

Sorry, but---

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWWK&service=FM&status=L&hours=U

I remember the building....even after the call change to WCTH, they re-designed it....but it's no longer a radio house. In fact, there are so many buildings I can't even recall which it is---it may have been razed.

cd

 

[Stormychuck]

So apparently the old tower is most likely no longer being used, such a waste, great coverage.....

 

[davideduardo]

If their tower site is the old 100KW-WXOS 100.3 FM back in the 70's the station at that time was housed in a former bowling alley, just a hair north of the Plantation Key yacht club, in Plantation key. The tower itself was nearly 500ft hat, and basically sat in salt water, and at 100KW the station covered all of the key's
and Cuba all of Dade County southern parts of Broward County, and the island of Bimini and all of the fish who had FM radio's at the time. The tower site is still there, so at 50KW and with that height and location, in my opinion, WWWK should have great coverage of nearly all of Dade County if this is their primary target area.....Tower's and salt water make great pair's!

Salt water does not aid FM other than the fact that the lack of obstructions avoids the creation of shadow areas, etc.

WWWK's 64 dbu covers 30,000 persons. It does not even get to Homestead.

Oh, and Cuba is 700 miles long, and no FM can cover that. Heck, WIPR's 125,000 watts at 4000 feet AMSL misses 25% of the population of Puerto Rico, an island only 100 miles long by 30 miles wide.

 

[Groove1670]

The only station that comes close to covering Miami is WKLG and that is with a car radio. no station covers the entire Keys. WWUS covers the most. WXOS covered Marathon to part of Homestead on the old tower.

 

[jmtillery]

WWWK's 64 dbu covers 30,000 persons. It does not even get to Homestead.

David,

I realize I may be missing something; however, according to the FCC, via Google, WWWK's 60dbu covers just North of Homestead and has a decent 54dbu into South Beach and Key Biscayne.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://ww...req=105.5&contour=60&city=ISLAMORADA&state=FL

I realize the map may not be exactly accurate, but it came directly from the FCC webpage and FCC records. Are the FCC maps incorrect? I'm curious.

Thanks, David.

 

[davideduardo]

[I realize I may be missing something; however, according to the FCC, via Google, WWWK's 60dbu covers just North of Homestead and has a decent 54dbu into South Beach and Key Biscayne.

95% of listening at home and at work is inside the 64 dbu (based on listening locations from a sample of a dozen markets and years and years of data). While car listening can extend out beyound that (to the 60 or even less) in-car is less than a third of listening.

There are 122,000 persons in the station´s 60 dbu contour... which stands to reason as there is not much in Dade that walks on two legs south of Homestead.

Oh, and 80% of listening is inside the 70 dbu... one of the reasons why less than full market signals seem to do so bad in the PPM.

 

[Stormychuck]

I'd like to thank everybody for weighing in on this topic, great information, although in some cases the information posted by some is not factual although I do find JMTILLERY per usual, correct in his post.

For the sake of quoting, some are quick to point out others posting's with this seemingly endless infinite amount of radio knowledge and hastily quick to point out others slight misgiving's when in fact they themselves are slightly askew with this endless supply of taking down to others when in fact two of the posters in here are absolutely incorrect.

We can all agree to disagree, that's what it's all about, although I love it when somebody can tell poster's all about some particular radio station, when they themselves have never ever listened to it or even set foot in it! I'm sure DavidEduardo, with all of his seemingly endless infinite supply of radio knowledge and habit of talking down to others can explain this to me...

 

[davideduardo]

...for the sake of quoting, some are quick to point out others posting's with this seemingly endless infinite amount of radio knowledge and hastily quick to point out others slight misgiving's when in fact they themselves are slightly askew with this endless supply of taking down to others when in fact two of the posters in here are absolutely incorrect...

As "incorrect" as thinking FMs benefit from being "footwet" (salt water grounded) or that a single FM can cover "all... Cuba" perhaps?

We can all agree to disagree, that's what it's all about, although I love it when somebody can tell poster's all about some particular radio station, when they themselves have never ever listened to it or even set foot in it! I'm sure DavidEduardo, with all of his seemingly endless infinite supply of radio knowledge and habit of talking down to others can explain this to me...

If you feel being corrected is "talking down" then fine.

However, the facts, discussions and disagreements are presented here for the benefit of everyone. That's why a statement lto the effect that "FMs love salt water..." has to be corrected as it's totally false and could mislead those who read this thread... or any thread... and don't have other information at hand. In reality, FMs love height, they love hills, tall buildings and being at the center of population. There's a reason why none of the New York City FMs are in the Jersey Meadows salt marshes and why a large percentage of AMs are.

And another fact: the contour of an FM that determines to a large extent its viability is the 64 dbu. A study of years and years of ZIP code data from an ssortment of Top 20 markets shows that mainstream FM formats get 80% of the at home and at work listening in the 70 dbu contour, and another 15% is added going out to the 64 dbu contour. There is only isolated listening outside the 64 dbu for the listening locations that make up two-thirds of all listening.

The 64 dbu for WWWK covers 30,000 persons. The 60 dbu, beyond where most of such listening takes place, covers 122,000 persons. Having been in the station building won't change that. Having driven by it (which I've done more times than I can count) won't change that. Looking at the contours on radio-locator.com won't change that (they are labeled "for amusement purposes" for a reason).

The point of all this is that the station is a rimshot for anything in Dade County except, maybe, Homestead. It certainly is not a viable competitor in the Keys market, because it misses Key West and even Marathon. Sure, it can be heard on a car on Marathon, but how long do you think commutes are on Marathon?

Turning a profit on this station is going to be a challenge.

 

[davideduardo]

I'd like to thank everybody for weighing in on this topic, great information, although in some cases the information posted by some is not factual... when in fact two of the posters in here are absolutely incorrect.

As incorrect as saying FMs like to be by the ocean with the tower in salt water?

As incorrect as saying that the previous operation of WXOS "covered... Cuba" which is an island about 700 miles wide which can't possibly be covered by any single FM?

We can all agree to disagree, that's what it's all about, although I love it when somebody can tell poster's all about some particular radio station, when they themselves have never ever listened to it or even set foot in it! I'm sure DavidEduardo, with all of his seemingly endless infinite supply of radio knowledge and habit of talking down to others can explain this to me...

If you feel a discussion in which some of your assumptions may be changed is demeaning, they you miss the point of the dialogue, discussion and argument on web forums.

Having been in a building where a station is located does not change the fact that WWWK covers 30,812 persons in its 64 dbu contour. And 122,350 (Dataworld) persons in the 60 dbu.

And then the fact, based on a multi-year study of at home and at work listening of mainstream FM formats in a number of Top 20 markets (including Miami), that 80% of listening occurs inside the 70 dbu contour and another 15% out to the 64 dbu contour. This is based on the recorded ZIP codes of at-home and at work listening in individual diaries,

WWWK is going to have a considerable challenge... it barely gets into Homestead, and does not cover most of the Keys market... neither Marathon nor Key West. Sure, you can get it on a car radio on Marathon... but what do you think the commute time is on Marathon?

 

[Stormychuck]

Thankyou DavidEduardo, as most agree all of your posted information is nothing then more research that you post as your own. That's fine...

Clearing the air, unlike AM's salt water has no effect on an FM signal, if you would have read carefully, all I said was the tower sat in salt water, which half the time it was, it was in a salt water marsh.

Cuba, that was meant to be a joke, David you of all people, I'm surprised you took that statement serious, of course it didn't cover Cuba, if it did, how in the world would one know about it? This is my tongue-in-cheek way of saying WXOS at one time was a power house, and as the former owner/operator of WXOS as a family company, their is really very little you can tell me referenced radio signal's out of the Florida Key's...

DavidEduardo, I really respect most of the information you post, however just because something is a little off side or off color of a topic once in awhile, your always finding it necessary to correct these little idiosyncrasy's. Offering up viable information is one thing, you seem to have made it your job to quote and correct everything little thing that individual's post that's not quite in the realm of your knowledge or radio information spectrum, and this my friend is really not your job and this is where you and I differ!