1210 AM sold to Spice Radio for 600K

[DaveBayArea]

I wouldn't have thought that an AM in Sacramento - especially one without full-market nighttime coverage - would be worth that much money. But there it is:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_list.pl?Application_id=1674268

Spice Radio is based out of Hanford, CA and it looks like they're associated with KIGS, AM 620 in Hanford. They've also applied for purchase of KSFH in Mountain View - one of the few stations in the US actually licensed to 87.9 MHz.

That $600,000.00 includes the land on which the nighttime tower is located. Interesting.

Dave B.

 

[b-turner]

I'm sure much of that $600,000 is the commercial value of the land.

Spice Radio might know what several other AM operators know: there's usually a good number of especially ethnic broadcasters ready to dole out cash to buy hours to reach their prospective markets. Sure, it won't make you rich but can easily make for a tidy profit even with a 600k note to pay off.

The KSFH station is certainly an oddity and I was rather shocked by the price paid. Anyone know what they are doing with that one?

 

[DaveBayArea]

The KSFH station is certainly an oddity and I was rather shocked by the price paid. Anyone know what they are doing with that one?

I hadn't looked at it until you mentioned the transaction. Wow. $20,000.00 for a 10-watt non-comm. But it IS in Mountain View. Lots of potential listeners I guess. Interestingly enough, they applied to move the frequency from 87.9 to 100.7 due to interference from the K-love TV channel 6 franken-fm on 87.75 MHz which is effectively wiping them out at 87.9. Hatfield and Dawson did the study, and they appear to be able to shoehorn it in. Interesting.

Dave B.

 

[b-turner]

It seems a pretty sweet spot for a station and a local emphasis could certainly work for KFSH. It will be interesting how this plays out. This could really be something nice for them. The operating expenses would have to be fairly low (sure, there are many fixed costs) and the sense of community and high population density surely work in the favor of such a low wattage station.

I'm reminded of what a small town AM station operator once told me. He had 5 watts for nighttime, just enough to cover the town. He was 1,000 watts daytime. He said he wished he could just be 5 watts 24/7 because that was where the vast majority of his listeners were and where his entire advertising base was. Granted, only a few hundred lived in the county outside the one town in the county where his station was located. In his mind, he was wasting money on equipment, electricity and maintenance every hour he ran at 1,000 watts.

 

[jhimbo]

Didn't 1210 apply to move to Arden-Arcade ? What happend to that?

 

[stewie]

I'm sure much of that $600,000 is the commercial value of the land.

Spice Radio might know what several other AM operators know: there's usually a good number of especially ethnic broadcasters ready to dole out cash to buy hours to reach their prospective markets. Sure, it won't make you rich but can easily make for a tidy profit even with a 600k note to pay off.

The KSFH station is certainly an oddity and I was rather shocked by the price paid. Anyone know what they are doing with that one?

Old thread, I know.

Interesting information about KSFH. I always admired Saint Francis High School for operating that station. I guess the cost of operating it and the lack of interest from students was enough for them to sell.