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98.7 Rumors

CTListener said:
You'd think a move from California to Tennessee would be desirable for people with conservative, traditional values and lifestyles, wouldn't you? Were EMF's top brass surprised when staffers balked?
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A good question and a valid premise.

Perhaps much is due to leaving family, the kid's friends and schools and other personal concerns.

The central part of California is not as "woke" as the coastal areas, so I don't think that values and lifestyle would be such an issue. This is a good topic for discussion and speculation.

One thing that happens when companies release or let go key long time employees is that the organization's "institutional memory" is erased and that set of core past experiences that guide future decisions is lost.
 
CTListener said:
You'd think a move from California to Tennessee would be desirable for people with conservative, traditional values and lifestyles, wouldn't you? Were EMF's top brass surprised when staffers balked?
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Middle Tennessee is a very desirable area, but moving families is hard, even if it makes sense (Nashville is the center of the Christian music industry).

Suburban Sacramento though is very nice as well and Rocklin is pretty conservative, relatively speaking. If you like to explore alpine lakes, majestic national parks, or the Pacific Ocean, there are not drop in replacements for those things anywhere close. Mammoth Cave is cool, but it isn’t Yosemite. Also the climate is much more extreme most of the year.
 
Ryan Williams said:
Middle Tennessee is a very desirable area, but moving families is hard, even if it makes sense (Nashville is the center of the Christian music industry).

Suburban Sacramento though is very nice as well and Rocklin is pretty conservative, relatively speaking. If you like to explore alpine lakes, majestic national parks, or the Pacific Ocean, there are not drop in replacements for those things anywhere close. Mammoth Cave is cool, but it isn’t Yosemite. Also the climate is much more extreme most of the year.
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Can confirm. Though Rocklin (and many of the further eastern Sacramento suburbs) are pretty expensive…actually expense is the main reason why I (and likely EMF) are moving out of the area.

Even though Nashville has gotten pricey, it’s still not as expensive as Sacramento has become. Plus building construction is far less expensive and onerous.

Anywho, either of those places pale in comparison to NYC.
 
EMF is moving to Franklin, TN, which is actually more expensive that Rocklin, believe it or not, but there are less expensive adjacent areas. I'm not sure that costs were ever the driving factor of the move.

Btw, Family Radio's new HQ is just across the interstate at the same exit.
 
Country is not at all a far fetched possibility as a placeholder format. There are syndicators out there that would probably love to clear their programming / ads on a big FM signal in NYC.

Emmis could essentially enter into a month to month LMA (or something resembling an LMA from an economic terms vantage point) with a country format syndicator until 98.7 is divested. Simply put, the syndicator would pay Emmis to run its programming and ads on 98.7. Perhaps Emmis would receive a split of ad revenue under such an arrangement.
 
MarkW said:
Simply put, the syndicator would pay Emmis to run its programming and ads on 98.7. Perhaps Emmis would receive a split of ad revenue under such an arrangement.
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The problem with that is they have no ratings basis for those ads. It would just be a market clear, which isn't the same thing. Syndicators don't do month-to-month. They usually want you to sign a two-year contract minimum. If you sell the station, and the format changes, they still want their spots to air. They don't pay stations. They do barter, which means the local owner has to sell spots to make any money. And as we've said, Emmis doesn't have any staff.

What they're looking for is a turnkey format where they get paid. That's what they had from GKB. They're not looking for a contract with barter.

My take is that he wants a prospective buyer who just wants to try the signal out before making a commitment. That way they can make a realistic offer.

Or someone with whom he has an existing business relationship. If he wanted to play the format wheel, he wouldn't be selling.
 
TheBigA said:
The problem with that is they have no ratings basis for those ads. It would just be a market clear, which isn't the same thing. Syndicators don't do month-to-month. They usually want you to sign a two-year contract minimum. If you sell the station, and the format changes, they still want their spots to air. They don't pay stations. They do barter, which means the local owner has to sell spots to make any money. And as we've said, Emmis doesn't have any staff.
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There are plenty of syndicators that pay for clearances for the right to run their shows and barter. Cumulus' "Radio 103.9" WNBM was paid to carry Radio One/Reach Media's Tom Joyner Morning Show until it ended and DL Hughley afternoon show. Emmis' 1190 WLIB right now is being paid to run Reach Media's Erica Campbell and Al Sharpton shows around Westwood One's Gospel format. Money exchanges hands on many corporate deals to clear syndication. The goal is over a long terms to increase the national reach of a show increasing the value of the barter. in this case as a temporary format that could end at any time that benefit goes away.

TheBigA said:
What they're looking for is a turnkey format where they get paid. That's what they had from GKB. They're not looking for a contract with barter.

My take is that he wants a prospective buyer who just wants to try the signal out before making a commitment. That way they can make a realistic offer.
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Emmis has made it clear from the get-go they are not interested in another LMA. They want to sell to wind down their radio operations.

Unless they complete a deal with a buyer in the next 72 hours, they have contracted with another group (whether a 24/7 format operator like Westwood One or LRN) or another group owner like Radio One or Townsquare to provide programming for 98.7 until they do. It's not for any try before you buy, make money on barter, or anything else. Its just to keep the lights on and if it does become something that goes on for awhile can bring in a little bit of money.
 
lanceventa said:
Unless they complete a deal with a buyer in the next 72 hours, they have contracted with another group (whether a 24/7 format operator like Westwood One or LRN) or another group owner like Radio One or Townsquare to provide programming for 98.7 until they do. It's not for any try before you buy, make money on barter, or anything else. Its just to keep the lights on and if it does become something that goes on for awhile can bring in a little bit of money.
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Perhaps this explains a reason that Emmis has been mum concerning what will air on 98.7. As a sale of the station is still a possibility, they may be unsure themselves whether there will be an LMA with a purchaser, or whether the station remains unsold on Sept.1, and they have to arrange for temporary programming.
 
TheBigA said:
How about 24/7 formats. That's what's being discussed here. Do you have examples of them paying stations to run a format?
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Sure. Think of arrangements such as what Beasley is doing with Podcast Radio, some Sports network affiliations, or some of the commercial stations running K-Love under Network Affiliation Agreements like Flinn has.
 
lanceventa said:
Sure. Think of arrangements such as what Beasley is doing with Podcast Radio, some Sports network affiliations, or some of the commercial stations running K-Love under Network Affiliation Agreements like Flinn has.
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How about commercial music formats. That's what apparently is being discussed. Are you saying Westwood One pays stations to run their barter 24/7 music formats?
 
lanceventa said:
Sure. Think of arrangements such as what Beasley is doing with Podcast Radio, some Sports network affiliations, or some of the commercial stations running K-Love under Network Affiliation Agreements like Flinn has.
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As it was told to me a decade ago by a flinn staffer, i seem to recall EMF would take stations Flinn had but couldnt lease elsewhere, if EMF wanted it and would cover the monthly expenses. It wasnt suggested there was much beyond that, liek a lease fee

Thats one reason why EMF never ended up with 101.1 KWCA Redding, CA despite flinn about losing their ass*** on it for a few years because EMF already had a glut of signals there.

*** For a few years as Mix 101.1, they couldnt even bill enough to break even. They started billing enough to break even and a little extra, but had a hard time collecting on it
 
DavidEduardo said:
A good question and a valid premise.

Perhaps much is due to leaving family, the kid's friends and schools and other personal concerns.

The central part of California is not as "woke" as the coastal areas, so I don't think that values and lifestyle would be such an issue. This is a good topic for discussion and speculation.
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One of my former hoteling offices was in Rocklin, two blocks from the EMF headquarters. The area was fairly typical suburbia, although with a better mix than usual of retail, offices, and residential. My employee who was there could walk to work from his home, since subdivisions were mixed in with the offices and retail. You could in no way confuse it for Berkeley, or even Walnut Creek, as far as cultural factors were concerned. Nor would you confuse it for Bakersfield, on the other end of the cultural spectrum.

If one were to speculate about why EMF employees might not want to relocate, it would be in part those personal factors that you mentioned and in part the fact that real estate is expensive, even in that part of California, leading to a concern that, once you sold your house, you might never be able to buy back into the market again.
 
Mark Roberts said:
One of my former hoteling offices was in Rocklin, two blocks from the EMF headquarters. The area was fairly typical suburbia, although with a better mix than usual of retail, offices, and residential. My employee who was there could walk to work from his home, since subdivisions were mixed in with the offices and retail. You could in no way confuse it for Berkeley, or even Walnut Creek, as far as cultural factors were concerned. Nor would you confuse it for Bakersfield, on the other end of the cultural spectrum.

If one were to speculate about why EMF employees might not want to relocate, it would be in part those personal factors that you mentioned and in part the fact that real estate is expensive, even in that part of California, leading to a concern that, once you sold your house, you might never be able to buy back into the market again.
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I wouldn't put it beyond the range of possibility that, even if these folks are conservative by California standards, they've read/heard/watched what Tennessee's "conservative ideas" are and decided they weren't ready to sign up for that lifestyle.
 
lanceventa said:
Sure. Think of arrangements such as what Beasley is doing with Podcast Radio, some Sports network affiliations, or some of the commercial stations running K-Love under Network Affiliation Agreements like Flinn has.
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**double post, sorry*
 
For some reason one of replies was deleted. I just asked for clarification of a certain term used. But anyway, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that just because someone works for EMF or listens to one of their stations, that they would automatically disagree with how a state is run.
 
RMarino said:
For some reason one of replies was deleted. I just asked for clarification of a certain term used. But anyway, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that just because someone works for EMF or listens to one of their stations, that they would automatically disagree with how a state is run.
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Which has nothing to do with 98.7 New York and was deleted for being political. If you want to discuss politics there's an infinite number of other places to do. This site is an escape from politics unless it directly effects the radio business, which your post does not.
 
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