Albuquerque Commercial FM For Sale

[RF101]

I noticed RadioTVDeals.com has been listing an undiclosed FM in the Metro area for quite some time - promising full market coverage. Any ideas? I suspect it might be KABQ as that property still sits in the Aloha Trust, a pool of properties tbe lawyers and accountants are unloading at a discount. (A prime example of a recent trust sale would be KTDD, a Tacoma rimshotter which went for just $320K)


Your intel or guesses would be welcomed. Given that KABQ has a non-mountaintop SW transmitter site and its ad load has been underwhelming as of late I could see that one going cheap. I could easily imagine it being under $500K, extended real estate notwithstanding.

 

[AbqAnonymous]

The are only a couple of stand alone commercial FMs here. One would be KQTM 101.7 a sports talk format owned locally. KRZY 105.9 is owned by Entravision alongside 1450 AM but they also operate two TV stations which they may be able to sell to advertisers in some packaged deal. However given the struggles of Spanish-language stations in this market it could make sense to exit but I don't know if Entravision has sold any stations recently. But even if it did become available AGM or iHeart could probably purchase it and spin off 97.7 or 95.1 since 105.9 is likely a higher value facility. 107.1 I think is also commercially licensed but it is owned by Calvary alongside non-com KLYT 88.3. Although they did sell off the statewide network of translators for KLYT to VCY America in 2019. Perhaps they could merge the programming to 88.3 and sell 107.1 if they need cash but that rarely happens with religious broadcasters. So I doubt that is a possibility. And of course it is unlikely that iHeart, Cumulus or AGM would downsize.

104.7 was acquired by Clear Channel from a Spanish-language broadcaster in 2000 right after they acquired the other five FM stations from another company that put that cluster together in the mid 1990s. How it was even legal for them to purchase a sixth FM station here I don't know. They may have found some kind of loophole or maybe the FCC overlooked their market profile while they were still approving the sale of the other five. They also acquired 98.1 and 101.1 in Santa Fe so at one time they had six FM stations in both Albuquerque and Santa Fe as 94.1, 100.3, 104.1 and 107.9 covers both areas. At that point they dropped KTEG to 104.7 from 107.9 so they could launch the country format there. Then when they became a private company the got rid of the two Santa Fe stations quickly while 104.7 was placed in the Aloha Trust and KTEG was moved to 104.1 while 104.7 has run mostly "juke box" formats since then. This article Aloha Station Trust - Wikipedia mentions it as a defunct company since the owner passed away in 2018 although they still hold the license for KABQ-FM as well as two stations in Dayton, OH and Huntington, WV. So maybe there is now an urgent need to divest the remaining properties. However they may be trying to find religious broadcasters to buy these stations as a way sabotaging them if iHeart intends to remain in those markets and would not want them used for new competition. Perhaps there should have been some rules requiring a third party to manage any sale of a station in markets a company plans to stay in. But Albuquerque already seems to have more religious FM stations than anywhere else despite this area not having that large of an evangelical population. I suppose Vanguard might want it if became cheap enough since they seem to trying to find any way possible to expand their cluster. If they really need to get rid of it I don't know if donating it to a public broadcaster or school would be an option for them. But suppose KANW could take over it and run the full-time news and talk programming they currently have on the defective 107.5 translator then that could potentially challenge the ratings on KKOB which iHeart might like to see. I don't know if CNM would want to operate a station or not. I think the signal might go far enough south for NM Tech to run it but would they want it either? Of course if either of them were to run some kind of indie rock or a non-com AAA it could possibly hurt KTEG somewhat. Or what if they just convert the license to non-com like AGM did with KHFM and run a jazz format or something?

Anyway those are just some guesses and observations. No reliable intel here!

 

[crainbebo]

It will never happen but I'd love for Vanguard to acquire it, retire the 103.7 translator and move it to '104.7 the Oasis' with 100KW of smooth jazz coverage. KABQ was Smooth Jazz some years ago running the BA/Allen Kepler format. But unfortunately, the signal is in the 'distant' contour in the northern suburbs and doesn't reach Santa Fe where 95.9 no longer airs the format. Unless they can move 104.7 to Sandia. 105.1 and 104.1 are not on Sandia and may not be a big problem.

It will probably be a Spanish Religious non-comm (Nueva Vida? Vision Cristina like KCKN in Roswell?) or KANW will take it over. EMF doesn't need it as 90.7 and 105.5 cover the whole area just fine for their K-LOVE/Air 1.

 

[DavidEduardo]

104.7 was acquired by Clear Channel from a Spanish-language broadcaster in 2000 right after they acquired the other five FM stations from another company that put that cluster together in the mid 1990s. How it was even legal for them to purchase a sixth FM station here I don't know. They may have found some kind of loophole or maybe the FCC overlooked their market profile while they were still approving the sale of the other five.

Albuquerque at the time was Albuquerque/Santa Fe, a consolidated market. That allowed for 6 FMs. When Arbitron split them, the now-smaller ABQ qualified for fewer, but grandfathered operations were allowed until sold.

 

[Kent]

Albuquerque at the time was Albuquerque/Santa Fe, a consolidated market. That allowed for 6 FMs. When Arbitron split them, the now-smaller ABQ qualified for fewer, but grandfathered operations were allowed until sold.

I believe also, at the time, 104.1 and 104.7 didn’t overlap under the contour overlap method of determining markets prior to 2003. It was the citygrade signals that had to overlap, and 104.1 and 104.7 had citygrade contours that barely missed each other.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I believe also, at the time, 104.1 and 104.7 didn’t overlap under the contour overlap method of determining markets prior to 2003. It was the citygrade signals that had to overlap, and 104.1 and 104.7 had citygrade contours that barely missed each other.

Two signals in a market area (Arbitron / Nielsen MSA) count as two signals. For example, the Univision KRCD / KRCV in the LA metro don't overlap. But they count as two stations at the FCC. This has been true since the market quotas were established in the definitive implementation of duopoly rules.

 

[Kent]

Two signals in a market area (Arbitron / Nielsen MSA) count as two signals. For example, the Univision KRCD / KRCV in the LA metro don't overlap. But they count as two stations at the FCC. This has been true since the market quotas were established in the definitive implementation of duopoly rules.

I think we're saying the same thing but thinking of two different time periods.

When the old Clear Channel acquired Trumper and added the old KEXT 104.7, it was prior to the FCC's use of Arbitron market definitions. The FCC didn't start using Arbitron market definitions until 2003. Prior to that time, contour overlap and the total number of signals that overlapped or intersected determined a market. 104.1 and 104.7 miss overlapping city grade signals by a couple miles. After Clear Channel got bought by private equity, it had to comply with Arbitron market definitions. So, it had to put 104.7 and 95.1 into trust. It was able to keep 104.1 because, as you mentioned, it was considered a Santa Fe station. After KOAZ was moved into the market, Albuquerque had 45 stations again and could add either 95.1 or 104.7. It chose to add 95.1.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I think we're saying the same thing but thinking of two different time periods.

When the old Clear Channel acquired Trumper and added the old KEXT 104.7, it was prior to the FCC's use of Arbitron market definitions. The FCC didn't start using Arbitron market definitions until 2003. Prior to that time, contour overlap and the total number of signals that overlapped or intersected determined a market. 104.1 and 104.7 miss overlapping city grade signals by a couple miles. After Clear Channel got bought by private equity, it had to comply with Arbitron market definitions. So, it had to put 104.7 and 95.1 into trust. It was able to keep 104.1 because, as you mentioned, it was considered a Santa Fe station. After KOAZ was moved into the market, Albuquerque had 45 stations again and could add either 95.1 or 104.7. It chose to add 95.1.

Yes, you are right. That was why KFI was considered a "San Diego" station for Clear's cluster count there... all based on coverage and not on markets. But the decision to use Arbitron markets, combined with the unlinking of Santa Fe from ABQ as a market changed things in Albuquerque with a double impact.

 

[AbqAnonymous]

This is interesting info! So if Albuquerque and Santa Fe were once considered a combined market then Clear Channel would actually have had eight FM stations altogether. Before the translator was built at the end of 2006, the 98.1 signal from Las Vegas could be heard in Albuquerque and did have some listeners here because of the unique format and even when the former KLSK moved there some of their long time listeners could still tune it in. 101.1 could mostly be heard on car radios until the power upgrade for 100.9 was made in 2013 and although the "Mix 101" format was somewhat similar to what they were doing on 95.1 at the time, it switched to smooth jazz in 2005 and shortly after the former "Horizon" was dropped it became a more noticeable signal in ABQ. Also it is possible to hear 95.1 in Santa Fe and perhaps even 104.7 on a car radio though there is a translator on 104.5 El Dorado.

However the 104.7 site is about two or three more miles south of the site for 97.7, 106.3 and 105.5. 104.7 and 104.1 have always had coverage over just about the entire metro area. The old AGM cluster had stations either from the north or the south but they never went beyond the five FM limit in ABQ although I think they did once own 94.7 and 107.5 in Santa Fe but neither has ever has ever had a listenable signal in ABQ.

 

[Kent]

Albuquerque and Santa Fe were never considered a combined market by the FCC, but the Sandia signals overlapped most of the Santa Fe signals. So, the market for Sandia sticks was a lot larger prior to 2003. Now, most of those Santa Fe signals don’t count. Clear Channel, by the way, got KBAC 98.1 and KSFQ 101.1 when it bought Roberts Radio. At the time, KSFQ 101.1 had a weaker signal than it has today, which meant it didn’t quite overlap the Sandia stations. KBAC didn’t either as it was (and remains) licensed to Las Vegas.

I seem to remember that cluster was built like this:

KZSS 610 and KZRR 94.1 were owned by Anchor Media.
KLSK 104.1 was owned by John Sebastian. Those two formed a joint venture as KZSS/KZRR were the only remaining radio station under Anchor's ownership. River City bought Anchor Media for its TV stations and ended up having to take KZSS/KZRR/KLSK to close the deal.
Bengal Communications put together a cluster of KDZZ 1520 (now 1550), KHTZ 100.3, and KTEG 107.9.
Trumper bought Bengal after the Telecom Act of 96 passed. It bought River City's Albuquerque stations shortly afterward.
Trumper swapped KZSS 610 to LifeTalk radio for KSVA 95.1. (LifeTalk later swapped 610 to Citadel for 920 plus cash.)
Clear Channel acquired Trumper's stations in Albuquerque and Salt Lake City. (It seems like Jacor got an option to buy the rest of Trumper's stations if he put them up for sale within a certain timeframe when it acquired his Lexington properties. Clear Channel had recently purchased Jacor and exercised its option when Trumper put the stations on the block.)
Clear Channel purchased KXKS 1190, KABQ 1350, and KEXT 104.7.
Clear Channel got all of the Roberts Radio stations, including KSFQ 101.1 and KBAC 98.1. When private equity bought Clear Channel, it unloaded Santa Fe to EMF, which sold KBAC 98.1 to Hutton Radio and swapped KSFQ to the college for KSFR 90.7 (which it figured out it could move to Sandia).
After going to private equity, Clear Channel had to put two stations in trust because it was no longer grandfathered under the old ownership rules. It put KSYU 95.1 and KABQ-FM 104.7 into trust. After KABR 1500 was moved from Alamo Community to Isleta as KOAZ 1510, it became the 45th station in Albuquerque. Clear Channel/iHeart took KSYU 95.1 back from trust. KSYU (now KOLZ) has a better signal than 104.7.

 

[AbqAnonymous]

It will never happen but I'd love for Vanguard to acquire it, retire the 103.7 translator and move it to '104.7 the Oasis' with 100KW of smooth jazz coverage. KABQ was Smooth Jazz some years ago running the BA/Allen Kepler format. But unfortunately, the signal is in the 'distant' contour in the northern suburbs and doesn't reach Santa Fe where 95.9 no longer airs the format. Unless they can move 104.7 to Sandia. 105.1 and 104.1 are not on Sandia and may not be a big problem.

It will probably be a Spanish Religious non-comm (Nueva Vida? Vision Cristina like KCKN in Roswell?) or KANW will take it over. EMF doesn't need it as 90.7 and 105.5 cover the whole area just fine for their K-LOVE/Air 1.

I doubt it would be legal to move 104.7 to Sandia Crest. It would probably have to downgrade to a class A but even then it probably still would not be permissible since I estimate the crest is about 30 miles from Peralta Ridge where 105.1 is located. However 104.1 probably could with 104.7 being about 40 miles from the crest and two vacant channels between them. Or if they could move 104.7 farther south like maybe to the KXFR 91.9 tower then it could possibly allow 104.1 to move to Sandia if there are no other issues. It would give iHeart four crest stations while devesting 104.7 although its value would likely go down quite a bit. However if KOAZ moving into Albuquerque allowed for ownership of five FMs then they should wait and see if the new AM at 1100 gets licensed first.

KANW taking it would probably be the best option for the community. They could also maybe make 89.1 a news/talk format while doing New Mexico music full time on 104.7. Most likely it probably does go religious unless Vanguard buys it.

 

[Kent]

I doubt it would be legal to move 104.7 to Sandia Crest. It would probably have to downgrade to a class A but even then it probably still would not be permissible since I estimate the crest is about 30 miles from Peralta Ridge where 105.1 is located.

Correct. 104.7 would’ve moved to Sandia in 1995 if that had been an option.

However 104.1 probably could with 104.7 being about 40 miles from the crest and two vacant channels between them.

104.1 can’t move to Sandia without a change in city of license. Full class C's can’t put a city grade signal over all of Santa Fe from Sandia. EMF was able to move the old KSFR 90.7 to Sandia because it’s a noncommercial operator, and the city of license coverage rules are different for noncommercial stations. Also, I don't believe commercial operators can move a station into another market if it would put them over the ownership caps, and changing 104.1’s city of license would likely put iHeart over the ownership cap in Albuquerque.

 

[AbqAnonymous]

I was thinking that since KABG was granted a CP to move to Sandia if anything else from Peralta Ridge could be moved there. I believe that KABG will still be licensed to Los Alamos even though I think it is too far away. But apparently it is permissible. 104.1 seemed like the only possibility but of course if it could have been done it probably would have. The KABG move comes after AGM got a transmitter on Sandia when they purchased KIOT in 2017, iHeart has always had sticks there. Plus if 104.7 was any factor they could have done something all the years they owned it. KHFM may be all that prevents 95.1 from moving there and since 95.5 is now a non-com it probably could have moved there if not for KOLZ.

 

[Kent]

I was thinking that since KABG was granted a CP to move to Sandia if anything else from Peralta Ridge could be moved there. I believe that KABG will still be licensed to Los Alamos even though I think it is too far away. But apparently it is permissible.

KABG convinced the FCC that the Longley-Rice signal contours should be used to justify service to Los Alamos. I'm not sure how they convinced the FCC of that, but, from looking at the application, the FCC clearly bought it. Regardless, even under the Longley-Rice model, there are times when the KABG proposed signal contour looks to just barely cover all of Los Alamos. I'm not sure you could do the same with Santa Fe. Also, I believe Longley-Rice is a point-by-point model, and, given the terrain between Sandia and Santa Fe, I'm not sure the signal would be stronger northeast of the transmitter. It’s been a long time since I've seen point-by-point models of Sandia signals, but I seem to remember that model shows Sandia signals as being significantly weaker toward the east.

104.1 seemed like the only possibility but of course if it could have been done it probably would have. The KABG move comes after AGM got a transmitter on Sandia when they purchased KIOT in 2017, iHeart has always had sticks there. Plus if 104.7 was any factor they could have done something all the years they owned it. KHFM may be all that prevents 95.1 from moving there and since 95.5 is now a non-com it probably could have moved there if not for KOLZ.

104.7 is pretty much a non-factor when it comes to moving to Sandia. It’s about as far north as it can get as it will considering it has to protect both 104.1 and 105.1. Moving it to Sandia would short-space it to both as you have to afford protection to both the second and third adjacent channels. It was a late arrival when it was moved out of Socorro, and it moved about 10 years too late to have a crack at getting on Sandia.

KOLZ was also a late arrival signing on around 1995. I’m not 100% certain, but KHFM would seem to be a barrier to it moving to Sandia. Both are class C1's, which means they would be afforded less protection, but they might still be too close. KOLZ would have to operate at substantially lower power to remain at a C1 at Sandia, too, and it would be unlikely to be able to upgrade to a full Class C. Operating at lower power to be on Sandia might be worth it, but the full C's there are mostly 20,000 watts or below. A C1 would likely be less than 10,000 watts from that height. Also, when that allotment was first granted, there was a 95.3 licensed to Grants. That station appears to have turned its license in, but the allotment might still be preserved as FM allotments don't go away when a station signs off for good, unlike AM's. If that adjacent allotment in Grants is still on the books, KOLZ is likely handicapped there, too.

 

[fybush]

It's a little more complicated - even though 95.5 is noncommercial, it's still in the commercial part of the band, and so it has to follow the commercial-band rules for COL coverage. (Not that it matters - the existence of 95.1 over on the west side prevents 95.5 from moving to Sandia no matter what; likewise, 95.1 can't go to Sandia because of 95.5.)

As for 104.7, even if 104.1 wasn't a factor (and it's a big one, of course, as is 105.1 Santa Fe), there's another reason it can't go to Sandia: the IF spacing rules still prohibit stations that are 10.6 or 10.8 MHz apart from being closely sited. You need 41 km of spacing between a class C on 94.1 and a C1 on 104.7. KABQ is 62 km distant from Sandia at its current location.

 

[fybush]

The flip side to this is that if the 92.7 from Socorro hadn't been moved to 104.7 and then upgraded to class C and then moved again to 104.7C1 Bosque Farms, 104.1 could actually have otherwise fit as a full Sandia signal, albeit a C1 instead of a C because of spacing to 104.5C in Bloomfield/Farmington. It would have needed a change of city of license, which is not impossible even now. (If anything, it's actually potentially easier than it used to be - the adoption of the Urbanized Area policy a few years ago meant that a move from Santa Fe to the ABQ area is considered a move from one urbanized area to another. That's allowed, whereas a move from a non-urbanized area like Socorro to an urbanized area like ABQ is nearly impossible.)

There's just one little catch: that pesky IF rule means you can't co-locate a 104.1 with a 93.3. So 104.1 would have to shift to 104.3, which is OK - that appears to be fully spaced up there now, too, except for 104.7.

Not happening, of course, largely because of ownership caps: iHeart's already at the limit in ABQ, so it's more valuable to them to have a Santa Fe 104.1, a full complement of ABQ FMs and spin off the 104.7 rimshot, versus being down one FM in Santa Fe and still being over the limit in ABQ.

 

[JMpstar]

Could've been this - KABQ gone from Aloha Trust.

Delmarva Educational Association Acquires 104.7 KABQ-FM Albuquerque - RadioInsight

After thirteen years in the Aloha Stations Trust to be divested, iHeartMedia is finally parting ways with 80s Hits 104.7 KABQ-FM Bosque Farms/Albuquerque. Stuart Epperson, Jr. and Nancy Epperson’s Delmarva Educational Association will receive the station via a donation. Delmarva will pay $80,000...

radioinsight.com

 

[Kent]

Could've been this - KABQ gone from Aloha Trust.

Certainly seems possible. Apparently, iHeart is donating 104.7 for a tax deduction.

After that deal closes, the Aloha Stations Trust will still have four stations. Two are in metro Dayton, OH, and the other two are AM properties in the Ashland, KY/Huntington, WV area.

 

[wastedtalent23]

It appears that Delmarva Educational Association has a connection with Salem. Could 104.7 become yet another signal with Religious programming? There's already 88.3, 90.7, 91.5, 91.9, 96.9, 98.9, 105.5, 106.7, 107.1 (did I forget any?). How many does Albuquerque need? If a company had just the last 5 signals that I listed, the ones on the commercial side of the FM band, that could be a cluster in itself. That would be better than what Vanguard has. Or, if Vanguard had a few of them, they could actually be a viable competitor vs. the "Big Three".

 

[b-turner]

How many religious stations does Albuquerque need? To cover all the religious groups out there in Christianity alone, a few thousand should do it. Having worked a station that sold time to ministries, I was always amazed at how one little difference between two denominations was enough for both sides to throw out the baby with the bath water. I always thought they were sort of like football. You have all these teams. They all have the same goal of reaching the end zone. They just have slightly different ways of moving down the field. It might sound like the same thing on each station but they all have their own angle and those that strive not to be denominational in approach, oh, they're accused of 'watering down' the message.