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AM Station for sale..Which one?

I checked the Kenton County PVA site, and the current assessment for that property is $96,000. It was $277,000 under Plessinger and $303,700 under Davidson. That was in 2006.

I'll give them $125,000. Is that too high?
 
JeffDavis said:
I checked the Kenton County PVA site, and the current assessment for that property is $96,000. It was $277,000 under Plessinger and $303,700 under Davidson. That was in 2006.

I'll give them $125,000. Is that too high?
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That's probably all it's EVER been worth.

I BS'd a lot with Dick Plessinger the year before he died and was selling the station. He insisted he could have gotten $2.1 million for it, but settled for $1.9 million because his wife told him to get rid of it. He had some side agreement with the buyer to do an engineering study to increase power and add an eastern lobe to the signal. Unfortunately, he died before that happened. If those two things could be approved, it might be worth something. I can not receive them in Batavia or Amelia.
 
1320 WCVG was my guess when this thread was first posted but discounted that after considering the asking price. Why would they ask $750,000 for WCVG when it's only worth $125,000?

WDJO 1480 is not the station advertised for sale.
 
When Media Services Group calls a station claiming that they represent an "interested buyer" your station isn't worth crap... but when they represent a seller, the station being sold (no matter how challenged it is) is a worth a fortune. I learned the hard way... when those calls come in to your station from a broker, have YOUR BROKER call them back. Do not try, under any circumstances, to deal with these glorified used car salesmen without representation. Herb Tarlek was a saint compared to these greedy idiots...

A well known broker once called me and complained "We want to deal with you directly, we don't want talk to your broker anymore... he's very polarizing and interjects far too much subterfuge into the deal"... I told them "Good! Then he's doing his job. Have a nice day..."
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
With regards to WSAI being heard over a long distance in the 1960's - Back in 1964, I went to Harlan, Ky. with a friend who grew up there. That night, we were in his friend's car and he had one of the push-buttons on his car radio set to 1360. WSAI came in there with only an occasional drift from time to time.
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I used to listen to WSAI on the car radio every Sunday evening from Batavia to Morehead Ky back in the mid sixties. The signal was great to Maysville, but after that, forget it. Seldom could I keep it tuned to Flemingsburg. During the day, about the same range.
 
It was offered to us for something around 400 K with terms.

It was a pass. Kind of a technical mess. We thought about an addition to the building but, even that is a mess.
 
The WCVG deal seems as difficult to work as the WPFB-AM deal. At $750,000 how could you ever make it with a station that is break even? Why would a station that sold for $472,500 less then a year ago and is break even now, go for $750,000? I don't understand what is different now? Am I missing something? I'm trying to understand the economics of radio and I'm having trouble understanding why anyone would purchase a business that doesn't or can't make money. What am I missing?

Thanks for your help.
 
Bizman said:
The WCVG deal seems as difficult to work as the WPFB-AM deal. At $750,000 how could you ever make it with a station that is break even? Why would a station that sold for $472,500 less then a year ago and is break even now, go for $750,000? I don't understand what is different now? Am I missing something? I'm trying to understand the economics of radio and I'm having trouble understanding why anyone would purchase a business that doesn't or can't make money. What am I missing?

Thanks for your help.
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I don't profess to be a sage businessman, but I do profess to not invest in anything with a payment book attached to it. How does it change the equation if someone walks in & plops down X number of dollars and buys himself a radio station? What would say $500K draw in a money market? My calculator says a little over $1000 a month. Could that same $500K cash flow better than a grand a month after expenses invested in this radio facility? If so, it may be a better yielding investment than a money market fund, although the safety of the principal is questionable. If it could cash flow as little as 5 grand a month, it may be a remarkably good choice. Not having a nut to crack changes the whole outlook IMHO.
 
Re WSAI signal...back in the day (late 60s/early 70s) WSAI put in a solid signal day and night...in Beavercreek. In the late 70s, even, they were doing van hits in Centerville on occasion. Never a Kentucky powerhouse, though...and today, it's in disrepair and competing with a lot more noise on the band (as is everyone).
 
1360 is a waste these days. CC has seems to have no idea what to do with it. The market does need two all sports stations when one of them only carries Fox Sports and offers no local programming.,

D. Parks has his hands full these days leaving a real void of someone who knows what they are doing to program the two stations. The musical chairs of hosts on 1530 is pretty sad considering what size market Cincinnati is. 1360 coud generate a lot more revenue if they had the right person making the programming and sales decisions.

There are very basic things that could be done to add at least $300,000 by doing adding some key programming and NTR events.

.
 
1360 could really gain some interest by featuring local high school sports and play-by-play. Here we are in February and no one carries local high school basketball games of Cincinnati and suburban area schools. To me, it is a sad void.
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
1360 could really gain some interest by featuring local high school sports and play-by-play. Here we are in February and no one carries local high school basketball games of Cincinnati and suburban area schools. To me, it is a sad void.
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You mean they should serve the public? Heck, they would have to override their expensive computers and hire someone to do this! Probably ain't gonna happen....
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
1360 could really gain some interest by featuring local high school sports and play-by-play. Here we are in February and no one carries local high school basketball games of Cincinnati and suburban area schools. To me, it is a sad void.
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The were running St. X football games, most likely on a time-buy basis.
 
KevinFodor said:
Cincinnati Kid said:
At night, in some spots even in the Greater Cincinnati area, WSAI - 1360-AM - has reception problems. It makes me wonder how that station had the ratings it did back in the 1960's when they had rock music.
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Very easy answer, Kid...less urban sprawl in the 1960's...even in Cincinnati.

What are today considered, "northern suburbs", were called "Hamilton", "Fairfield", etc. And most back then looked at those as areas separate of Cincinnati. (Which is why WMOH survived for many years as a "top 40" station even being in the shadow of WSAI.)

Same is true in Columbus...where WCOL-AM at 1230 blanketed what was "the city" back in the 1960's...today, because of urban sprawl, it's tough to hear in Hilliard and Dublin at night these days...

There's lots of engineering reasons for this, but, alas, I am not and have never called myself anything remotely like an engineer...so those of you who are, please explain the technical aspects if you haven't already...
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The other type of sprawl - the proliferation of AM and FM stations on the dial - have added to the interference levels. Plus add florescent lights and other technological factors to the mix - even the hash that comes from good ol' IBOC (not just on WSAI, but on adjacent stations).

And if a station hasn't invested much into upkeep at the tx site - especially the ground systems - that will add to the deterioration.
 
Isn't 1360's ground system in bad shape? I doubt CC cares about it much since it isn't a money maker like WLW. Even 10 years ago it had a better signal than is has now.
 
We have spoken about WSAI and WPFB AM but what do you think WMOH would be worth today? Their day time programming is the weakest on the dial. The only thing they have going for it is their high school coverage. That Bob that does the high schools is good. Why do they call themselves a Cincinnati station when they do their I.D. when their ratings are so bad.

Their local news coverage is weak. They don't seem to deliver breaking news like they used to. You used to be able to count on them at times of emergency but you can no longer depend on them. There was a time when the station took pride in their news coverage. What happened?

It is a real plus they are streaming and I like their processing. However, the local morning show has no direction. It seems they talk only about what interests the main host Chris something. It really is the weakest morning show in the market by far.

Someone who realy understands how to run a local AM station could make money. What format would you put on WMOH to put them in a better position to compete?
 
pioneer71 said:
We have spoken about WSAI and WPFB AM but what do you think WMOH would be worth today? Their day time programming is the weakest on the dial. The only thing they have going for it is their high school coverage. That Bob that does the high schools is good. Why do they call themselves a Cincinnati station when they do their I.D. when their ratings are so bad.

Their local news coverage is weak. They don't seem to deliver breaking news like they used to. You used to be able to count on them at times of emergency but you can no longer depend on them. There was a time when the station took pride in their news coverage. What happened?

It is a real plus they are streaming and I like their processing. However, the local morning show has no direction. It seems they talk only about what interests the main host Chris something. It really is the weakest morning show in the market by far.

Someone who realy understands how to run a local AM station could make money. What format would you put on WMOH to put them in a better position to compete?
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It's owned by Vern Baldwin now...be happy it didn't become another brokered paytoilet of paid religion when he bought it from Findlay Publishing.

Chris is Vern's son-in-law, which likely explains why he gets to do mornings regardless of talent level or quality of programming.
 
Thanks for the update on who owns them and who the morning host is. I agree that it is good they are fighting the battle of doing local AM radio.

Would you keep their current format or change it to something else? Since WPFB AM has dropped Country Classics should they go to that?
 
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