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And KSUR's next move: All Classical

You can make that argument, and I 80%-90% agree with it. However, one could reasonably argue that the Telecommunications Act was a bailout for those who made foolish investments in stations in the 80’s. .

The 80's were a period where stations could be bought at reasonable multiples and paid off in even a weak economy.

What destroyed many markets was Docket 80-90 where so many markets found the number of viable FM facilities had increased by as much as double with no increase in market revenue.

A large percentage of stations was not profitable going back to the annual financial reports of the 50's and 60's. Docket 80-90 simply made things worse. Add in the consolidation of banks that had been going on for several decades and the ability to get "home town" financing for small stations became rather difficult.
 
My main point, though, was that the bankruptcies of iHeart and Cumulus were 100% predictable, and anti-consolidationists were arguing that 15+ years before either happened.

The bankruptcies were causes by the seemingly endless supply of money coming from investment companies. If the radio companies couldn't buy radio stations, they would have bought something else. That's what Clear Channel did, buying up local concert promoters. There was always something else to buy. Then what happened in 2008? The total collapse of the economy. Did everyone predict that? Really? Once again, all of this has to be put in context.
 
Somehow if we could have had reasonable consolidation without the feeding frenzy it became. We've seen the map of how something like 15 companies became 6 and became 2. But what in the world did Clear Channel need with 2 AMs in Crossville, TN?

Randy Michaels had started a strategy of "buy, move and dump" to re-write the allocation map in Ohio when it was still Jacor. The idea wasn']t to buy a bunch of Chillicothes and Washington Court House's and hang onto them forever, but do your move-ins (Marion and Chillicothe to Columbus market for example), then re-sell the unwanted stations bought to be moved out of the way. The "dump" part largely didn't happen.
 
Somehow if we could have had reasonable consolidation without the feeding frenzy it became. We've seen the map of how something like 15 companies became 6 and became 2. But what in the world did Clear Channel need with 2 AMs in Crossville, TN?

Randy Michaels had started a strategy of "buy, move and dump" to re-write the allocation map in Ohio when it was still Jacor. The idea wasn']t to buy a bunch of Chillicothes and Washington Court House's and hang onto them forever, but do your move-ins (Marion and Chillicothe to Columbus market for example), then re-sell the unwanted stations bought to be moved out of the way. The "dump" part largely didn't happen.

And you hit on an excellent point, gr8oldies. Move-ins caused enormous damage.

When I arrived in Reno in 1977, there were 7AM and 7 FM signals. Below the rim of the Sierra, in the Lake Tahoe basin, were local FMs that served that community. In the early 80s, they moved their sticks to Slide Mountain and started serving Reno. There are now 30 FM signals in the market, a product of the Tahoe moves, new allocations and move-ins from distant places. It made for thinner slices of the ad revenue pie in the markets they moved to and deprived the original cities of license of a community resource.
 
And Reno had move-outs, too. KNIS on 94.7, wasn't it? The calls and programming went to a new non-comm on 91.3 and the allocation went to Sacramento.
 
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/201676/ksur-to-return-to-classical-k-mozart/ Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters will flip Oldies “K-Surf” 1260 KSUR Beverly Hills/Los Angeles to Classical “K-Mozart” on December 1 under the KMZT call letters.

This will be the third stint for the brand on 1260 as it previously aired for a few months in 2007 and again from 2011 until 2016. Mount Wilson relaunched the brand on 105.1 KKGO-HD4 Los Angeles and digitally in June. KSUR is currently running Christmas music until the flip takes place.

Station owner Saul Levine told the Los Angeles Daily News, that he “hopes that upgrades in the audio chain and more radios in the market capable of receiving the station’s HD signal will help build an audience for classical music on the AM band.” The station will compete against University of Southern California’s 91.5 KUSC Los Angeles.

The now former “K-Surf” Oldies brand will remain on 105.1 KKGO-HD2.
 
And Reno had move-outs, too. KNIS on 94.7, wasn't it? The calls and programming went to a new non-comm on 91.3 and the allocation went to Sacramento.

Scott, when was that? I don't recall 94.7 on the air in Reno when I was there, but I could certainly be wrong.
 
The reallocation from Carson City (as a full C) to Fair Oaks CA (as a B1) was completed in 1998, as KSSJ. It took most of the 90s to get it through the FCC.
 
The reallocation from Carson City (as a full C) to Fair Oaks CA (as a B1) was completed in 1998, as KSSJ. It took most of the 90s to get it through the FCC.


Just checked the Broadcasting Yearbook for 1977 (the year I arrived in Reno). It was there---on 94.7 and had been since 1970. Licensed to Carson City. I'm guessing that since I was 21 and working in commercial radio, I just didn't pay them any attention.
 
Currently KKDO Fair Oaks owned by Entercom as an Alternative format “Radio 94.7”. Running at 25,000 watts from a neighborhood cell tower.
Formally Smooth Jazz KSSJ.
The reallocation from Carson City (as a full C) to Fair Oaks CA (as a B1) was completed in 1998, as KSSJ. It took most of the 90s to get it through the FCC.
 
* not exactly saying that Tavis is a moron. Just more for the situation. I have always liked and respected Tavis. He has a good head on his shoulders and I still feel the real morons are surrounding him.But it's his name on the line.

Lets see: Tavis was kicked out of PBS because of sexual harassment of his production company employees. Now he's spending more than $500K on a crappy AM station at the wrong end of the band?

Confirmed: Moron.
 
I think we've established by now that Saul changes formats on his AMs like people change socks.

The only thing that's going to stop him from changing format to the next thing he decides he wants to listen to is another Tavis Smiley coming along to offer more than anyone should for 1260 and the wire transfer hitting his bank account.
 
Off topic, so as a site admin feel free to move this to its own thread - you have often cited your extensive time in Quito, and here cited your daughter eyeing a move to Chile. As someone, like you, who has lived abroad for many years, I'd love to hear your benchmarking of life in Cali vs. quality of life abroad. I often cite to others how there is a palpable joie de vivre found in other societies that is rarely sensed here. What are your opinions of the life experienced here vs. elsewhere? Any specific examples of differences that are prominent in your mind to highlight the misconception Americans have about life in other places?

A lot of the criteria involved in evaluating a residence has to do with one's own culture. In my case, despite being born in Cleveland of an Irish-British heritage, I am culturally Hispanic. So in many cases I have social difficulties dealing with "pure" Americans who don't have a multi-cultural background.

I find that I find more friends and can do business with greater ease in Latin America. That is due to my 60-some years of life in Latin American nations or in Hispanic communities in the US. So I'm going to feel more comfort in Chile or Colombia or Argentina (my three favorite nations) than in Texas or California... or, to a greater extreme, in Maine or Montana.

So my answer is "you will like the place you feel comfortable". Right now, in the Palm Springs area I have nicer conversations with our gardener and our housekeeper than with the neighbors. Language, culture and behavior are the key factors.
 
A lot of the criteria involved in evaluating a residence has to do with one's own culture. In my case, despite being born in Cleveland of an Irish-British heritage, I am culturally Hispanic. So in many cases I have social difficulties dealing with "pure" Americans who don't have a multi-cultural background.

I find that I find more friends and can do business with greater ease in Latin America. That is due to my 60-some years of life in Latin American nations or in Hispanic communities in the US. So I'm going to feel more comfort in Chile or Colombia or Argentina (my three favorite nations) than in Texas or California... or, to a greater extreme, in Maine or Montana.

So my answer is "you will like the place you feel comfortable". Right now, in the Palm Springs area I have nicer conversations with our gardener and our housekeeper than with the neighbors. Language, culture and behavior are the key factors.
On an unrelated note, perhaps the K-Surf Oldies will return after Christmas. Right now, KKGO-2 is airing the Go Country playlist.
 
On an unrelated note, perhaps the K-Surf Oldies will return after Christmas. Right now, KKGO-2 is airing the Go Country playlist.

No, they wont... are you not paying attention? KSUR 1260 will be all classical all the time
 
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