No.. The "Friends of WRR" will not allow that to happen. They have blocked an outright sale before.
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Any Updates on WRR and KESN?
- Thread starter Ryan Williams
- Start date
Maybe the delay is some group trying to work out a multi-station swap/acquisition. Perhaps that is why we also don't know the status of KESN.
Yeah, yeah, a swap was proposed a long time ago and it was declined, but 103.3 has a better signal in Dallas proper (probably covers 75%+ of the City of Dallas population with a 60 dBu) than 105.7 and that was a long time ago with different people at all sides of the table.
Is there an all-Spanish sports format anywhere in the US and would it work here?
Not for the Grayson/Wise County FM rimshots. Not "highest and best use" for those signals at all.
Univision is trying TUDN on a rimshot in Houston and it probably will only last a matter of months, but still, those rimshots have better signals in the heavily hispanic areas of Houston-Galveston.
That was a Cumulus/Service Swap...KRNB would have went to 93.3 and KLIF-FM (or whatever it was at the time..The Bone or Merge) would have went to 101.1 and WRR would have gone to 105.7. The City of Dallas and the "Friends" shot that down quick, fast and in a hurry. The only way WRR is outright sold is when the "Friends" all are dead.
It took a while longer, probably because of the pandemic, but a deal was announced today between WRR and KERA
The city is clearly not going to move WRR in a sale, and NTPB was the favorite for any management agreement, so nothing surprising really, in fact, sounds good, but why..... why would the city make NTPB continue to run WRR for SEVEN more years from Fair Park!? What sense does that make?
That stood out for me as well. My first thought is that the city will pick up part of that expense since its their land and building. NTPB picks up the costs of staff and other operations. The tower is nearby too so that saves some time and money. The other cultural groups in the Park are probably happy about that.
Huh? WRR transmits from the Cedar Hill tower farm, and has done so since the 1980s. The Fair Park transmitter facility was taken down many years ago.
That seems like very reasonable speculation.
It's also illustrative of why the City owning a non-core asset that is so far outside of its core competencies and a pawn in political maneuvering is a terrible idea.
I like classical music personally and am glad it is available on the radio dial in North Texas, but it is a dying format that is particularly poorly suited for a commercial operation, much less one run by an owner that wants to meddle in programming (city council meetings in the past, etc.) and is not capable of effectively running its own operation. It's also not exactly broad appeal in 2022.
The deal with NTPB fixes some of these issues, but being forced to maintain a separate operation for seven more years is throwing away a lot of synergies and wasting a lot of money and does not make me optimistic.
Really, what would be better is if the City were to just to sell WRR for what the market will bear and if NTPB thinks classical is viable in DFW they can bid for 101.1 or look for another signal to put the format on.
Out of the City's 1.3 million population, how many have any interest in classic music radio at all? Maybe 5%? Maybe.
I think we're at a point now where the types of buyers that have that kind of money wouldn't keep it classical. The Friends keep reminding everyone to what happened in Houston. If the city put the station up for sale, their fear would come true. Because in Houston, the public radio station went into debt to buy a station for the classical format, and wasn't able to meet the debt payments. Truthfully, classical ISN'T viable. Not in Dallas or pretty much anywhere. There's a limited audience for this format, and limiting the financial exposure can help ensure it's longevity.
It actually makes sense for NTPB to run WRR. Would they put KKXT on 101.1 and move WRR to 91.7. KKXT could become a commercial station and do even better than before. The only thing about a signal swap is 91.7 comparable to 101.1.
I have my opinion on the Houston Classical demise. The price paid for the signal was substantial. They moved classical to the new frequency and within about 3 months ran a pledge drive that missed the mark by, I think about 20%. Then they let the entire staff go, went Classical 24 and the FM signal put up for sale. The loss on the sale was $432,000.
Folks in public radio say you don't have successful pledge drives until about the 2 years in period. Since the classical programming simply moved from 88.7, I suppose that did not apply. I have seen commercial stations promote a frequency swap heavily and pay for it in the first ratings period. My point, Classical was never given the chance to succeed at 91.7. It seemed more like UofH wanted out of classical radio. In essence they turned it into a computer in a closet.
Folks in public radio say you don't have successful pledge drives until about the 2 years in period. Since the classical programming simply moved from 88.7, I suppose that did not apply. I have seen commercial stations promote a frequency swap heavily and pay for it in the first ratings period. My point, Classical was never given the chance to succeed at 91.7. It seemed more like UofH wanted out of classical radio. In essence they turned it into a computer in a closet.
This is very similar in function to Ideastream Public Media’s public service operational agreement with Kent State University’s WKSU (which was used to merge Ideastream’s WCPN into WKSU with no loss of jobs and a signal upgrade for co-owned classical WCLV; this also allowed WKSU to drop all classical programming). Ideastream gets to operate WKSU for ten years with the university providing some administrative functions but otherwise relieved of $100K in annual expenses.
Only difference here is that WKSU moved to the Ideastream studios in downtown Cleveland; Kent State is repurposing the former studio building.
Just for timeline background in Houston: Classical 91.7 KUHA was launched in May, 2011. After funding issues most of the staff was laid off in October 2013. The station was put up for sale in the Summer of 2015, and sold in July 2016. So it had been around for four years when Houston Public Media decided it wasn’t viable.
Part of the problem with KUHA was that it was (and still is) a Class C2 in a sprawling market, so listeners with crummy radios on the far side of the market had reception issues.
I would imagine the fact that the city still owns WRR would prevent any swap like that. I haven't seen the specifics, but I'd expect NTPB will convert 101.1 to non-commercial. In my view, the city should have run it that way, rather than losing money as a commercial station. When WNYC was owned by the city, it was run as a non-com in the commercial band.
KKXT and KERA have about the same signal coverage. From a purely business standpoint, moving KERA to 101.1 and WRR to 90.1 probably makes better sense because KERA is the station that brings in the bulk of NTPB's revenue. 101.1 is a better signal than 90.1 and 91.7 are.
The Big A, however, is likely correct that the agreement with the city will likely not allow a move like that. We'll know more at some point as the terms of this deal will be public information.
BTW I imagine NTPB could continue to operate the station as a commercial license by forming a separate taxable company. This is how WTTW in Chicago runs WFMT as a commercial station that's owned by a non-profit. But as I said, I think there's more upside to running WRR as a non-profit. Assuming the city agrees.
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