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CBS Columbus has a buyer

B

boyerfm

Guest
This morning's Inside Radio rumor mill item comes to pass - Jeff Wilks will pay $138 million for four stations in Kansas City - including "Country 94.1" KFKF-FM, country "Q-104" KBEQ-FM, CHR "Mix 93" KMXV and soft AC "Star 102.1" KCKC. In Columbus Wilks buys rock "Q-FM 96" WLVQ, "Country Legends K95.5" WHOK and "107.1 The Big Wazoo" WAZU. CBS has yet to announce who's the high-bidder for its clusters in Fresno and Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point.
 
According to Q-FM's GM, it's a good thing. This company wants to be in the market and believes in promotions and marketing; 2 things lacking since CBS ran the stations into the ground.
 
Columbus will be their largest market from a revenue standpoint, so the stations should get some love. It'll be interesting to see what they do from a personnel standpoint - both on-air and management/sales. Are there changes in the air??????????????
 
radiorep said:
Columbus will be their largest market from a revenue standpoint, so the stations should get some love. It'll be interesting to see what they do from a personnel standpoint - both on-air and management/sales. Are there changes in the air??????????????
Click to expand...

While Columbus may be a higher-revenue market than KC (despite the fact that KC is 9 notches above Columbus in population rankings), I'd imagine the portfolio Wilks is acquiring bills substantially more than the Columbus trio. With the exception of LVQ, the Columbus properties certainly have much weaker signals.

My question: So what IS going on at Nabco? At least one poster was very vociferous about major changes in the works there, including facilities changes. Was Nabco close, but the deal fell through? Is Wilks going to buy Nabco (I highly doubt they'd sell)? None of the above?

Also, I note that Clear Channel will STILL remain -- amazingly -- the only local broadcaster with more than just one full city-grade FM signal. I'm beginning to think that this will never change. For that reason alone, I wish one of the local guys had pulled it off.
 
This is bad. Really bad.

Wilks is widely known in some circles as quite possibly the WORST small group in radio.

At risk of being attacked for sounding too biased or disgruntled...do your research. Check out the aftermath in places like Des Moines, and the current debacles in Fresno and Reno. If you are super savvy, do some digging to find all the lawsuits that are pending against them.

Based on what I know of this group, the idea that they can even operate stations in a market of any reasonable size is laughable.

If you are in the cluster, I am very sorry. I know that this is a scary and uncertain time for you all. I feel for you.

But, get your T&R's ready now. You'll want to be gone before they even take over.

Seriously. Reference this post a year from now, and tell me I am wrong.
 
In Des Moines and other markets, Wilks cut the staff as much as possible, automated almost everything, got the bottom line to look as good as possible, then dumped the stations.
 
Found this bit of history on the Wilks Broadcasting Des Moines Cluster:

http://www.geocities.com/iowamedia/arch3-4-2001.htm

Iowa Media Resource Page

April 10, 2001

Here is a recap of recent events at Wilks Broadcasting Des Moines. Jack O'Brien has been chosen to oversee the cluster. There was a shake-up at KHKI as Morning man Jim Franklin is out, as is Angella Lynne middays. JC Walker moves from afternoons to mornings, Program Director Savannah Jones takes over middays. Jim Olson goes from nights to afternoon drive. Jack Emerson was let go after 20 years with KGGO in what can only be described as a cost cutting move. Rumor has it that there will be more cuts.....

http://us.geocities.com/iowamedia/arch5-6-2001.htm

Iowa Media Resource Page

June 22, 2001

The sale of the Barnstable cluster to Wilks Broadcasting is final and with it both Mark Hendrix the KGGO and KRKQ Program Director and Beverlee Brannigan the PD of and KJJY and KHKI are out. Operations Manager Jack O'Brien is reportedly handling programming of the Country stations on an interim basis. Is Wilks finished handing out pink slips?.....

http://www.geocities.com/iowamedia/arch7-8-2001.htm

Iowa Media Resource Page

NEWS ARCHIVES
July & August, 2001
August 29, 2001

The continuous downsizing of the workforce at Wilks Broadcasting in Des Moines continues. KHKI morning man and Music Director J.C. Walker, KJJY midday jock Ashley Hart, and three sales people are gone. Replacing Walker in mornings at The Hawk is Big John McCoy, who Wilks fired from KJJY a few weeks ago. Marc Hansen's Des Moines Register column has documented this soap opera in recent months.....One of the people fired from Wilks, Jim Franklin formerly of KHKI is now doing mornings at WPKR Appleton-Green Bay-Oshkosh, WI.....
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Des Moines Register, The (IA) - August 28, 2001

Staff cuts at radio stations produce `a soap opera'
By MARC HANSEN

They could make a sitcom out of what's happening at KGGO, KJJY, KHKI and the other Des Moines radio stations owned by Wilks Broadcasting.Trouble is, the 30-plus employees who either walked away or were pushed overboard during the past six months aren't laughing.To them, the carnage is about as funny as three hours of dead air. This isn't WKRP in Cincinnati. This is no TV show.I can't remember Arthur "Big...
 
I have to agree that it's bad. I feel badly for my friends at CBS in Kansas City. Some of the people in Kansas City seem more optimistic than others. The sad thing is that Wilks could really be a great broadcaster if it wanted to. It's getting a great staff in both Columbus and Kansas City, and the Fresno and Lubbock staffs are quite good given the market sizes. However, judging from its past actions, it's likely to make cuts that make Lowry Mays and Lew Dickey look like Mr. Rogers.
 
Wilks owned the cluster I now program at in Saginaw and dumped the stations prior to my arrival. The stories in the building still get told and run along similar lines of what a previous poster mentioned in Des Moines, and then some. While I have no personal experience with Wilks, I fear for some friends I know working at High & Nationwide. Many jokes directed my way at work today about avoiding radio in my hometown now at all costs.

I don't know if the posts still exist, but there was much discussion about Wilks a few years ago at http://www.mibuzzboard.com/ .

Best wishes to those involved and hoping that reality is not as grim as the pictures have been painted.
 
I'm guessing this is the end of Wags and Elliott. In an article awhile back they seemed to imply it was probably time to hang it up after an ownership change. If Wilks has historically slashed budgets by cutting salaries, I would think that would make them prime targets? It's too bad, they have been a Columbus staple.
 
Rumor has it that Wilks will be signing an LMA and sending it to the Justice Dept. Typically, those allow the buyer to take over operation of the stations in 4-6 weeks. They people from Wilks were in Columbus on Wednesday.
 
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