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CBS Plans to sell Columbus Stations

A

Allfirdup

From All Access 5/23/06CBS Names Markets To Be DivestedCBS CORP. announces the markets in which it will be selling its radio stations. The stations CBS plans to divest include those in AUSTIN, BUFFALO, CINCINNATI, COLUMBUS, FRESNO, GREENSBORO-WINSTON SALEM, KANSAS CITY, MEMPHIS, ROCHESTER, and SAN ANTONIO. CBS previously disclosed its intent to sell smaller-market stations, but had not announced which stations are on the block.
 
Hmmm. Where to begin?Whoomever gets ahold of these stations has an uphill battle in my opinion. Sure, you've got QFM96, but after that, what else is there?You've got a country station that sounds about as good as a broken down pick-up on route 33, you've got issues coming out of the Wazoo or Wasu... or whatever. So, who will pick up QFM96 and who gets the rest of the cluster? Thoughts?
 
Saga could make a deal, keep QFM and WHOK, and spin off the rimshots to a smaller operator to recoup some of the 40M it would probably take to do a deal. But I doubt it happens. Note other conjecture in my post on the Cincinnati board.
 
Inventor989 said:
Saga could make a deal, keep QFM and WHOK, and spin off the rimshots to a smaller operator to recoup some of the 40M it would probably take to do a deal. But I doubt it happens. Note other conjecture in my post on the Cincinnati board.
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That's quiet possible... They (saga) could keep 103.5, 94.7, spin off 104.3 and 107.9 and buy 96.3 and 95.5/102.3Since these are on the block, wonder if other companies in the market such as RadioOne, and Salem are possibly interested?--Matt
 
I bet it will be Salem...they have been looking for a big FM stick in this market for a long time, and WLVQ is a great one for them to have.
 
xiradiodotcom said:
So if we have 96.3 "The Fish", what happens to 104.9 "The River"? And will 105.7 go back after Jurassic Rock?
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well the river is not owned by salem now, so it could stay the same, and 105.7 is owned by Clear Channel, so it wouldn't change. now if Salem does buy the CBS group here, what would happen to K95.5 and WAZU? Salem is not known for regular stations like any of the CBS stations.
 
My guess is that the stations will be pieced out. The only really good stick is 96.3 and that it would not make a strong turnkey cluster for an operator like Cox or Cumulus to come in. I would look for Saga to upgrade (and maybe spin off some weaker signals and/or simulcast 107.9 on 107.1 to get south of I-70)... Clear Channel might try the same thing.... buy 96.3 and ditch one of the rim-shots signals. Salem MIGHT be a player, but might be discouraged from doing a "Fish" format because there is already a Christian Contemp station in town. As a long shot, don't rule out North American or the Wolff Brothers picking off a signal or two, if not the whole cluster.
 
SonoSational18 said:
My guess is that the stations will be pieced out. The only really good stick is 96.3 and that it would not make a strong turnkey cluster for an operator like Cox or Cumulus to come in. I would look for Saga to upgrade (and maybe spin off some weaker signals and/or simulcast 107.9 on 107.1 to get south of I-70)... Clear Channel might try the same thing.... buy 96.3 and ditch one of the rim-shots signals. Salem MIGHT be a player, but might be discouraged from doing a "Fish" format because there is already a Christian Contemp station in town. As a long shot, don't rule out North American or the Wolff Brothers picking off a signal or two, if not the whole cluster.
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I could see Sega ditching 104.3 and buying 107.1 to simocast with 107.9 that way they would have north and south coverage and with the two frequencies could do a great job in columbus, 103.5 will reach columbus more once they move the tower to pickerington which they have applied to do.95.5/102.3 would make a decent property for someone, while its not a city grade signal it does put a great amount of wattage into columbus..96.3 is the real gem and I suspect it will be swaped up by a bigger named broadcaster, I would not be suprised if Salem would not consdier buying it to put a Christian AC on, it would give WCVO a run for the money.. Plus since WRFD is already doing their positive talk/chrisitan teaching format, it would complement WRFD by owning an FM. North american could go after it but not sure.. I do not seeing the Wolfes going after it, they have a problem by owning a TV station and a Newspaper and that's grandfathered in which means they cant easly puchase another station in this market without divesting a lot.CC has a great selection of FM signals in columbus, would they really want to try and ditch say 105.7 to go after WLVQ? I dont see them ditching 93.3, 92.3 or 97.9, nor do I see them ditching the new 106.7 move in for WLVQ but anything is possible.I personally do not see these 3 stations staying together as a cluster, but anything is possible! It will be interesting to see what happens :eek:) Format changes are a possiblity, 107.1 for sure is not doing great in the ratings but does take a few points from WBZX. Depending on whom purchases these stations, we could easly see 3 format changes...--Matt
 
Re the suggestions of a format flip at WLVQ if (and when) CBS actually sells: Would any new owner -- even Salem -- want to mess too much with such a consistently profitable operation?
 
Quote from: SonoSational18 on May 27, 2006, 10:24:48 amAs a long shot, don't rule out North American or the Wolff Brothers picking off a signal or two, if not the whole cluster. The Wolffs? How COULD they?Why not? They could go for a waiver. Cox added some FM's in Atlanta and they own TV and the daily newspaper in that market. Wolff could do the same if they wanted to.
 
If im not mistaken columbus is too small a market for the Wolffs to own more, Atlanta is the Number 10 market in the country with over 4.5 million people and we are number 38 with only 1.4 million.
 
Allfirdup said:
If im not mistaken columbus is too small a market for the Wolffs to own more, Atlanta is the Number 10 market in the country with over 4.5 million people and we are number 38 with only 1.4 million.
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Cox added stations to their Dayton cluster while owning the paper there. Dayton is a smaller market than Columbus. But that's beside the point, I have a feeling $40 million might be too much for the Wolfes to swallow to buy some additional radio properties.
 
Let's hope it doesn't go to Salem ... there's already enough Christian crap on TV and radio. What Columbus needs are some stations that don't sound as if they are on auto-pilot. The Cincinnati board speculates that Randy Michaels may be in the hunt. Let's hope so. He really knows how to program a station with some personality. That alone would make a huge dent in this market.
 
Dirty_Harry said:
Let's hope it doesn't go to Salem ... there's already enough Christian crap on TV and radio. What Columbus needs are some stations that don't sound as if they are on auto-pilot. The Cincinnati board speculates that Randy Michaels may be in the hunt. Let's hope so. He really knows how to program a station with some personality. That alone would make a huge dent in this market.
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Oh my God I never thought of Randy Michaels going after Q-FM-96...he used to work there! He used to own it under Jacor and they were pretty upset they had to divest WLVQ when they bought Nationwide. He could own it again, and then give CC a good run at it!
 
Dirty_Harry said:
Cox added stations to their Dayton cluster while owning the paper there. Dayton is a smaller market than Columbus.
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Cox added fringe signals that didn't move the needle very far with respect to their market revenue share.
 
Re the possibility of the Wolfes acquiring another station of they can seal a deal: Pretty soon, they probably wouldn't even need a waiver. Now that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin finally has his third Republican seat filled on the FCC, giving the Repubs a majority, many think that the 30-year-old newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership restriction will get dumped fast. As well it should, especially in a market like Columbus where only one owner has more than a single top-notch FM signal...and said owner wastes that prize signal by using it to needle another local owner instead of trying to build a "real" money-making, market-serving franchise. ( See post by Inventor989 at http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,37271.msg265110.html#msg265110 )
 
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