Clear Channel To Sell A Hartford FM?

[GreatCalloftheNE]

According to the latest buzz, Ckear Channel needs to divest itself of stations in number of markets including Hartford. According to FCC rules, "In markets with 14 or fewer radio stations, a company may own five stations, only three of which may be in one class, AM or FM."

Clear Channel has been grandfathered in with their ownership of four FMs in Hartford.

Now that they are taking the company private (which legally means an ownership change), they may have to divest themselves of at least one Hartford FM in order to comply with the rules.

Here's the info on Hartford and the other markets.

http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZMST/CCspins1206x.pdf

 

[kms575]

Well, they destroyed Kiss 95.7, in my opinion. It would be nice if someone else got the opportunity to run what was once a great station.

Maybe they will sell Kiss and flip Power 104 to spanish?

 

[rapking]

How many time's someone on this board...said That Power 104 will go to Spanish format ? Someday Hartford will be a city.. Not known for a little crap stop.. In between Boston and New York .

 

[kms575]

Well, at least it puts discussion back on the board
Honestly, I'd have no idea which FM would get sold. I'm just thinking it would be the lowest performer, or sell off a more lucrative station, and flip the lowest performer and increase revenue. Wouldn't that make sense?

 

[MarcB]

POWER and KISS have the lowest 12+ Numbers of the 4 FM CC stations in Hartford.

It's too bad Freedom Communications doesn't have the money to buy it. They do an excellent job with WLAT 910 so it would be perfect just to flip the format to an FM stick. "La Nueva Mega 95.7". ;D

Wildcard Senario: Davidon Media Group buys the station. Freedom sells their 3 AMers and then LMAs the FM station from DMG "La Nueva Mega 95.7."

I hope Racist One Does buy it. I hope Nassau Doesn't buy it.

If the FM goes Spanish Tropical I hope Freedom Moves WKND to 910 minus Al Sharpton. They can leave Sharpton on 1230 and make it Urban Talk.

 

[4dude]

95.7 is garbage,too much Hip hop!!

 

[GreatCalloftheNE]

It's too bad Freedom Communications doesn't have the money to buy it. They do an excellent job with WLAT 910 so it would be perfect just to flip the format to an FM stick. "La Nueva Mega 95.7". ;D

Wildcard Senario: Davidon Media Group buys the station. Freedom sells their 3 AMers and then LMAs the FM station from DMG "La Nueva Mega 95.7."

I thought Freedom Communications lost their licenses to receivership. What happened with that deal?

I doubt Davidson Media has the financial resources to purchase a Hartford FM. My guess is that any Hartford FM (even the lowest rated) would go for at least $50 million and probably more. Opinions on the purchase price?

 

[kms575]

Market #50 is nothing to sneeze at. People love to criticize Hartford, but the metro area has 1.3 million people and as diverse a population as youre going to get in many other big cities.
So, I'm guessing it would be a fairly big purchase.

 

[cabradio]

I doubt Davidson Media has the financial resources to purchase a Hartford FM.

And what information would you have that brings you to this conclusion? Davidson is a well funded group. The decision to purchase an FM in Hartford would primarily rest on what kind of ROI they would get by making the investment, not on whether they can afford it.

 

[BRNout]

POWER and KISS have the lowest 12+ Numbers of the 4 FM CC stations in Hartford.

It's too bad Freedom Communications doesn't have the money to buy it. They do an excellent job with WLAT 910 so it would be perfect just to flip the format to an FM stick. "La Nueva Mega 95.7". ;D

Wildcard Senario: Davidon Media Group buys the station. Freedom sells their 3 AMers and then LMAs the FM station from DMG "La Nueva Mega 95.7."

I hope Racist One Does buy it. I hope Nassau Doesn't buy it.

If the FM goes Spanish Tropical I hope Freedom Moves WKND to 910 minus Al Sharpton. They can leave Sharpton on 1230 and make it Urban Talk.

First of all, unless tu hablas español, I can't imagine that you'd prefer a Spanish format to the CHR that's on there now. Secondly, many of these boards are full of folks who are rah-rah on sticking *some kind of* Spanish format in markets where it really isn't justified. Occasional posts to the Boston board state the same thing.

This debate hit Philly and Clear Channel apparently read the board because they flipped a Hot AC to "Rumba" - in a market that's 3% spanish-speaking. As (I) predicted, ratings have dropped so far and I still don't see enough audience for a full market Spanish format in Philly. We'll see what happens over the next year but, barring big changes, this station will be a ratings flop.

Not to mention that the power ratings (i.e. revenue per rating point) are lousy for Spanish formats because they do not reach the "money" demos. Yeah, they can skew young, but young and ghetto. And, unlike an urban contemporary station (which can get a lot of ethnic cross-over), Spanish stations don't get the suburban non-Latino ears. Ever. Well, at least not long enough for advertizers to see $$.

It's why New York's famous WSKQ is #1 in the ratings but somewhere around 10th in billing. The reverse reason is why - in Boston - AAA WBOS is a ratings cellar dweller for Greater Media, yet makes a tidy profit and has been for years. They have a great power rating.

So far, a lot of corporate suits seem to feel that Spanish is the wave of the future - but I really don't see the money rolling in. Even in heavily latino markets, there are usually one or two winners and a bunch of losers that have Spanish language programming due to ownership and/or political reasons. And, more mature latino markets are seeing second and third generation folks gravitating toward english or mixed language (e.g. reggaeton) formats. So, the demo argument goes away eventually too.

Plus, Hartford is a market where a lot of the latinos are Puerto Rican - who generally speak English as well as Spanish (unlike the new immigrants from south of the river). Many of the younger and/or wealthier puerto ricans are probably happy with the offerings on 93.7/95.7/104.1 already.

So, let's not get carried away in wishing for Spanish on 95.7 or 104.1 - you might just get your wish of one fewer station for you to listen to in the market. Unless you speak Spanish [well] that is.

 

[MarcB]

My guess is that any Hartford FM (even the lowest rated) would go for at least $50 million and probably more. Opinions on the purchase price?

The last FM station to get sold in Hartford was WCCC around 10 years ago. I don't remeber the price but I think it was in the high 20s and that included a pea-shooter AM that at the time was nothing more than a simulcast partner. And I believe around the same time the Gilmore's (WATR Inc) got $26 million when they sold WWYZ Country 92.5 to the company that eventually became Clear Channel.



And in response to BRNout's post, I know a lot of Puerto Ricans who want an FM Spanish language Radio station. They say as long as the music mix is similar to what's currently on 910, they'll listen to the FM.

I don't speak Spanish or understand a word of it, but I like listening to Reggaeton. I usually listen to the Regaeeton shows on MEGA 910, Galaxia 1380, and HOT 93.7 FM. I also frequently listen to the webstream of LaKalle 105.9 from NYC.

 

[BRNout]

And in response to BRNout's post, I know a lot of Puerto Ricans who want an FM Spanish language Radio station. They say as long as the music mix is similar to what's currently on 910, they'll listen to the FM.

Marc,
Are you really going to tell me that there are more Puerto Ricans in the market (who want a tropical format on FM, by the way) than the current listenership of Power 104 or Kiss? That WLAT has numbers that come close to either station?

For sake of argument, let's compare WLAT with WPHH (as WKSS' numbers are higher):

WLAT's most recent 12+ numbers (all I have access to right now) indicate listenership that is about 1/5 of WPHH - and falling. In this case, I doubt that the 25-54 demo breakout would make that much of a difference versus overall listenership. If anything, they'd be uglier for WLAT because it's on AM (I'll spot you that one and we'll forget that for now). Even if that format were on FM, it would not increase listenership 4 or 5 fold beyond the hard-core Spanish listeners that already tune to 910. If we throw in the power ratio argument, then its truly a loser.

The demographic numbers don't support your argument. If they did, you would have had Spanish long ago.

And, you're seriously telling me that you'd rather have "rumba" as an option than what 104.1 or 95.7 are programming?

When 104.5 in Philly went Spanish, that frequency became dead to me. And, I actually DO understand some Spanish. But, I am not interested as they make it a point not to program to me at all. Thus, the option of an occasional song or newscast on 104.5 (as was the case before) is gone. You'd feel the same way if you lost one of Hartford's coveted FM signals to Spanish. There aren't many to spare in that market, either.

 

[radiolives]

Who would buy the one station Clear Channel may sell? I say a company thats already in the market. But Im not sure if CBS Radio wants to buy, but would be nice to add to their already 3 FM stations. Maybe Buckley may want to buy it. Then theirs Entercom who may look at it as a way to get WEEI into Connecticut like they did in Rhode Island. But we still don't know what station CC may sell. It could be Country 92.5 which does very well or it could be Power 104.1. It could also be River 105.9 or Kiss 95.7. I wouldn't mind seeing CBS Radio getting the station. If they got Country 92.5, CBS wouldn't have to do much work as they are doing very well. But if they got Kiss 95.7 or Power 104.1 they may change formats. And we also have to remember Kiss 95.7 and Power 104.1 are both on the same tower. So Country and The River seem easier to sell.

 

[GreatCalloftheNE]

Who would buy the one station Clear Channel may sell? I say a company thats already in the market. But Im not sure if CBS Radio wants to buy, but would be nice to add to their already 3 FM stations.

As it says in the original post on this subject, according to FCC rules, "In markets with 14 or fewer radio stations, a company may own five stations, only three of which may be in one class, AM or FM."

CBS already owns three FMs in the Hartford market; WRCH, WZMX, & WTIC. So it won't be them. It would have to be one of the big outfits. Maybe as you say, Entercom, or Greater Media.

 

[radiolives]

I was just thinking that after I posted the comment. Sorry about that.