Cox Selling stations

[willdav713]

As you heard, Cox is selling around 26 stations to focus on larger markets.
If you were in charge of Cox, wouldn't you add KTKX to the list?
I was looking at the long list of Birmingham, Al radio that they currently own and it seems like more than their San Antonio cluster.

I haven't been to Birmingham since 2007, and yes I think the stations suck up there. Everything sounded AAA, Urban AC, or Gospel up there. Imagine the only Urban outlets not even playing rap, and you got Birmingham radio. No Movin, Jammin, or the like either. No real rockers either.

 

[fredcantu]

Cox has 4 of the top 5 stations in Birmingham. Not too sucky.

 

[willdav713]

Cox has 4 of the top 5 stations in Birmingham. Not too sucky.

I guess they live under a rock Either that or one flipped since then.

 

[Kent]

No, I wouldn't add KTKX to the list. Why would you sell one station when you have an otherwise successful cluster?

Like Fred, however, I was surprised Cox would sell Birmingham. As he mentions, it has 4 of the top-5 stations. It's also roughly 2 hours from Atlanta, which should make it a nice fit within the company. Greenville-Spartanburg surprised me a bit, too, for the same reason.

I also have to admit Hawaii being on the divestiture list surprised me. After all, if you want to take a vacation and write it off as a business expense, it seems like having property in Hawaii would help!

 

[Anonymouse]

No, I wouldn't add KTKX to the list. Why would you sell one station when you have an otherwise successful cluster?

You're forgetting KISS, if they sold KISS and KTKX we'd most likely get a real active or alternative rock station down here. Plus maybe a new format like rhythmic AC.

But I don't think that'll happen. San Antonio is a pretty large market, Cox is focusing on large markets only now.

 

[daypart]

San Antonio is a pretty large market, Cox is focusing on large markets only now.

If that's the case, based on the other markets mentioned above that they're pulling out of, we should expect they'll be unloading their cluster in San Antonio, too.

35 Greenville-Spartanburg, Asheville, Anderson
36 Salt Lake City
37 San Antonio
38 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce
39 Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo
40 Birmingham

 

[CTHank]

From the Cox press release:

Cox’s media properties for sale include -
• Birmingham (WAGG-AM, WBHJ-FM, WBHK-FM, WENN-AM, WZZK-FM, WZNN-FM, WBPT-FM, and CMG’s contract rights for WALJ-FM)
• Greenville (WJMZ-FM/HD3, WHZT-FM)
• Hawaii (KRTR-AM/FM, KPHW-FM, KCCN-FM, KINE-FM, KKNE-AM)
• Louisville (WRKA-FM, WVEZ-FM, WSFR-FM, WQNU-FM)
• Richmond (WHTI-FM, WKHK-FM, WKLR-FM, WURV-FM)
• Southern Connecticut ((WPLR-FM, WEZN-FM, WFOX-FM, and CMG’s contract rights for WYBC-FM)
• El Paso (KFOX-TV) (Fox affiliate)
• Johnstown (WJAC-TV) (NBC affiliate)
• Reno (KRXI-TV and CMG’s option and other contract rights for KAME-TV) (Fox affiliate)
• Steubenville (WTOV-TV) (NBC affiliate)

 

[saradio1]

San Antonio is a pretty large market, Cox is focusing on large markets only now.

If that's the case, based on the other markets mentioned above that they're pulling out of, we should expect they'll be unloading their cluster in San Antonio, too.

35 Greenville-Spartanburg, Asheville, Anderson
36 Salt Lake City
37 San Antonio
38 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce
39 Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo
40 Birmingham

Not sure where you got your data but SA is #28.

 

[Kent]

Not sure where you got your data but SA is #28.

And Greenville-Spartanburg is #60. I don't know where he's getting his data either!

 

[Kent]

You're forgetting KISS, if they sold KISS and KTKX we'd most likely get a real active or alternative rock station down here. Plus maybe a new format like rhythmic AC.

While KISS isn't nearly the powerhouse it was before PPM, it's still reasonably successful, especially now that it dumped its two biggest salaries.

But I don't think that'll happen. San Antonio is a pretty large market, Cox is focusing on large markets only now.

Cox is also focused on high-growth markets. San Antonio's market size has grown a little, and the total revenue is predicted to grow substantially over the next several years. That will be welcome given that pretty much every market declined in revenue from '08 to '09.

 

[willdav713]

No, I wouldn't add KTKX to the list. Why would you sell one station when you have an otherwise successful cluster?

If they aren't making money on the station and changing formats like underwear as with 106.7, that would be a good reason.

You're forgetting KISS, if they sold KISS and KTKX we'd most likely get a real active or alternative rock station down here. Plus maybe a new format like rhythmic AC.

But I don't think that'll happen. San Antonio is a pretty large market, Cox is focusing on large markets only now.

They tried Rhythmic AC twice once on 106.7 and the second time on 94.1, I always wondered why 106.7 didn't flip to Alternative.

 

[daypart]

Not sure where you got your data but SA is #28.

And Greenville-Spartanburg is #60. I don't know where he's getting his data either!

http://www.proadvance.com/topmediamarkets.html was my source, since it was Google's first listing when I searched for "media market rankings" and it wasn't a PDF.

The more authoritative Nielsen 2011-12 DMA rankings move SA up 1 spot to #36. I've never seen any media market ranking that puts SA as high as 28.

I haven't paid much attention to G-Sp since I worked next door in Knoxville 20+ years ago. It was a high 30s market back then and Nielsen shows it as the market that swapped places with SA to move to #37.

And Nielsen puts Birmingham at #39.

How someone could not see these markets to be ranked like peas in a pod in the upper 30s is beyond me. ???

(edit, added links and Nielsen comments)

 

[fredcantu]

ProAdvance says it was using Nielsen's 2006 TV market ranks, more specifically the "local universe estimates." Not sure what that means. Might have been a metro area ranking of some kind. That changes the rankings a lot when you're only looking at the most densely populated part of the market.

 

[saradio1]

Not sure where you got your data but SA is #28.

And Greenville-Spartanburg is #60. I don't know where he's getting his data either!

http://www.proadvance.com/topmediamarkets.html was my source, since it was Google's first listing when I searched for "media market rankings" and it wasn't a PDF.

The more authoritative Nielsen 2011-12 DMA rankings move SA up 1 spot to #36. I've never seen any media market ranking that puts SA as high as 28.

I haven't paid much attention to G-Sp since I worked next door in Knoxville 20+ years ago. It was a high 30s market back then and Nielsen shows it as the market that swapped places with SA to move to #37.

And Nielsen puts Birmingham at #39.

How someone could not see these markets to be ranked like peas in a pod in the upper 30s is beyond me. ???

(edit, added links and Nielsen comments)

For radio it's Abitron. The link below is the list of all markets.
http://www.arbitron.com/home/mm001050.asp

With the current growth rate, San Antonio is poised to surpass Sacramento, Riverside-San Bernardino and possibly Pittsburgh. Making SA #25 within the next 5-10 years. ;D

 

[Kent]

The more authoritative Nielsen 2011-12 DMA rankings move SA up 1 spot to #36. I've never seen any media market ranking that puts SA as high as 28.

As some of the others have pointed out, you're looking at TV markets, not radio. Greenville-Spartanburg is a significantly larger TV market because Asheville, NC is included. Asheville, however, remains a distinctly separate radio market. The inclusion of Buncombe County means the TV market is nearly double the size of the radio market in terms of population, revenue and area.

San Antonio's TV market also covers a lot larger of an area than the radio market. However, the additional counties in the San Antonio market are sparsely populated, which means it's a smaller TV market than it is a radio market. In both the radio and TV markets, the bulk of San Antonio's population is in two counties. The result is the 9th largest (and growing) city in America being a much smaller radio and TV market!

How someone could not see these markets to be ranked like peas in a pod in the upper 30s is beyond me. ???

In radio, Birmingham is market #59. The TV market is significantly bigger because Tuscaloosa, Anniston and Gadsden are part of the TV market while remaining separate radio markets. In other words, Cox sees Birmingham and Greenville-Spartanburg as being similar because they're #59 and #60, and Cox doesn't see itself as being able to add TV there.