Cumulus & Citadel

[charles123]

What will happen to both The Wolf & KSCS when Cumulus buys Citadel? Any thoughts?

 

[radi0avenger]

I was wondering that myself. I haven't counted. How many if any will they have to spin off if they combine?

 

[bucwhyl]

If they do, I hope Radio One would buy one so we can finally get a black gospel station.

 

[radioaircheck]

My question is what will happen to WBAP. They will try to run that in a shoestring budget. Will they get rid of the Morning Team and go Automatied in the morning like they do some of their other News Talk stations. As far as getting a Black Gospel Station, it will never happen. There excuse will be there is no revenue, it won't sell.

 

[ohmyiloveradio]

Nothing will happen with WBAP. They are making boat loads of money I'm sure....and EVERY good business knows....you don't kill the golden goose. And instead of speculating what will or won't happen (for a sale that isn't even done yet) let's just wait and let it all play out.

 

[Texas Gentleman]

For decades WBAP was one of the most profitable radio stations in the entire United States. [i.e. Texas right to work laws] Based on the current spot load vs. overhead, there is no reason to think it is not still a money printing machine.

 

[radioaircheck]

That's true. All I was saying is I have seen Cumulus mess up good stations. I hope they don't do that ot WBAP

 

[salemjedi54]

Who knows what will happen. Do you think they would sell one of the am's and maybe one of the fringe fm's? I know for sure that WBAP and KTCK WILL NOT BE SOLD...they are the bell cows of this market.

 

[amisdead]

That's true. All I was saying is I have seen Cumulus mess up good stations. I hope they don't do that ot WBAP

They didn't screw up The Ticket, why would WBAP be any different? Dallas is not Abilene.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Me, I'd flip 96.7 back to Platinum, and call up Bill Mack and tell him to get his record collection together...he's back on the air at 820 starting at midnight!

Hate to even think this, but since 570 thinks so highly of Kris Krock, they might move him over to 820 in place of Mark Davis or elsewhere on the schedule. Krock probably costs a 10th of what Davis does.

Now with a news/talk presence at 570 and 820, and with Cumulus having the upper hand coming up, will they move Jim Graci into a "cluster" PD/OM and let, um, someone else go? Will Cumulus flip the ex-Citadels back to Traffic.com?

I believe Hal Jay signed a new contract last May...so to get him out of any new "system," it'd be a substantial cash buyout, I would think.

I know DFW is not the only major market Cumulus would have to worry about, but sure, you can bet there'll be some serious streamlining and elimination of job duplication, etc...and if they keep duplicate formats, I'm sure there'll be sharing of resources and no "competitive" line drawn between stations anymore. In DFW, you already have a fuzzy line there anyway, with WBAP and KRLD sharing nearly a staff-ful of Metro newscasters, and flying WBAP and KRLD traffic reporters around daily in the very same plane.

 

[LibertyNT]

if Cumuless bought out Citadel...

570 KLIF flips from talk to Oldies as Mighty 570
(it's cheaper and why bother with 2 talkers?)
820 WBAP stays the same
1310 KTCK Stays the same
1700 KKLF Continues to Simulcast 570
(making 2 oldies stations on 1700 in the USA)
93.3 KLIF-FM Stays the same
96.3 KSCS goes Classic Country
99.5 KPLX The Wolf Stays the same, maybe some of the KSCS hosts move over.
104.1 KTDK Stays The Same

Thats What I think makes the most Sense

 

[txchipk]

1700 will no doubt be sold to meet FCC market caps.

I would break the 820/96.7 simulcast. Since 1310 only provides decent Dallas coverage, I would make it be the 96.7 simulcast --- so make WBAP on 96.7/1310 and give KTCK a full signal on 820.

 

[unclepaul]

Me, I'd flip 96.7 back to Platinum, and call up Bill Mack and tell him to get his record collection together...he's back on the air at 820 starting at midnight!

Hate to even think this, but since 570 thinks so highly of Kris Krock, they might move him over to 820 in place of Mark Davis or elsewhere on the schedule. Krock probably costs a 10th of what Davis does.

Now with a news/talk presence at 570 and 820, and with Cumulus having the upper hand coming up, will they move Jim Graci into a "cluster" PD/OM and let, um, someone else go? Will Cumulus flip the ex-Citadels back to Traffic.com?

I believe Hal Jay signed a new contract last May...so to get him out of any new "system," it'd be a substantial cash buyout, I would think.

I know DFW is not the only major market Cumulus would have to worry about, but sure, you can bet there'll be some serious streamlining and elimination of job duplication, etc...and if they keep duplicate formats, I'm sure there'll be sharing of resources and no "competitive" line drawn between stations anymore. In DFW, you already have a fuzzy line there anyway, with WBAP and KRLD sharing nearly a staff-ful of Metro newscasters, and flying WBAP and KRLD traffic reporters around daily in the very same plane.

Think Krok can make the money/drive ratings like Davis? Never. Davis is worth whatever he's paid because he pulls killer numbers and that means sales, sales, sales.

As for the Metro "shared" news personnel, I believe the Metro people at KRLD and WBAP work in the staion's news rooms under direction of the respective news directors at WBAP and KRLD and not out of Metro-central, wherever that is. Metro employees at KRLD don't work at WBAP and visa-versa. Stating they are shared news people isn't entirely accurate if my information is correction.

And unless Cumulus completely changes the strategy I can't see WBAP doing anything but staying with the 96.7 simulcast because it's working.

All that said when a company buys another company anything is possible.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Think Krok can make the money/drive ratings like Davis? Never. Davis is worth whatever he's paid because he pulls killer numbers and that means sales, sales, sales.

As for the Metro "shared" news personnel, I believe the Metro people at KRLD and WBAP work in the staion's news rooms under direction of the respective news directors at WBAP and KRLD and not out of Metro-central, wherever that is. Metro employees at KRLD don't work at WBAP and visa-versa. Stating they are shared news people isn't entirely accurate if my information is correction.

And unless Cumulus completely changes the strategy I can't see WBAP doing anything but staying with the 96.7 simulcast because it's working.

Agreed, Krock is a joke compared to Davis...but I've seen all sorts of changes made elsewhere STRICTLY for the sake of the bottom line...simply due to shortsightedness and knee-jerk stockholder demands, and often too for the sake of a upstart PD/OM who's trying to put his fingerprint on everything he touches. It would be a stupid move, but entirely possible. I'm betting there's a lot of nail biting going on at Citadel today. I'm not trying purposely to fuel that, but just speculating. No one knows the answers, except maybe Trickey Dickey.

Far as I know, today's protocol has the news readers working out of the same office at Metro, and just sending their reports down an IFB line, much like traffic has for years. You can't help if the KRLD anchor shares a story with a WBAP anchor, who's sitting at the same desk. Far as sharing people, I don't know how much of that still happens, but it's easily done with an alternate nom de plume. We used to do that quite often at traffic.

No one knows what the FM breakdown is for WBAP, since they requested that Arbitron combine 820 and 96.7 to achieve one number. I guess someone could look at trends from months and years past to see if there's a notable upswing there. But with recent election cycles that tend to benefit WBAP, I would think it'd be difficult to get a real number. Really, I would think that Cumulus would leave 96.7 alone. It's a no-cost situation for them beyond the electric bill.

 

[unclepaul]

Not to argue with you Mike but I know people at WBAP and the Metro anchors there work in the WBAP studios and are not shared with any other station. Your info is wrong in this regard. The overnight and weekend anchors while employed by Metro work for WBAP at WBAP. I can't speak to KRLD because I don't have specific information from the inside there.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Not to argue with you Mike but I know people at WBAP and the Metro anchors there work in the WBAP studios and are not shared with any other station. Your info is wrong in this regard. The overnight and weekend anchors while employed by Metro work for WBAP at WBAP. I can't speak to KRLD because I don't have specific information from the inside there.

I'll just leave this alone. Methinks I'm stepping on a toe somewhere.

 

[OHTBGH]

Well lets see...

Bought 10,000 shares of Citadel and they file for Bankruptcy. Lose a $1000.

Roll the stock around like a croc. Gain $1200. make a $200 profit.

Bought a boatload of Cumulus at .60 and closed at 4.78! It had been just in a holding pattern.
And now this suckers gonna go higher!

And to think I was thinking about selling this turd!

Well I DO HOPE that Suliman gets bought out and they finally ship him to Pago Pago!

Hard to believe the new Citadel stock is at $32. Hopefully the people that own this post BKR stock get a good price and not screwed like the old stock!

-BGH

 

[johnsummers]

Mike, 'Platinum' didn't work the first time...

 

[LibertyNT]

Mike, 'Platinum' didn't work the first time...

What's sad about the whole Platinum thing is they were really starting to get their groove when the plug was pulled. Platinum was great those last few months, it appeared the ratings were on the rise too If I remember Correctly.
At any rate it was nice to hear the oldies KLUV can't play anymore.
But I suppose thats what KGVL is for now.

 

[long-time-first-time]

I would be very concerned for anyone who works in the news department or is cursed with the title "assistant program director" or "producer." Ask former Susquehanna employees who held those positions how their lives have been impacted by Cumulus. Not all will be cut loose, but many will be. There will be no sacred cows; not even at WBAP.