I'm betting the intention is to sell, and if no buyer is found the licenses will be turned in. Unless there's a sharp reversal of the current trend in advertising or in listening preferences, neither of which is likely or even thinkable.
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Cumulus shutdown tracker
- Thread starter Mediafrog+
- Start date
There might be a few instances where an AM operator in a given market that is stuck with a really, really bad facility might go after one of the Cumulus or Townsquare shutdown stations.
For example: Cumulus’ KPUR 1440 in Amarillo just got the ax; it is 5kw nondirectional days, 1kw directional at night. Also in the market is separately owned KZIP 1310, with 1kw day, 88 watts at night. Might the KZIP ownership acquire the better 1440 signal and move its programming there, while shutting down the inferior 1310?
I think it's the other way 'round - because they're using them to clear FSR and BIN, iHeart's more likely to keep them going (though I wouldn't be surprised to see something like the third AM signal in the cluster go dark, depending on circumstances), compared to Townsquare which has no networks to clear, and Cumulus, who might be signaling something of the future of WW1 products if they're turning off Infinity Sports Network and 24/7 music format stations.
As to your other point about clearing the networks on HD subchannels, I doubt it would get a big jump in listeners. iHeart has also stopped putting programming on a lot of subchannels, just broadcasting the HD-1.
I wish Cumulus would shut down or sell off WKIM 98.9 in Memphis if it stays News/Talk.
True, an exception would be ethnic broadcasts, where the choice is listen to the HD3 or to no over-the-air at all.
Right. I have a table receiver that can pick up HD channels thanks to the local radio reading service for the blind which uses one of those channels. Yes the sound is great and yes there are more stations to choose from, but you have to have local signal-grade coverage to receive those channels and, compared to what is available online (despite music and copyright restrictions), there aren't really that many more channels to choose from even with the HD2 signals added.
KLIK had at least some local programming until early 2009 when it made its last round of cuts during the Great Recession. Only local programming it has had since has been sports and possibly the Saturday morning lineup simulcast with KFRU. The Garden Spot originated from KLIK after Longfellow's bought the airtime. Not sure if Alice is still paying for that today, though.
Weird to think Amarillo had only one or two FM's operating when I was born in 1975. By the end of the 80’s, it had a glut of FM's with a few more signing on in the early 90’s.
I suspect WJBC-FM will eventually end up simulcasting 1230, which will probably ultimately be the station in that cluster to go. Privately, someone who has bought a few small market stations recently tells me he's interested in a few of the stations taken dark if he can get them for the right price. He doesn’t want any of the standalone AM's, though, and finds having to do about $1,000/week to cover his costs a bit daunting, too. So, he'd have to get them for cheap in order to want them.
In 2005, "entrepreneurs" with the help of investor groups were buying rimshot FM signals in Phoenix for $30M. Eventually, those companies ceased to exist after the 2008 recession because they couldn't meet their payments. Now, the same rimshots are not even worth $2M a piece, but radio novices are still buying signals even worse than the one I mentioned for that price.
KLIK Jefferson City, Missouri (1240) is reported off the air as of this morning (3/15). I don't know about the FM translator (K278CT), since my source for this information is in Columbia. The translator is colocated with the parent station, so I'm assuming it's off as well.
With the possible exception of the Lexington FM, these are all throwaway signals in small or medium markets. Other than religious broadcasters that air fringe programming only capable of attracting small audiences, I don't know who would be interested in any of these signals.
Evidently, the programming airing on these stations wasn't generating enough revenue to cover expenses.
Evidently, the programming airing on these stations wasn't generating enough revenue to cover expenses.
In the early 1970s Amarillo only had two FMs. KGNC-FM was then on 93.1, but was upgraded and moved to 97.9 by the middle of that decade. The old KDJW-FM was on 94.1.
From 1975-85 six more were added: 89.9, a new 93.1, 96.9, 98.7, 101.9 and 107.1. After 1985 came the flood of new signals. The market now has around 40 FMs if you include translators and LPFMs. Arguably “over-radiod”.
Oddly, despite the somewhat late growth of FM in Amarillo, the market had three network TV affiliates by 1957, well before many larger markets could make that claim!
Or it may have been doing just enough for the stations to barely make expenses, but the Cumulus execs saw the national trends affecting radio (AM in particular, but increasingly radio as a whole) and advertising, Unencumbered by any radio geekish nostalgia for AM, and probably making plans for retirement or employment in some other area of the communications business when the whole thing goes south, the execs correctly concluded that continuing to operate these stations was just throwing good money after bad -- and it doesn't matter what format was on them.
Most of these shut-off decisions at Cumulus and Townsquare are being made at the local market level. It has nothing to do with corporate other than a decision to get budgets in the black. These stations were all running in the red.
All valid points (though KZAC-ex-KSFO was in one of the largest markets, but I quibble); I see a couple of other considerations. One is focus. Yes, these stations were mostly highly automated, but there's still some overhead required to run them. That overhead isn't entirely financial in nature; it's also staff time and attention that should be better spent on stations (brands) in each local portfolio with a better likelihood of success. Shutting down the weak stations reduces the drain on attention and focus. It may not be a significant drain, but it's still a drain and one not outweighed by low revenue potential. The remaining financial burden is tower rent plus regulatory fees. It would be interesting to learn if Cumulus is giving up tower leases on some of these stations, but we won't find that out until STAs are filed for specific circumstances.
Then there's the matter of selling these stations. Anything can be sold if the price is low enough. But that then depresses the values and prices for similar assets in the future. These are highly illiquid assets. Thus, a fire-sale price will show up on comps the next time any owner, including Cumulus, wishes to sell or simply to appraise the value of the assets that it has. I believe that just relinquishing a license won't show up on appraisals, because what would have been a comp has then simply disappeared. Given what appears to be the precarious nature of Cumulus' capital structure, it probably wants to avoid devaluing its assets even further than they've already been. I may be giving Cumulus too much of a benevolent view here, but it may also want to avoid further depressing the general market for station sales.
This came to mind after I learned of a small chain in the Midwest that really, really wants to sell. When I heard the price, my reaction was that they would be lucky to get 25% of what they want, particularly given the economic conditions in their rural areas. The gap between buyer expectations and seller expectations right now seems to be huge. Sellers don't want to devalue their assets; buyers don't want to pay prices that they're unlikely to recoup. So things are frozen up.
In the case of one of the affected Cumulus properties, KLIK, its primary value in recent years has been its tower, in a location perfect for supporting cellphone traffic coming from vehicles traveling to and from the Lake of the Ozarks and St. Louis. Once Cumulus sold off its towers for quick cash, KLIK lost all value for Cumulus. I'm amazed it hung on this long.
Well, yes, but in 1957, people really, really wanted TV; the desire for FM was much later to develop.
When I drove through the Panhandle in 1999, on my way to move to San Francisco, I was rather surprised to hear that KXIT-FM in Dalhart was simulcasting the AM 100% in mono. That's the kind of thing I would've expected in the 1970s where the AM was a daytimer. But KXIT(AM) was a full-time class C station by that time.
Were they really ever in competition? CBS Sports, the old name for Infinity Sports, affiliates were almost weak affiliates with little local talk and even in the daytime were heavy with promos/PSAs. What Infinity affiliates aren't also rans?
Not to mention, most of the strong Audacy affiliates carry little of the full schedule with local programming instead.
Keep in mind that Cumulus distributes the Infinity Sports Network. It's a co-production of Audacy and Cumulus. So it makes sense that the network was on a bunch of Cumulus stations.
What's the future for ISN? It depends on a lot of things. Audacy recently announced the launch of its own Infinity syndication company. So distribution might move to that.
Infinity Networks – Infinity Networks
infinitynetworks.com