Daly XXL buys WMEX for $175k

[raccoonradio]

WMEX's response on facebook group to "where's Joe":" We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your support."

 

[davideduardo]

Really? I sat in on a couple of Air America (Network) sales pitches, and they had ZERO to do with demos, quarter-hours, or any other metric that was used to sell radio at the time. They were selling it as a tax-deductible political contribution disguised as advertising.

The problem was that they billed so little that... were your theory correct... they did not even bring in enough money to cover their own operating expenses. So any idea that they were pushing money out to campaigns, candidates and causes is absurd.

Political contributions are not deductible by individuals.

Business expenses are always deductible. But political contributions are subject to legal limits.

Selling program content that appeals to a buyer's beliefs... whether political or social or religious... is as old as radio and nearly as old as the print media. In this case, it just illustrates how badly Air America conducted their business; with poor ratings, they resorted to emotional appeals that generally work only on a few small, privately owned businesses to try to sell a national almost-network.

 

[MickeyD]

50 kw on 1510 is covers about the same a 1 kw on 540. You need every watt you can get on the high frequencies in order to overcome man made RF noise and to penetrate buildings and homes right there in the local market. In a metro like Boston, any AM (other than unique ethnic offerings) get's very little listening outside its 10 mV/m contour.

WMEX's daytime 10 mV/m barely reaches Milton and Dedham to the south and Wilmington and Lynnfield to the North and just a tad beyond Wellesley to the West. That same contour covers just 1.8 million out of 4.7 million in the total radio MSA.

And, yes, high-dial stations generate good night skywave. That is irrelevant; you need lots of power today to be listenable in noisy metro areas. WMEX covers well only about 1/3 of the MSA, and at night it is much worse.

Lots of power sent everywhere but where you need it is a waste of money. The cost of power will increase, and AM listeners and advertisers will decrease.

 

[Jimmy128]

This is just a test

 

[Jimmy128]

This is just a test 2

 

[davideduardo]

Lots of power sent everywhere but where you need it is a waste of money. The cost of power will increase, and AM listeners and advertisers will decrease.

The AM dial is full of higher powered stations that push as much power as possible over as much of a market as permitted and then out to sea.

In the last five decades, AM stations that have increased power have done so to better cover their local market and to combat increasing noise levels. Nobody builds a 50 kw facility to be heard at night in some distant city, state or country. They build it to penetrate buildings and to overcome noise.

Part of the problem is that 50 kw is not really high power by world standards. And at 1510, 50 kw is barely a full local signal in a large metro area even if run non-directional.

 

[MickeyD]

The AM dial is full of higher powered stations that push as much power as possible over as much of a market as permitted and then out to sea.

In the last five decades, AM stations that have increased power have done so to better cover their local market and to combat increasing noise levels. Nobody builds a 50 kw facility to be heard at night in some distant city, state or country. They build it to penetrate buildings and to overcome noise.

Part of the problem is that 50 kw is not really high power by world standards. And at 1510, 50 kw is barely a full local signal in a large metro area even if run non-directional.

The guy that owns WMEX is very sharp technically. The power bills of AM stations in general will be what kills them. Pull the plug on them at night and have the dozen or so people that you may have listening listen on their smartfones or stream. You can actually measure your audience this way and save yourself $$$ on power. WBZ and WRKO would be sold in a minute if they could find someone foolish enough to pay millions for nothing. The 175K price tag on WMEX didn't help their effort. What AM in Boston needs is a little, "MUSICA, MUSICA, MUSICA! Mucho Mas Musica!!!!"

 

[davideduardo]

The guy that owns WMEX is very sharp technically. The power bills of AM stations in general will be what kills them.

The power bill is a small part of the operating expense of a radio station.

Let's take WBZ. A 50 kw solid state transmitter (without tower lighting, AC, etc) will use around 100 kw of power, which at an average commercial rate of around $0.15 per kw/h will give you $15 an hour for power, or around $10 k a month in total expense.

When you consider that WBZ billed $25,000,000 last year, $120,000 is petty cash. Reducing the power of such a station will not help much overall.

And if you want to play on the same field, you need the power for coverage and building penetration.

 

[MickeyD]

The power bill is a small part of the operating expense of a radio station.

Let's take WBZ. A 50 kw solid state transmitter (without tower lighting, AC, etc) will use around 100 kw of power, which at an average commercial rate of around $0.15 per kw/h will give you $15 an hour for power, or around $10 k a month in total expense.

When you consider that WBZ billed $25,000,000 last year, $120,000 is petty cash. Reducing the power of such a station will not help much overall.

And if you want to play on the same field, you need the power for coverage and building penetration.

I am not speaking of the price of a current KWH, I am speaking of the increase when coal plants are pulled off-line. Want to buy WBZ? It is for sale. When you aren't being propped up by a radio group every penny counts.

 

[davideduardo]

I am not speaking of the price of a current KWH, I am speaking of the increase when coal plants are pulled off-line. Want to buy WBZ? It is for sale. When you aren't being propped up by a radio group every penny counts.

WBZ is the 26th highest billing radio station out of 11,300 "full" (not translators) commercial stations in the US.

Even if energy costs double, that's a barely perceptible change overall against such high billing.

In fact, I used the national average for non-commercial services (residential) for the cost of energy and not the Boston area commercial rate which is about $0.13 per kw/h. So actually the monthly cost for a 50 kw station is going to be more in the $8,000 range assuming a solid state transmitter and 24/7 operation.

The annual WBZ transmitter electric bill is much less than a good salesperson makes in commissions. Put these things in perspective, please.

 

[MickeyD]

WBZ is the 26th highest billing radio station out of 11,300 "full" (not translators) commercial stations in the US.

Even if energy costs double, that's a barely perceptible change overall against such high billing.

In fact, I used the national average for non-commercial services (residential) for the cost of energy and not the Boston area commercial rate which is about $0.13 per kw/h. So actually the monthly cost for a 50 kw station is going to be more in the $8,000 range assuming a solid state transmitter and 24/7 operation.

The annual WBZ transmitter electric bill is much less than a good salesperson makes in commissions. Put these things in perspective, please.

I am putting things in perspective. Every dollar counts with a stand alone 50KW AM getting off the ground. The transmitter isn't one of the newer models and sucks the watts.

 

[davideduardo]

I am putting things in perspective. Every dollar counts with a stand alone 50KW AM getting off the ground. The transmitter isn't one of the newer models and sucks the watts.

If we were talking about a 1 kw station at 550 on the dial, would you recommend that they cut to 250 watts?

A 50 kw station at 1510 will cover almost exactly the same area as 1 kw on 550 (assuming same conductivity, same antenna efficiency, etc.).

So 1510 needs every watt of RF they can legally produce as they are at the wrong end of the dial.

Even an older high level plate modulated transmitter is not that more expensive. If the station plans to be competitive in programming and play for ratings, it's just a cost of doing business like rent, staff, insurance, phones, ratings, etc. If they don't plan on competing and, instead, sell with a brokered model or go for an ethnic niche, they still need the power to penetrate homes and buildings where most listening takes place.

 

[MickeyD]

If we were talking about a 1 kw station at 550 on the dial, would you recommend that they cut to 250 watts?

A 50 kw station at 1510 will cover almost exactly the same area as 1 kw on 550 (assuming same conductivity, same antenna efficiency, etc.).

So 1510 needs every watt of RF they can legally produce as they are at the wrong end of the dial.

Even an older high level plate modulated transmitter is not that more expensive. If the station plans to be competitive in programming and play for ratings, it's just a cost of doing business like rent, staff, insurance, phones, ratings, etc. If they don't plan on competing and, instead, sell with a brokered model or go for an ethnic niche, they still need the power to penetrate homes and buildings where most listening takes place.

Really comparing a 50KW station to a 1 KW station's power bill? If the towers for a low freq station didn't have to be to the moon it would be a better buy. The maritime services (Part 80) have used 500 Khz as the emergency frequency for years because your signal could get out hundreds of miles on 100 to 1000 watts. Look at WJIB on 740 one of the best 250 watt stations in the country. Cut power or, if you want to go cheap, turn the transmitter off at night. Leaving a 50KW station on the air for a handful of listeners is a waste of power. Almost all stations stream now and the listener would receive a better quality program and you could measure how many people were listening. It seems everything that is so PC has gone "Green". That is except for water bottles, individual K-Cup coffee cups, and high powered AM stations that no one listens to at night and sometimes during the day. Wouldn't want to turn them off to save to save environmental resources. nope have to have em on just because. I know of one group in a larger market that is trying to get their AM audience off of the air and onto their stream. The turn their transmitters off at night now, they didn't think that it was such a bad idea, your welcome.

I have done ethnic radio and TV since the 80s' (Mandarin, Korean, and Cambodian) and when you are the only station that broadcasts your native language on the air; then that is the best station on the air. I have seen people erect outside antennas just to receive an AM signal.

 

[davideduardo]

Really comparing a 50KW station to a 1 KW station's power bill? If the towers for a low freq station didn't have to be to the moon it would be a better buy.

I was making the comparison to show that you need every watt in a large city at a high dial position because coverage on those channels is so much less that at the lower dial positions.

My point is that if you had 1 kw at 550, you would never consider dropping to 250 watts. So why, at 1510 would you consider dropping to 5 kw or 10 kw?

Oh, and the major issues with towers at any frequency is getting land and zoning approvals, not height at most locations. Yes, you can use a 200' or shorter tower on higher dial positions but you can meet minimum efficiency for most classes of stations at lower frequencies with reasonably sized towers. I owned an AM at 570 and we used a skirted top loaded 240' tower very successfully.

 

[MickeyD]

I was making the comparison to show that you need every watt in a large city at a high dial position because coverage on those channels is so much less that at the lower dial positions.

My point is that if you had 1 kw at 550, you would never consider dropping to 250 watts. So why, at 1510 would you consider dropping to 5 kw or 10 kw?

Oh, and the major issues with towers at any frequency is getting land and zoning approvals, not height at most locations. Yes, you can use a 200' or shorter tower on higher dial positions but you can meet minimum efficiency for most classes of stations at lower frequencies with reasonably sized towers. I owned an AM at 570 and we used a skirted top loaded 240' tower very successfully.

At a KW it doesn't matter. At 50KW it does matter. As for trying to get anything through the zoning board forget it. Radio towers all of a sudden are evil. There is a great book written by Fred Hopengarten, "Antenna Zoning" it is written about the hurdles he went through trying to get a 50KW built in NH. It was taken care of but the station was never built. Back in the day when there were three or four tv channels, a newspaper or two, and plenty of magazines, a 1KW AM station could rule the market. Those days are gone. Radio is what it is and interference is what it is.

 

[raccoonradio]

http://www.fybush.com/nerw-20150810/ notes the Sat. night oldies show is now gone

 

[Eli Polonsky]

http://www.fybush.com/nerw-20150810/ notes the Sat. night oldies show is now gone

If so, they didn't know last Saturday night was their last night. Said they'd be back next weekend.

 

[raccoonradio]

Well, Fybush did have it in his column posted early Monday morning

>>More schedule changes at Boston’s troubled WMEX (1510): while the Saturday oldies show drew in some listeners who still fondly remembered the station’s heyday half a century ago, it has now disappeared from the lineup at WMEX.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

According to his post on his Facebook page, Jimmy Jay, former WILD DJ and host of his nationally syndicated oldies show "Rewind", will be taking over the WMEX oldies show live 6-9 PM beginning this Saturday night. A former WMEX listener growing up in the Boston area in the late '50s and '60s, he plans to continue the oldies show with music from those original Top 40 heyday years of the station.

 

[Jimmy128]

Are they repeating McScreech at 6:00 PM?