Re: Purchasing an FM station in Chicagoland
LOL. You're talking about the dream of almost every radio professional to own and/or operate a radio station of their own. I don't have millions of dollars in my back pocket to invest in a radio station, do you? I haven't sold my company or won the lottery recently. But for the sake of fun and entertainment (and the fact that I'm bored waiting for the download of several audio files from my servers), let's take a look at the FM properties in Chicagoland.Major market sticks owned by Clear Channel, Bonneville, Emmis, and CBS Radio like WLIT 93.9, WNUA 95.5, WBBM-FM 96.3, WDRV 97.1, WLUP 97.9, WUSN 99.5, WILV 100.3, WKQX 101.1, WTMX 101.9, WVAZ 102.7, WKSC-FM 103.5, WJMK 104.3, WCKG 105.9, or WGCI-FM 107.5 would easily cost well over $200-500 MILLION. The liklihood that these stations would ever be sold in the near future is practically zero. If any transaction ever takes place, it would be a swap-- like how Emmis swapped its Phoenix radio station cluster to Bonneville for The Loop.ABC Radio owns WZZN 94.7, at least until the transition to Citadel Broadcasting is approved. I highly doubt that Citadel would unload this property. Window to The World will not unload WFMT 98.3 unless the company financial situation gets so bad that they need a cash infusion. Stations under 92.1 on the FM band are designated as non-commercial. If there will be any commercial FM signals to be on the selling block, they would almost definitely be suburban signals or as part of a group purchase. Though they are on suburban signals, Univision has no plans on letting of WPPN 106.7, WOJO 105.1, or WVIV/WVIX 103.1/93.5. Pasion and La Que Buena are huge moneymakers and draw top ten ratings. Viva is in the process of moving their 103.1 signal from Arlington Heights to a stick in Evanston that would give them city-grade coverage. There has been recent talk of Univision leaving radio, but if that happens, that would involve a group purchase where a company would buy ALL of Univision's radio assets. (Here in Chicago, that would also include their AM properties.) I would guess that transaction would be well over a billion dollars.Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) owns WLEY 107.9, their only FM station here in Chicago. That is another top ten station and one of the company's top moneymakers in the entire nation. Not likely to be sold, unless SBS makes an exit out of radio.Crawford owns WPWX 92.3 and WSRB 106.3. Not likely to sell their stations anytime soon, unless part of a group transaction. NextMedia owns WWYW 103.9, which is a suburban stick in the Dundee area and has no coverage in the city. However, this would be the cheapest property on your list. NextMedia also owns other FMs and AMs in the burbs (WIIL 95.1, WERV 95.9, WSSR 96.7, WCCQ 98.3, WRXQ 100.7, WXLC 102.3, WZSR 105.5), but none of them have signal penetration into Chicago. NewsWeb owns the NINE-FM trimulcast (WKIE 92.7, WDEK 92.5, WRZA 99.9). They have made no intention to sell. But if they ever did, the transaction would most likely also require the purchase of WKIF 92.7. Another possibility is that any transaction would also include the sale of their AM radio properties. That would move up the price significantly.That leaves 94.3 as the last indepenent FM property with the potential to reach Chicago listeners. EMF Broadcasting had clauses in their leased management agreement (LMA) with 94.3 WJMK to be the priority company to buy that station. I don't recall any transaction to ever take place, but WJMK (out of Elgin) has potential to become the next signal to penetrate the city. No doubt-- running a radio station here in Chicagoland would be a dream come true for me and a lot of other broadcasters. If I ever get the chance to buy one, you'll know.DeanSB said: