Daytimer WRFD-AM 880 on ALL night last night!

[xmusicmatt]

The legal IDs I heard on the top of every hour at night were for WRFD 880 AM.
So, it would seem, at least that one night they were intentionally broadcasting at
night because they gave their legal IDS at the top of each and every hour.

WRFD runs the same automation setup for their webstream as they do for the AM broadcast, when WRFD signs off the carrier at night they run a sign off annoucement then the webstream contiunes on with the programming scheduled after hours, at the TOH they run the regular legal ids despite being off air on AM they still legal id on the web stream.

I assume this is partly due to the fact in DEC they sign off at 05:15 but contiune online with the same programming currently ran until 9pm in the summer.

 

[gr8oldies]

I once worked at a small AM in Springfield with flea power at night that previously used the "high school sports exemption". Later that didn't fly, even when the guys who brokered the time to do HS sports promised to pay any fines we might have recieved.

 

[del_griffith]

The same thing happened in either March or April this year, only they were on the air an half an hour or so past sign off for a few days. Evidently the computer must belch ever so often.

Or it could have been a higher power???

 

[gr8oldies]

God knew YOU needed to get saved so he made the WRFD stay on later.

 

[del_griffith]

Actually looking back, they were using the advanced DST signoff for April while still in the month of March. It was that odd time when DST started earlier than it used to and instead of leaving the air at 7:45 pm, they left the air at 8:15.

 

[xianbroadcaster]

Smart move by Salem and by CVCO on the WRFD deal.

The station is a cash cow, reaches 80 of the 88 counties in the state and will allow CVCO to put their talk proram on in their local market.

GOOD MOVE by Baughman and his team...wondering if they will keep the staff or move em out?

They would be wise to keep Allen Rogers of WRFD...he is a real talented Production Director...not to mention he has some engineering skills...I could see holding onto a couple of sales guru's who are familiar with the format and selling it...maybe even the GM would be a good keep...but even that is marginal as I am sure that CVCO will want their own programming on the signal.

Really, savvy move, here...I know most of us don't pay too much attention to this signal or format but seriously, if you have an under performing stick religious programming is a CASH COW...even on a sun up to sun down station.

 

[DaBeyers]

Smart move by Salem and by CVCO on the WRFD deal.

The station is a cash cow, reaches 80 of the 88 counties in the state and will allow CVCO to put their talk proram on in their local market.

GOOD MOVE by Baughman and his team...wondering if they will keep the staff or move em out?

They would be wise to keep Allen Rogers of WRFD...he is a real talented Production Director...not to mention he has some engineering skills...I could see holding onto a couple of sales guru's who are familiar with the format and selling it...maybe even the GM would be a good keep...but even that is marginal as I am sure that CVCO will want their own programming on the signal.

Really, savvy move, here...I know most of us don't pay too much attention to this signal or format but seriously, if you have an under performing stick religious programming is a CASH COW...even on a sun up to sun down station.

What? Where did you hear this? I haven't seen anything on this posted anywhere...

 

[del_griffith]

On the front page of this web site.

Salem sells Columbus AM daytimer WRFD (880)

"Word 880" is a standalone for Salem Communications, which has owned it for many years and now sells it for $4 million to Ohio-based Christian Voice of Central Ohio. That will give Christian Voice an AM to complement its contemporary Christian "River" WCVO-FM (104.9). WRFD operates with 23,000 watts daytime, and its sale was brokered by Greg Guy of Patrick Communications, working for buyer Christian Voice. Salem reports its latest quarterly results tomorrow afternoon (August 6).

 

[DaBeyers]

On the front page of this web site.

Salem sells Columbus AM daytimer WRFD (880)

"Word 880" is a standalone for Salem Communications, which has owned it for many years and now sells it for $4 million to Ohio-based Christian Voice of Central Ohio. That will give Christian Voice an AM to complement its contemporary Christian "River" WCVO-FM (104.9). WRFD operates with 23,000 watts daytime, and its sale was brokered by Greg Guy of Patrick Communications, working for buyer Christian Voice. Salem reports its latest quarterly results tomorrow afternoon (August 6).

Thanks Del. I suppose that would have been a good place to look.

Interesting.

 

[del_griffith]

On the front page of this web site.

Salem sells Columbus AM daytimer WRFD (880)

"Word 880" is a standalone for Salem Communications, which has owned it for many years and now sells it for $4 million to Ohio-based Christian Voice of Central Ohio. That will give Christian Voice an AM to complement its contemporary Christian "River" WCVO-FM (104.9). WRFD operates with 23,000 watts daytime, and its sale was brokered by Greg Guy of Patrick Communications, working for buyer Christian Voice. Salem reports its latest quarterly results tomorrow afternoon (August 6).

Thanks Del. I suppose that would have been a good place to look.

Interesting.

Not really. It was a stand alone operation. I believe at one time they were responsible for stations in Cincy and Detroit, but that was not the case currently. With Salem's cluster mentality, they really had become a red headed step child.

And no one in their right mind would pay 4 million for a daytimer with no real estate. So when the bigger fool arrives at your doorstep, you take their money, smile and say thank you and believe God was smiling.

Every day that passes, it is tougher to make money in the world of AM radio. Having a daytimer only complicates something that is already tough from the get go. What else can the station do besides brokered Christian and put to the bottom line what it already puts to the bottom line? The station languished for years, going back to the late 60's when Nationwide owned it. Salem's acquisition probably saved it from extinction.

The big question is will CVCO be able to maintain or improve the preach and teach contracts already in place? Or will they lose leverage when these programs come up for extension or renewal and see revenue decline?

 

[xianbroadcaster]

Obviously I don't agree with you...here's the thing.

Salem had been talking about purchasing WCVO at one point in the last couple years. They were looking for a freq that covers at least 70% of the market but couldn't find anything within budget to meet their criteria...so, they moved it to CVCO who has been looking behind the scenes for another frequency for a few years...it's alright to give 4 mil to purchase a station that will deliver a niche audience to you from around the state that is a perfect match for your own niche format.

When Salem purchased the station back in the 80's they bought it for something like $80,000....the brokered time for religious programming pulls a pretty good haul in the Columbus market and an even better amount when you can deliver the entire state with a legit signal...consider

The frequency is already established within the CVCO listening core.
That there is ZERO need for staffing with the CVCO operation....keep the same format or not you ust plug in an iPod and go.
That it opens up inventory for CVCO to sell.
Gives CVCO another Columbus frequency to get included in market wide buys
That every minute of every day on WRFD is a commercial minute and they are usually pretty well sold out.

This is a GREAT move by Dan Baughman for another big reason...it removes a competing company from getting a slice of the pie.

 

[del_griffith]

Salem bought WRFD for either 1.1 or 1.9 million dollars from Buckeye Media (the old Farm Bureau) not $80,000. The sale included the real estate at the tower site on Powell Road, but not the old WRFD broadcast house.

Yes, you are right. Salem had been shopping for stations to add to the Columbus cluster. No one was willing to sell for the low $$ they were willing to pay.

As for getting a slice of the pie, there wasn't much cross over of clients between the stations. CVCO got the concert and live act business, and had a pretty good track record, although with what appears to be less than stellar $$ per listener in the mainstream market. WRFD typically had niche advertisers and the pay for play crowd.

 

[xianbroadcaster]

Del:

I missed a zero there...I thought it was close to $800,000...but that was a lot of years ago and I heard it from someone who used to work there...thanks for pointing it out.

 

[gabigley1]

Salem bought WRFD for either 1.1 or 1.9 million dollars from Buckeye Media (the old Farm Bureau) not $80,000. The sale included the real estate at the tower site on Powell Road, but not the old WRFD broadcast house.

Yes, you are right. Salem had been shopping for stations to add to the Columbus cluster. No one was willing to sell for the low $$ they were willing to pay.

When did Salem buy WRFD from Buckeye Media? According to this FCC document,
Salem owned WRFD at least all the way back to 1978.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=6801

Salem usually buys nonperforming AM radio stations at a low price and then fixes
then up. This has been their game pan for the last 25 years or so.

 

[del_griffith]

Must be an error. I worked for the station until 1980. It was owned by Buckeye Media (Farm Bureau) at that time. Buckeye Media had attempted to sell it to Carl Norse, but that action was stymied by a challenge against Norse as part of the WBBY that then tainted the WRFD potential transaction. It was a year or two later (and after I exited) the sale to Salem took place.

 

[gabigley1]

And no one in their right mind would pay 4 million for a daytimer with no real estate. So when the bigger fool arrives at your doorstep, you take their money, smile and say thank you and believe God was smiling.

That doesn't seem to be such an unreasonable price when you consider that WRFD is on a clear channel and is broadcasting with 25KW daytime. Except for WLW 700, WRFD had arguably one of the best coverage area in the state of Ohio.
Also, I hear that they are using state of the art equipment at WRFD.

Now, if WRFD was broadcasting with ONLY 250 watts of power on 880, that would be a totally different story.

 

[del_griffith]

Yes, they do have state of the art equipment. But really, for what they are doing, a modest studio and a pc would suffice. They built the North High complex with the plan of adding properties which never materialized. And at the time, they were still doing farm. But yes, the current physical plant is very nice.

I would beg to differ on the signal. While they are at 25kw full day power, it does not seem to have the coverage that they had when they were 5kw on Powell Road.

Also, for a number of years, there were various plans, even prior to Salem owning them, that would allow for an upgrade from 5kw to 10kw when the antenna was on Powell Road. Any increase would have necessitated them going directional to protect adjacent WLS in Chicago. Seems the 25kw must not be as effective on the short stick of 1230 that it was on the 550 ft stick on Powell Road as they do not have to protect WLS with the additional power.

I simply have to wonder how many clearances James Dobson needs to have in the Columbus metro market. He has RFD, I believe WHKC, CDR, possibly Family Radio in Delaware and I believe one of the non coms in Lancaster if not both carry him. Same for some of the other programs. If that doesn't cause erosion in the fee to carry.

 

[gr8oldies]

There has to be some rule that every Christian station in the U.S. has to carry Dobson! WRFD did really well with 5kW, almost seems that the 25kW is a waste of electricity. They're about equal to WTVN in my part of the state, and even in travels to Indiana. Does anyone remember they're old Top 40/AC format? How about "The Unrock of Central Ohio" (maybe the first Music of Your Life type fomat?).

 

[EDwalker]

If this happened in the fall on a Friday night then it could be assumed the station was utilizing the "High School Football Exemption" allowing a daytimer to stay at full power past sundown to serve the community with High School athletics.

The only thing wrong with that is there is no such exemption; it only exists in the minds of those breaking the rules.

 

[gabigley1]

Must be an error. I worked for the station until 1980. It was owned by Buckeye Media (Farm Bureau) at that time. Buckeye Media had attempted to sell it to Carl Norse, but that action was stymied by a challenge against Norse as part of the WBBY that then tainted the WRFD potential transaction. It was a year or two later (and after I exited) the sale to Salem took place.

After checking out some old Columbus Dispatch articles on WRFD and Salem Media, I found that Salem purchased
WRFD in 1982. That being the case, WRFD must be one of their first stations outside their North Carolina base.
That also says something for Salem's longevity in Columbus and why they would choose to leave Columbus after
some many years in this market.

Oh, and you can't believe everything you read in the FCC's database.