A
AnyHuman
Guest
The five stations owned by Moises Abraham Gonzalez’s South Texas Radio ceased operations on Wednesday, June 29.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Frequent poster “b-turner“ (Bill Turner) used to work in that part of Texas and is quite familiar with the area. Hoping he might share some thoughts on this development.
My fears that Eagle Pass was included was justified with this news.
I do wonder what really happened. As I posted on a different post, I know these markets well. I worked for the Harpoles. My first radio job was KINL in Eagle Pass.
Uvalde is no slouch of a town, about 15,000 in population and the shopping hub for the area...maybe 40 miles in each direction. There were 4 commercial stations plus non-comm Christian broadcasters with no presence in the market. Keep in mind the owner had 3 of the 4 stations in the market and shared duties between stations to keep operating expenses low.
Eagle Pass, including suburbs, is about 35,000. With KEPS and KINL being the sole commercial stations, they struggled. I took KINL to top 40 under Doug Stalker in 1978 when KINL billed about $5,000 a month. Doug's sales ability along with his wife, easily had the combo doing $40,000 plus monthly by 1981. Part of that success was the dramatic devaluation of the Peso that really changed Eagle Pass. When I returned to Eagle Pass in 1992, the AM & FM simulcast, local news was gone and sales barely reached the $17,000 breakeven monthly. Merchants told me why. They could buy top radio stations in Piedras Negras for what I was charging, $5 down to $3 a spot. Compared to the reach of a popular Piedras FM we should have been charging about 50 cents at the most. Plus Eagle Pass had a TV station ($5 a spot at one point) and two daily papers. There was the Zocolo and other papers ad several TV stations across the river from Eagle Pass. Sadly the facility was becoming ruins with holes in the roof (you could see sky). A heavy rain and the station flooded from the holes in the roof (in 1992).
It might be fair to say Uvalde was much healthier financially than the Eagle Pass stations given the competition.
I'm sure we will see these up for sale soon. Somebody will scoop up the Uvalde stations and do quite well. And trust me, financially this has nothing to do with the school shooting. This must have been a capital poor company with real cashflow issues.
I do wonder what really happened. As I posted on a different post, I know these markets well. I worked for the Harpoles. My first radio job was KINL in Eagle Pass.
Uvalde is no slouch of a town, about 15,000 in population and the shopping hub for the area...maybe 40 miles in each direction. There were 4 commercial stations plus non-comm Christian broadcasters with no presence in the market. Keep in mind the owner had 3 of the 4 stations in the market and shared duties between stations to keep operating expenses low.
Eagle Pass, including suburbs, is about 35,000. With KEPS and KINL being the sole commercial stations, they struggled. I took KINL to top 40 under Doug Stalker in 1978 when KINL billed about $5,000 a month. Doug's sales ability along with his wife, easily had the combo doing $40,000 plus monthly by 1981. Part of that success was the dramatic devaluation of the Peso that really changed Eagle Pass. When I returned to Eagle Pass in 1992, the AM & FM simulcast, local news was gone and sales barely reached the $17,000 breakeven monthly. Merchants told me why. They could buy top radio stations in Piedras Negras for what I was charging, $5 down to $3 a spot. Compared to the reach of a popular Piedras FM we should have been charging about 50 cents at the most. Plus Eagle Pass had a TV station ($5 a spot at one point) and two daily papers. There was the Zocolo and other papers ad several TV stations across the river from Eagle Pass. Sadly the facility was becoming ruins with holes in the roof (you could see sky). A heavy rain and the station flooded from the holes in the roof (in 1992).
It might be fair to say Uvalde was much healthier financially than the Eagle Pass stations given the competition.
I'm sure we will see these up for sale soon. Somebody will scoop up the Uvalde stations and do quite well. And trust me, financially this has nothing to do with the school shooting. This must have been a capital poor company with real cashflow issues.
Last edited:
I know a few brokers. Among the calls I made today I was told the stations might have been sold to a group from Mexico. One indicated the stations in Uvalde were sometimes on and sometimes off (I felt that wasn't right). One said the licensee was, in their opinion, somewhat shady. I cannot confirm any of this nor can I verify the accuracy of any of the statements.
What I find odd is the Suspension of Operations reason is the same for all stations. Amazing that all 5 stations lose their tower site at the same time. By the way, KEPS and KINL towers are on station owned land with their studios and office....127 Kilowatt Drive
What I find odd is the Suspension of Operations reason is the same for all stations. Amazing that all 5 stations lose their tower site at the same time. By the way, KEPS and KINL towers are on station owned land with their studios and office....127 Kilowatt Drive
Last edited:
I go back in my past. It is 1978. A high school friend and I take a trip from Big Bend to South Padre. Both of us are fans of top 40 and rock, so the offerings on the radio, where you could actually receive a radio station, were mainly country music or Spanish language broadcasts of mostly regional music. When we found a station playing top 40 we celebrated.
When we reached Eagle Pass, we found KINL 92.7. They were playing top 40 and, from my memory, the worst sounding DJs I had heard on radio. I remarked to my friend that even though I had no experience, I was good enough to be their morning guy. I said we had to stop by. We did and talked to the General Manager an hour or two.
A couple of weeks later after sending that General Manager a cassette tape of my little part 15 station in the garage at home that I asked him to critique, I got a call from that GM, Ed. Ed asked me a question: What is it going to take to get you working for me?
A week later I filled up the car and set out for Eagle Pass on a Saturday morning with the intent of finding an apartment to lease. I got to the station. Forget getting an apartment on a weekend in a small town. I had bad luck. It was homecoming weekend and not a single motel room was available in town.
Once at the station, Lupita, a very nice lady but sounded a bit mousey on the air and had no clue how to DJ, called Lou Garza, the Program Director who just took a fulltime job with the phone company. He asked me to go on the air.
People at KINL freaked out. I’m trying to sound like the DJs I heard for years in places like Kansas City, Dallas and such.
KINL was country 6am to 9am, Oldies 9am to 6pm and Top 40 6 to 10pm. It was Top 40 on weekends when there was a parttime DJ otherwise it was automated oldies. Actually the format was ‘don’t cuss and play all the commercials on the log’.
A few weeks later we got a new General Manager and the station went Top 40.
The station became hugely popular since the median age was about 18.
By 1981 the Spanish Language AM and KINL, the Top 40 FM, were billing over $40,000 a month. We averaged about 6 commercials for every song we played but that was no worse than stations across the river in Piedras Negras. We played about 8 songs an hour. We’d average about 60-80 requests an hour daytimes and about 120-140 an hour at night. Our popularity was incredible. We’d get calls at home to be invited to parties on a regular basis. Even a request for an autograph. We sure weren't pros but we were having tons of fun.
After I left in 1984, the popularity remained several more years until around 1990.
When I got back to KEPS and KINL in Eagle Pass in 1992, I was hired to be the General Manager. The AM and FM had the same programming: top 40 days, Tejano at night. They had dropped local news. The building had not been maintained. There were holes in the ceiling where the sky was visible. When it rained, the station flooded. Sales had suffered. Stations in Mexico with more listeners were selling commercials for less than we did. Frankly our rate should have been 50¢ not the $3 we were asking. It was hard to get to the $17,000 monthly breakeven. After all the Fox TV affiliate in Eagle Pass was charging $5 a spot. (What was crazy is KDLK and KLKE had a combo rate of $14 a spot in Del Rio, about the same population as Eagle Pass but 55 miles away we struggled to get $3)
Even with all this said, KEPS and KINL are the only commercial FM stations in the city of 35,000.
Up the road in Uvalde, a town of 15,000 you never would have heard of if somebody didn’t kill a bunch of school kids, is a shopping hub for an area likely up to about 40 miles away. The commercial dial in Uvalde is an AM Spanish Christian and an FM Regional Mexican format. Then there’s a 3 FM group including a Country, Rock and Tejano station and local news. Those 3 stations should be a gold mine.
I understand those 3 stations were for sale for $350,000 about a year back. That’s awfully cheap! See earlier post!
The shocker came this morning: 3 radio stations in Uvalde and 2 radio stations in Eagle Pass shut down terminating all employees.
I got on the phone and called some folks in the business that know stuff because they have to. It’s vital to what they do. I got this info: the owner seems a bit shady (can’t say I’ve heard that). I’ve visited and checked on them and seems they were on and off again the past few years (Are you thinking of another station?) and I hear they’ve sold to a predominately Mexican Radio Company (possible but no filing yet). There is one thing I find shady: per FCC Suspension of Operations statements filed for all 5 stations state ALL FIVE lost their tower site at the same time. KEPS and KINL have their towers in their backyard behind the studio and offices. They lost the site they own? Wow! Keep in mind these stations are miles and miles apart from one another. We’re talking more than one tower site.
Because of ‘losing their tower site’ the stations will remain silent until a new site is found, meets FCC approval and then built out.
I find it shocking that five radio stations in good places that are competitive and have definite advantages can go belly up. Something doesn’t seem right.
So the station where I started my career in July 1978 has now shut down 44 years later, almost to the day.
When we reached Eagle Pass, we found KINL 92.7. They were playing top 40 and, from my memory, the worst sounding DJs I had heard on radio. I remarked to my friend that even though I had no experience, I was good enough to be their morning guy. I said we had to stop by. We did and talked to the General Manager an hour or two.
A couple of weeks later after sending that General Manager a cassette tape of my little part 15 station in the garage at home that I asked him to critique, I got a call from that GM, Ed. Ed asked me a question: What is it going to take to get you working for me?
A week later I filled up the car and set out for Eagle Pass on a Saturday morning with the intent of finding an apartment to lease. I got to the station. Forget getting an apartment on a weekend in a small town. I had bad luck. It was homecoming weekend and not a single motel room was available in town.
Once at the station, Lupita, a very nice lady but sounded a bit mousey on the air and had no clue how to DJ, called Lou Garza, the Program Director who just took a fulltime job with the phone company. He asked me to go on the air.
People at KINL freaked out. I’m trying to sound like the DJs I heard for years in places like Kansas City, Dallas and such.
KINL was country 6am to 9am, Oldies 9am to 6pm and Top 40 6 to 10pm. It was Top 40 on weekends when there was a parttime DJ otherwise it was automated oldies. Actually the format was ‘don’t cuss and play all the commercials on the log’.
A few weeks later we got a new General Manager and the station went Top 40.
The station became hugely popular since the median age was about 18.
By 1981 the Spanish Language AM and KINL, the Top 40 FM, were billing over $40,000 a month. We averaged about 6 commercials for every song we played but that was no worse than stations across the river in Piedras Negras. We played about 8 songs an hour. We’d average about 60-80 requests an hour daytimes and about 120-140 an hour at night. Our popularity was incredible. We’d get calls at home to be invited to parties on a regular basis. Even a request for an autograph. We sure weren't pros but we were having tons of fun.
After I left in 1984, the popularity remained several more years until around 1990.
When I got back to KEPS and KINL in Eagle Pass in 1992, I was hired to be the General Manager. The AM and FM had the same programming: top 40 days, Tejano at night. They had dropped local news. The building had not been maintained. There were holes in the ceiling where the sky was visible. When it rained, the station flooded. Sales had suffered. Stations in Mexico with more listeners were selling commercials for less than we did. Frankly our rate should have been 50¢ not the $3 we were asking. It was hard to get to the $17,000 monthly breakeven. After all the Fox TV affiliate in Eagle Pass was charging $5 a spot. (What was crazy is KDLK and KLKE had a combo rate of $14 a spot in Del Rio, about the same population as Eagle Pass but 55 miles away we struggled to get $3)
Even with all this said, KEPS and KINL are the only commercial FM stations in the city of 35,000.
Up the road in Uvalde, a town of 15,000 you never would have heard of if somebody didn’t kill a bunch of school kids, is a shopping hub for an area likely up to about 40 miles away. The commercial dial in Uvalde is an AM Spanish Christian and an FM Regional Mexican format. Then there’s a 3 FM group including a Country, Rock and Tejano station and local news. Those 3 stations should be a gold mine.
I understand those 3 stations were for sale for $350,000 about a year back. That’s awfully cheap! See earlier post!
The shocker came this morning: 3 radio stations in Uvalde and 2 radio stations in Eagle Pass shut down terminating all employees.
I got on the phone and called some folks in the business that know stuff because they have to. It’s vital to what they do. I got this info: the owner seems a bit shady (can’t say I’ve heard that). I’ve visited and checked on them and seems they were on and off again the past few years (Are you thinking of another station?) and I hear they’ve sold to a predominately Mexican Radio Company (possible but no filing yet). There is one thing I find shady: per FCC Suspension of Operations statements filed for all 5 stations state ALL FIVE lost their tower site at the same time. KEPS and KINL have their towers in their backyard behind the studio and offices. They lost the site they own? Wow! Keep in mind these stations are miles and miles apart from one another. We’re talking more than one tower site.
Because of ‘losing their tower site’ the stations will remain silent until a new site is found, meets FCC approval and then built out.
I find it shocking that five radio stations in good places that are competitive and have definite advantages can go belly up. Something doesn’t seem right.
So the station where I started my career in July 1978 has now shut down 44 years later, almost to the day.
Last edited:
From what I remember hearing, the current owner bought them from R Communications for $800,000 a few years ago. I would argue he definitely overpaid at that price.
I haven't been to Eagle Pass since I've been out of diapers, and that was about 45 years ago! Not sure if I've ever been to Uvalde, though there's a route through there from San Antonio that I wouldn't be surprised if my parents took on occasion. So, I realize you probably know a lot more about Eagle Pass and Uvalde than I do, but I can't see how you could ever make that much money in any sort of reasonable time frame in either. Neither town strikes me has being affluent in any way, shape or form, and I can't imagine either has much in way of commerce. I know mostly dated information supplied by my parents, but both of them described Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras as being sleepy towns that you only visited from San Antonio if you didn't want the tourist heavy atmosphere of Nuevo Laredo. My dad also once said that, unlike in Nuevo Laredo, the water in Piedras Negras was safe for gringos to drink. That was a minor perk, but you didn't have to be as careful about what you ordered, especially if your Spanish wasn't perfect, in Piedras Negras.
KINL would seem to be the only English-language station on either side of the border, though I wouldn't be surprised if it had some ads and, maybe, even a few songs in Spanish. I suspect, however, that Eagle Pass would be a lot like Laredo in that almost all of the adult population speaks Spanish. So, that probably wasn't a big difference maker.
I'll also add that I briefly worked with and competed against someone who worked at the old Q102 in Uvalde before it became KUVA. He tended to mostly do small town radio work and bounced around all over the creation for years, but he made it as high as Tulsa for a few years in his career. He died in 2020. He was in Alabama at the time and had been retired for several years.
I haven't been to Eagle Pass since I've been out of diapers, and that was about 45 years ago! Not sure if I've ever been to Uvalde, though there's a route through there from San Antonio that I wouldn't be surprised if my parents took on occasion. So, I realize you probably know a lot more about Eagle Pass and Uvalde than I do, but I can't see how you could ever make that much money in any sort of reasonable time frame in either. Neither town strikes me has being affluent in any way, shape or form, and I can't imagine either has much in way of commerce. I know mostly dated information supplied by my parents, but both of them described Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras as being sleepy towns that you only visited from San Antonio if you didn't want the tourist heavy atmosphere of Nuevo Laredo. My dad also once said that, unlike in Nuevo Laredo, the water in Piedras Negras was safe for gringos to drink. That was a minor perk, but you didn't have to be as careful about what you ordered, especially if your Spanish wasn't perfect, in Piedras Negras.
KINL would seem to be the only English-language station on either side of the border, though I wouldn't be surprised if it had some ads and, maybe, even a few songs in Spanish. I suspect, however, that Eagle Pass would be a lot like Laredo in that almost all of the adult population speaks Spanish. So, that probably wasn't a big difference maker.
I'll also add that I briefly worked with and competed against someone who worked at the old Q102 in Uvalde before it became KUVA. He tended to mostly do small town radio work and bounced around all over the creation for years, but he made it as high as Tulsa for a few years in his career. He died in 2020. He was in Alabama at the time and had been retired for several years.
Kent and b-truner: this thread is fascinating thanks to your detailed posts. Your experiences with small market radio are both interesting and informative. Thanks!
Kent, you missed the dollars in Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass had a shopping mall, busy downtown where the wealthy citizen of Mexico shopped and plenty of chain stores.
There was zero Spanish on KINL. We were 100% English. Sure Spanish was dominant but not a much as Spanglish. Our research showed BOTH the English Speaker and the Spanish Speaker expected English songs, announcers and English commercials. La Maquina was English songs and Spanish language commercials and disliked by most top 40 listeners (especially the young ones).
There were lots of businesses spending $200 a month back around 1981 on just KINL. There was a good deal of money but I agree it looked like a sleepy little town. It was a good 35,000 then including Seco Mines and other neighborhoods connected to the city limits. Even the Kickapoo Indians lived by the river near the golf course in mostly cardboard, chicken wire and random lumber dome like structures all with new pick up trucks parked in front before they got a reservation and casino. And Chris Farley didn't have his van down there by the river back then.
I think Piedras Negras was about 175,000 back in the early 1980s. I think there were 10 radio stations there and at least 3 TV stations. Eagle Pass had just KEPS and KINL and a TV station.
Uvalde likely had more money spent in local radio than Eagle Pass. The farmers and ranchers and outlying towns went to Uvalde to shop. Places like Camp Wood, Leakey, Sabinal, La Pryor, Batesville and a few other spots shop in Uvalde.
It seems retail sales sizes up this way: Eagle Pass, TX $637,000,000 Uvalde $398,500,000
Keep in mind Uvalde dollars are divided among 4 commercial stations consisting of one singleton and an owner with 3 FMs under the same roof. There are 4 non-local Christian non-commercial stations.
Eagle Pass had the AM & FM, a TV station, I think now 12 radio stations in Piedras and 5 TV stations. Plus all the stations from Musquiz, Monclova, Zaragosa and Sabinas north come to Eagle Pass to sell advertising.
A funny incident from way back: We had a stunningly beautiful lady for a news director. I never met a guy that saw her that didn't think she was incredible. She had some difficulty with some words. Every year the Shahan ranch where they built the set for the movie The Alamo had an annual Labor Day event. The ranch owner Happy Shahan was promoting some country singers at the time like Johnny Rodriguez, and generally held an event and concert. The year this happened the press release talked about bringing the whole family out to watch the Grand Prix Race. The problem was the news director was not pronouncing Prix as the French word it was but rather as 'pricks'. You can imagine the jaws dropping as she said the Shahans invited the whole family out to watch the Grand "Prix" Race/
There was zero Spanish on KINL. We were 100% English. Sure Spanish was dominant but not a much as Spanglish. Our research showed BOTH the English Speaker and the Spanish Speaker expected English songs, announcers and English commercials. La Maquina was English songs and Spanish language commercials and disliked by most top 40 listeners (especially the young ones).
There were lots of businesses spending $200 a month back around 1981 on just KINL. There was a good deal of money but I agree it looked like a sleepy little town. It was a good 35,000 then including Seco Mines and other neighborhoods connected to the city limits. Even the Kickapoo Indians lived by the river near the golf course in mostly cardboard, chicken wire and random lumber dome like structures all with new pick up trucks parked in front before they got a reservation and casino. And Chris Farley didn't have his van down there by the river back then.
I think Piedras Negras was about 175,000 back in the early 1980s. I think there were 10 radio stations there and at least 3 TV stations. Eagle Pass had just KEPS and KINL and a TV station.
Uvalde likely had more money spent in local radio than Eagle Pass. The farmers and ranchers and outlying towns went to Uvalde to shop. Places like Camp Wood, Leakey, Sabinal, La Pryor, Batesville and a few other spots shop in Uvalde.
It seems retail sales sizes up this way: Eagle Pass, TX $637,000,000 Uvalde $398,500,000
Keep in mind Uvalde dollars are divided among 4 commercial stations consisting of one singleton and an owner with 3 FMs under the same roof. There are 4 non-local Christian non-commercial stations.
Eagle Pass had the AM & FM, a TV station, I think now 12 radio stations in Piedras and 5 TV stations. Plus all the stations from Musquiz, Monclova, Zaragosa and Sabinas north come to Eagle Pass to sell advertising.
A funny incident from way back: We had a stunningly beautiful lady for a news director. I never met a guy that saw her that didn't think she was incredible. She had some difficulty with some words. Every year the Shahan ranch where they built the set for the movie The Alamo had an annual Labor Day event. The ranch owner Happy Shahan was promoting some country singers at the time like Johnny Rodriguez, and generally held an event and concert. The year this happened the press release talked about bringing the whole family out to watch the Grand Prix Race. The problem was the news director was not pronouncing Prix as the French word it was but rather as 'pricks'. You can imagine the jaws dropping as she said the Shahans invited the whole family out to watch the Grand "Prix" Race/
Last edited:
In 1982 the Peso devalued big time. Every media from anywhere close to the border was in Eagle Pass selling. I recall one station I knew quite well selling 100 spots for $15. There was a lower powered FM that wasn't popular was selling 100 commercials for $5.
I knew about these rates because I met the reps from these stations while seeing accounts I handled. Both clients bought. I asked the guy why he bought the $5 package. He said he might get half that number but it was still a deal.
The $15 station was Ensueno Radio/Dream Radio in Piedras. It was an easy listening station that did some sets of 'trios'. This FM averaged 2 commercials per song. I tended to relate popularity of stations by spot rate and commercial load. That meant Ensueno Radio was not very popular. The $5 FM was, I think 300 watts. It was a tiny studio with homemade mixer, no microphone, two turntables but with what looked like children's record player platter size. There were two cart machines. They had jingles but the last time I had heard that jingle package was for what was KTGR AM, a top 40 in Columbia, Missouri about 1967 or 1968. They played one Spanish language pop song followed by a top 40 English song. When they sold the $5 package I counted as many as 22 commercials between records. I got the impression they were not popular and struggling. I recall their transmitter and tower was on a balcony in the heat separated by a sliding glass door. They had a fan blowing up and out the top of the equipment rack that had the transmitter in it. The tower was bolted in to the wall and cleared the roof by less than about 10 feet. The jock told me he was paid 50 cents an hour.
I think the top station in Piedras at that time of devaluation charged 60 cents.
When the devaluation hit we were charging $2 at KINL but you got one nighttime spot free for each daytime spot you bought. My boss did a good job of communicating to the businesses they needed to stay on because the American side was where the money was at the time.
One of my sales tricks when mailing our media kit to agencies in the big cities was a single sheet of paper that said "PESO LITTLE, GET SO MUCH" with a 2,000 Peso bill in a window envelope taped to the sheet. Everybody called to find out what it was worth. I could buy 3 for $2!
I knew about these rates because I met the reps from these stations while seeing accounts I handled. Both clients bought. I asked the guy why he bought the $5 package. He said he might get half that number but it was still a deal.
The $15 station was Ensueno Radio/Dream Radio in Piedras. It was an easy listening station that did some sets of 'trios'. This FM averaged 2 commercials per song. I tended to relate popularity of stations by spot rate and commercial load. That meant Ensueno Radio was not very popular. The $5 FM was, I think 300 watts. It was a tiny studio with homemade mixer, no microphone, two turntables but with what looked like children's record player platter size. There were two cart machines. They had jingles but the last time I had heard that jingle package was for what was KTGR AM, a top 40 in Columbia, Missouri about 1967 or 1968. They played one Spanish language pop song followed by a top 40 English song. When they sold the $5 package I counted as many as 22 commercials between records. I got the impression they were not popular and struggling. I recall their transmitter and tower was on a balcony in the heat separated by a sliding glass door. They had a fan blowing up and out the top of the equipment rack that had the transmitter in it. The tower was bolted in to the wall and cleared the roof by less than about 10 feet. The jock told me he was paid 50 cents an hour.
I think the top station in Piedras at that time of devaluation charged 60 cents.
When the devaluation hit we were charging $2 at KINL but you got one nighttime spot free for each daytime spot you bought. My boss did a good job of communicating to the businesses they needed to stay on because the American side was where the money was at the time.
One of my sales tricks when mailing our media kit to agencies in the big cities was a single sheet of paper that said "PESO LITTLE, GET SO MUCH" with a 2,000 Peso bill in a window envelope taped to the sheet. Everybody called to find out what it was worth. I could buy 3 for $2!
Eagle Pass Business Journal reports MB Revolution, owned by Mexican investor Roberto Gonzalez, showing a Del Rio address, has applied to the FCC to purchase KEPS and KINL in Eagle Pass, Texas plus the three stations in Uvalde for $2.1 million.
That sounds like a fair price to me.
A
AnyHuman
Guest
That article is from 2011.
$2.1 million would be way too expensive today. The current owner bought them for just $800,000 and would seem to have overpaid.
Ultimately, they're worth whatever you can get for them, but I wonder if the current owner will even get half what he paid for them (assuming he gets anything at all).
Ultimately, they're worth whatever you can get for them, but I wonder if the current owner will even get half what he paid for them (assuming he gets anything at all).
Agreed, especially taking the stations dark and firing everybody. You don't even have the salespeople who have relationships with local business owners much less and support staff. If you were really running things right and had great people, you could likely bill about $60,000 a month in each community. Essentially you are hindered with zero billing and baggage from the past owner. That's pretty bottom of the barrel. Maybe $250,000 considering the capital investment of 5 start-ups.
A
AnyHuman
Guest
From RadioInsight:
"The former Hot AC “Power 92.7” KINL Eagle Pass and “Coyote Country 104.9” KVOU-FM Uvalde will go to Francisco Javier Navarro’s Roca Radio LLC for $100. Navarro will purchase South Texas Radio LLC from Gonzalez with the licenses for the former “Tejano y Mas 1270” KEPS Eagle Pass, Hot AC “Hits 93.9” KBNU and “Tejano y Mas 102.3” KUVA Uvalde for an additional $100."
"The former Hot AC “Power 92.7” KINL Eagle Pass and “Coyote Country 104.9” KVOU-FM Uvalde will go to Francisco Javier Navarro’s Roca Radio LLC for $100. Navarro will purchase South Texas Radio LLC from Gonzalez with the licenses for the former “Tejano y Mas 1270” KEPS Eagle Pass, Hot AC “Hits 93.9” KBNU and “Tejano y Mas 102.3” KUVA Uvalde for an additional $100."
All I can say is I want Mr. Navarro to be my official negotiator. 5 stations for $200! Granted there will need to be some capital investment and trying to staff the stations but I know these communities and to walk in debt free and make the needed investment and get some staff to relaunch is nothing. Roca got a whale of a deal. Keep in mind KEPS and KINL set on their own land (assuming the land goes with the license) and I think Uvalde owned it' studio and tower site too.
A
AnyHuman
Guest
Something about that price seems too good to be true. You guys sure it's not a typo?
The stations are silent. The deal makes someone new responsible for ongoing expenses, leases, etc. The owner wanted a liability-free back door out of the markets.
There is likely some assumption of debts such as leased equipment, financed central A/C and the like.
It's not a typo. It is a one-way pass out of long-term debt.
- Status