That's an interesting thought and might be the reason why they are having a slow process selling it. If it needs to stay ESPN and GKB is passing for now, I wonder if David Gow might try to pick it up as he already has ESPN in Houston (as well as his own SportsMap network).
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Good Karma Buying WEPN AM & FM
- Thread starter Barry
- Start date
Not a bad deal for Good Karma. Assuming the cash flow is there, the stations are basically paying for themselves after GK puts down $1 million for 3 stations (plus the FM LMA) in top markets. Was the amount Disney is paying to Emmis for the LMA ever publicly disclosed?
Just looked and Gow might still be interested, but it looks like ESPN Houston only carries ESPN programming from 12 to 7 AM.
As I recall, when it was run by Cumulus, they had local hosts during the day.
I wouldn't be totally shocked if Cumulus came back into the picture on this.
I could see that happening too. It's not a terrible flanker for The Ticket, ties up the ESPN affiliation in a non competitive form, and give them more scale on the sales side.
RadioInsight is reporting that Disney is selling its Dallas ESPN affiliate KESN to a Christian broadcaster. The buyer has already filed an application to convert the station to noncommercial operation.
ESPN Dallas Sale
Oh well, I guess with the end of the year coming, they wanted to get them all sold. Too bad for Dallas.
I definitely do not share your pessimism for religious broadcasters, but that is a lot of religious stations in DFW (which is the largest evangelical market in the country).
770, 910, 1440, 88.3, 89.7, 90.5, 90.9, 91.3, 94.9, 100.7, 101.7, 103.3. Not counting translators, lpfms, or spanish-language.
This particular one isn't very good. The other side is it means another competitor for ad dollars is gone.
Buyer is VCY America, which, from its website, appears to be an extreme right wing mix of religion and politics. Looks like they are expanding into the SW US.
Most interesting thing is that it removes a future option for EMF in the market, should the K-Love branding conflict find some resolution.
If Gow should buy any station, it should be KROI in Houston as a new home for its sportstalker, which would be a major improvement over the signal challenged KFNC in that market.
Also California. They bought the three Ed Stolz stations from his receiver. However that sale hasn't closed due to Stolz.
97.5 truly is an absolutely dreadful signal.
I am of the opinion that that sale to VCY will never actually close and they will ultimately be returned to Stolz.
I would not describe VCY as being "extreme right wing". And most of the programming isn't political at all. The teaching programs are on the conservative end of the theological spectrum and it is definitely an older audience.
I know you already know this because you are very active here, but for new readers, EMF doesn't hold the K-Love trademark everywhere. Univision holds it in Los Angeles and Houston and Audacy has it in Dallas because of KLUV. While EMF was able to work out a deal with Univision in LA, that might not be the case in DFW.
Also, EMF already has the rimshot Air 1 signal with KYDA. Assuming the trademark issue can be resolved and that is a big if they may be holding out for a full market Cedar Hill signal.
Sometimes I wonder whether the regulations in Mexico are "good and proper": religious organizations can't own radio stations. A few get around this by buying time on independently owned stations, but the rule has prevented any and all religious groups there from forming national networks.
On the other hand, except for a couple of government stations and AM simulcasts of migrants to FM, in El Salvador nearly all AMs are now religious. Similar situations exist in Guatemala and Honduras, but there (and in much of Latin America) the tendency is just to vacate AM altogether.
One element of religious radio is "serving the saints", but another and what likely drives a lot of donating is that it is an outreach, a mission into the marketplace to "non-believers". I'm speaking primarily from the protestant side, but that is definitely present on the Catholic side too, which i listen to somewhat regularly.
However, if that marketplace, the ecosystem as it were, is out of balance and are all or mostly religious stations, the "non-believers" will leave the medium and that mission element is gone as well, which will ultimately lead to a decline of the religious stations being able to grow or sustain. It's basically a paradox.
Overcomer has been buying more time on basket case AMs lately.
Overcomer basically keeps some of the U.S. domestic SW stations on the air. If Overcomer was to pull their time buys, operations like WRMI and WWCR might just go out of business. Of course, there are those who would welcome such a development...🥱
Which are now out of date, considering Ralph Stair died this past summer, and they are running years-old recordings. I recently tuned across one of his broadcasts on shortwave, and he was ranting about President Obama.
Such stations are pretty much preaching to the choir. "Non-believers" aren't going to listen or watch such programming. In fact the content and antics of evangelical broadcasters (namely extreme right wing politics) have probably driven lots of people even further away from organized religion.
The day when the radio dial becomes stuffed with preachers up and down the dial and nothing else is the day a lot of us will haul our radios off to the charity thrift store, or to an electronics recycler.
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