Herald: Entercom paid $10M for half of WCRB/ more WEEI starts in Sept.

[raccoonradio]

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/media/view.bg?articleid=1017638

More details: Entercom paid $10M for its share of WCRB, and the expansion of WEEI to
more markets starts in Sept.

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal that would have
put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.
It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

 

[raccoonradio]

Not surprising that the Sox games, etc., won't be on the new stations, as the rights exist elsewhere in
the various markets. Some that come to mind: WXTK-FM (Qantum) has rights on the Cape;
WDEV (Radio Vermont) in Montpelier; WTPL-FM in Concord NH; WLOB-FM and the JAB stations in Portland ME (acc. to Red Sox affiliate list on WRKO site); etc.

Nassau's station portfolio; we'll have to guess which ones wind up doing the WEEI simulcast

http://www.nassaubroadcasting.com/stations.htm

Cape Cod: Could be PIXY 103 (102.9), or Frank (93.5/101.1)

Montpelier:They have a Frank station in Barre at 107.1, and country Froggy at 100.9; also WSNO 1450
in Barre. Maybe WSNO (currently talk)

Concord: Would they take The Hawk off? (101.5 Meredith, 102.3 Manchester)...or WNNH out of
Henniker (99.1)? They have Frank at 106.3 in Manchester/Nashua area and top 40 WJYY in Concord
(105.5; just like the freq in Easthampton: The dime and the double nickels)...or would they take
one of their Wolf country signals?

In the Upper Valley, they already have sports on 1230 in Claremont and 910 in White River Jct.
Those could do WEEI.

For Portland they already have ESPN on AMs (870, 1470)...they wouldn't put it on one of their
W-Bach stations would they? (99.3 Kennebunkport, 106.3 Scarborough etc.) I'd expect it more
on the AMs.

 

[Mainedude2007]

For Portland they already have ESPN on AMs (870, 1470)...they wouldn't put it on one of their
W-Bach stations would they? (99.3 Kennebunkport, 106.3 Scarborough etc.) I'd expect it more
on the AMs.

They could put it on 99.3 or 106.3 since the signals are very close and overlap, although 106.3 is closer to portland and puts a better singnal into Portland.

 

[DanStrassberg]

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/media/view.bg?articleid=1017638

More details: Entercom paid $10M for its share of WCRB, and the expansion of WEEI to
more markets starts in Sept.

$10 million for 50% of WCRB??? Considering that Entercom only recently
paid $30 million for 100% of what is now WKAF, does that make ANY
sense??? Sure WKAF is in Milton and WCRB is in Andover but 'CRB is a
full B and 'KAF is an A--and, to my ears, not a very potent one. (WFNX
appears to be a better Class A signal for covering the Boston market,
although I have not investigated reception of 'FNX on the South Shore,
where protections to Providence and--I believe--Cape Cod reduce the
signal strength.) Also, what of the rumors that, when all the
machinations between Charles River, Greater Media, and Nassau were
done, 99.5 changed hands for ~$60 mllion, which seemed to make sense
given that the price for 102.5 was reportedly (appropriately enough)
~$102.5 million?

Was $60 million a fiction, or could Nassau's sale of half of 'CRB for
$10 million be termed a distress sale? And if $60 million for 99.5 IS
a fiction, how does one explain $30 mllion for 97.7? I know that the
current financial crisis has negatively affected station sale prices,
but could it have knocked out 2/3 of WCRB's value in less than a year?
Inquiring minds really, REALLY, _REALLY_ want to know!

 

[brightonboris]

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/media/view.bg?articleid=1017638

More details: Entercom paid $10M for its share of WCRB, and the expansion of WEEI to
more markets starts in Sept.

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal that would have
put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.
It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

I bet during talks with McGuire, Nassau people were wearing a wire and Julie and Jason were seating in the WEEI van outside with the headphones on....D&C must feel like the biggest morons on the planet today. Well, they're anyway but that's another thread altogether...

Howie's secretary....I mean...Jessica Heslam makes Clea Simon look like a Pulitzer Prize winner.
After you swap an FM radio property in NJ valued at $87 million for a Boston FM station, a vast classical music library and $26 million in cash, how can then that Boston radio station be valued at $20 million 9 months later?
Even in the worst radio recession WCRB 99.5 couldn't drop below $50 million pricepoint that quickly....

 

[livingfruitvirus]

One step closer to national radio networks becoming commonplace. (and I don't mean ones like Fox Sports and ESPN)

 

[Dark Knight]

I suspect that the answer to the CRB valuation is that the discount was taken as part of the price of the syndication deal, but that is just supposition.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/media/view.bg?articleid=1017638

More details: Entercom paid $10M for its share of WCRB, and the expansion of WEEI to
more markets starts in Sept.

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal that would have
put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.
It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

I bet during talks with McGuire, Nassau people were wearing a wire and Julie and Jason were seating in the WEEI van outside with the headphones on....D&C must feel like the biggest morons on the planet today. Well, they're anyway but that's another thread altogether...

Howie's secretary....I mean...Jessica Heslam makes Clea Simon look like a Pulitzer Prize winner.
After you swap an FM radio property in NJ valued at $87 million for a Boston FM station, a vast classical music library and $26 million in cash, how can then that Boston radio station be valued at $20 million 9 months later?
Even in the worst radio recession WCRB 99.5 couldn't drop below $50 million pricepoint that quickly....

A "VAST" classical library? Are you nuts? The fare WCRB broadcasts in a month would fit into a suitcase! Half-vast is more like it.

 

[Neggy]

I didn't know classical stations did focus groups and consultants

 

[Laurence Glavin]

I didn't know classical stations did focus groups and consultants

When Mario Mazza started at WCRB a dozen years ago the first thing he did was run so-called "focus groups" that would back up his theories on how to run a classical station, right after destroying WNCN.

 

[brightonboris]

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/media/view.bg?articleid=1017638

More details: Entercom paid $10M for its share of WCRB, and the expansion of WEEI to
more markets starts in Sept.

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal that would have
put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.
It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

I bet during talks with McGuire, Nassau people were wearing a wire and Julie and Jason were seating in the WEEI van outside with the headphones on....D&C must feel like the biggest morons on the planet today. Well, they're anyway but that's another thread altogether...

Howie's secretary....I mean...Jessica Heslam makes Clea Simon look like a Pulitzer Prize winner.
After you swap an FM radio property in NJ valued at $87 million for a Boston FM station, a vast classical music library and $26 million in cash, how can then that Boston radio station be valued at $20 million 9 months later?
Even in the worst radio recession WCRB 99.5 couldn't drop below $50 million pricepoint that quickly....

A "VAST" classical library? Are you nuts? The fare WCRB broadcasts in a month would fit into a suitcase! Half-vast is more like it.

Settle down, Larry. Well, just because they don't play it on the air doesn't mean they don't have it in their catalogue.

 

[TSBench]

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal

Well, now we know who it was that actually 'humiliated' D&C; it wasn't Entercom, it was McGuire. You can bet that he was the 'source' who was floating all the -new regional sports network- tips to Heslam (who's been aptly described as 'Howie Carr's secretary'), Scott, and all the other blogging Entercom-hating tools who were more than happy to credulously eat up whatever crap he tossed at them provided it was what they wanted to hear. McGuire himself was probably surprised at how easy it was. Now, of course, McGuire was blindsided, showing how he really wasn't ready to run with the big dogs. What in the name of God was he thinking? Did he think he was helping D&Cs cause and running their price up to levels Entercom wouldn't match? Was he trying to impress potential investors by implying he had a lock on A-list talent? With a friend like this, D&C didn't need any enemies. Entercom even telegraphed them a warning (the Regan 'walk on the beach' memo) but they believed McQuire? Uh, oh.

I think that D&C have already cut a deal to return to WEEI, and probably at money that most media folks in this town would drool over. Probably the same deal offered before the Nassau deal came down. For Entercom, its just business, not a grudge match, as difficult to believe as that may be for some folks. They may even be glad that all the smoke being blown helped keep their negotiations under the local radar.

Interestingly, while all the bloggers and writers were concentrating on bogus leads and falling all over themselves staying in touch with their curiously out-of-the-loop 'insiders', they missed out on the biggest sports media story of the year. And one which was pulled off by folks they routinely dismiss as coffee go-fers, imperious media queens, morons, and incompetents. Yep, there were a bunch of folks who matched those descriptions in this story, the difference is they weren't the ones drawing Entercom management paychecks.

put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.

Ummm...nice play on the call letters. The only thing keeping it from a reality is about 10 years and 250 million dollars.

It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

Entercom is probably locked into carriage contracts for the Sox and Celtics, so they can't compete with their own current affiliates, but I can see this going away in the out years. I wonder why the Pats Monday is a no-carry situation. Any ideas?

Regards,
TSB

 

[brightonboris]

It was Callahan's friend John McGuire who had tried to engineer the deal

Well, now we know who it was that actually 'humiliated' D&C; it wasn't Entercom, it was McGuire. You can bet that he was the 'source' who was floating all the -new regional sports network- tips to Heslam (who's been aptly described as 'Howie Carr's secretary'), Scott, and all the other blogging Entercom-hating tools who were more than happy to credulously eat up whatever crap he tossed at them provided it was what they wanted to hear. McGuire himself was probably surprised at how easy it was. Now, of course, McGuire was blindsided, showing how he really wasn't ready to run with the big dogs. What in the name of God was he thinking? Did he think he was helping D&Cs cause and running their price up to levels Entercom wouldn't match? Was he trying to impress potential investors by implying he had a lock on A-list talent? With a friend like this, D&C didn't need any enemies. Entercom even telegraphed them a warning (the Regan 'walk on the beach' memo) but they believed McQuire? Uh, oh.

I think that D&C have already cut a deal to return to WEEI, and probably at money that most media folks in this town would drool over. Probably the same deal offered before the Nassau deal came down. For Entercom, its just business, not a grudge match, as difficult to believe as that may be for some folks. They may even be glad that all the smoke being blown helped keep their negotiations under the local radar.

Interestingly, while all the bloggers and writers were concentrating on bogus leads and falling all over themselves staying in touch with their curiously out-of-the-loop 'insiders', they missed out on the biggest sports media story of the year. And one which was pulled off by folks they routinely dismiss as coffee go-fers, imperious media queens, morons, and incompetents. Yep, there were a bunch of folks who matched those descriptions in this story, the difference is they weren't the ones drawing Entercom management paychecks.

put D&C on a sports network with WCRB (Celtics-RedSox-Bruins...and Pats...) as flagship.

Ummm...nice play on the call letters. The only thing keeping it from a reality is about 10 years and 250 million dollars.

It says Red Sox and Celtics games and Patriots Monday won't air on the new Nassau-owned properties

Entercom is probably locked into carriage contracts for the Sox and Celtics, so they can't compete with their own current affiliates, but I can see this going away in the out years. I wonder why the Pats Monday is a no-carry situation. Any ideas?

Regards,
TSB

At least WEEI is trying to give them a chance to preserve their careers for another three years. They didn't do that for the Hot Dog Eddie when he started opening fortune cookies with the Zone people hoping WEEI would go out of its way to keep him. He was 'schocked' they decided to let him walk. Once he got to 1510, he knew he was done.

 

[raccoonradio]

>>Ummm...nice play on the call letters. The only thing keeping it from a reality is about 10 years and 250 million dollars.

well, they wouldn't be able to get the rights necessarily, but those teams would be subject to discussion

 

[Extra]

not to sound too naive here but what is happening with Classical Music in Boston outside of WHRB? Is WCRB going to be half Classical and half Sports? Anyone have a clue?