Inside Radio reports Bonneville sells 17 stations

[Garver]

Bonneville spins four markets to Hubbard.

In the biggest radio deal since 2005, Hubbard Broadcasting is buying four Bonneville clusters in Chicago, Washington, St. Louis and Cincinnati. It pays $505 million for a total of 17 stations. Bonneville’s remaining markets will be Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle, as well as the flagship cluster in Salt Lake City. Bonneville CEO Bruce Reese and executive VP Drew Horowitz will both join Hubbard.

 

[dave73]

For those who want proof, here's the link, & I find this a major surprise. I never thought that Bonneville would sell their Chicago cluster. Either the offer was too good, or Bonneville is finding Chicago a stagnant market for them. Who knows.

 

[DToTheJ]

As part of the deal, Hubbard will get Mix 101.9, Rewind 100.3 and 97.1 The Drive along with its simulcast on 96.9 FM:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/arti...ns-sold-to-hubbard-broadcasting#axzz1BWE92G7N

 

[WorkerBee]

I was at Bonneville in the 80's & early 90's and even then they had stated a desire to operate in the west. No one thought they would sell NY, but they did. Does anyone else think the price is on the low side?

OOPs - just re-read it. ALL CASH. Now the price makes more sense.

 

[TheBigA]

So either this means they're cashing out of radio, or building a war chest to buy more properties in their remaining cities. There have been some rumors that they want to buy some Citadel stations. This may be the first step. With Reese going to Hubbard, this sounds more like choice 1.

 

[DToTheJ]

Note that, at least for now, Hubbard's still holding onto some of their existing markets like Seattle, as well as their home base of Minneapolis. As it stands, I'll buy your "war chest" theory, TBA...

 

[BRNout]

Note that, at least for now, Hubbard's still holding onto some of their existing markets like Seattle, as well as their home base of Minneapolis. As it stands, I'll buy your "war chest" theory, TBA...

1) Hubbard's only radio market prior to the acquisition was Minneapolis/St. Paul; and,

2) Bonneville is keeping (for now, at least) their properties in Phoenix, LA, Seattle and Salt Lake City. So they are solidifying their base in markets closer and closer to their home base in Salt Lake.

The jury is out on the rest.

 

[Word!]

Wow that's a cheap price. But I've heard radio properties dropped substantially in value in the recent years. Considering they paid $165M for 97.1/96.9 only 10 years ago.

I was hoping Crawford could have picked up 100.3 and done something with it. Now I'm focusing on the Emmis stations, thats the only other company that wants out or was rumored wanting out of Chicago.

I don't know anything of Hubbard. But much like when anything changes hands, no format and no station is safe from sabotage now.

Dum de dum dum DOOOOOM!!!! ...time will tell~

 

[radioguy39nj]

I was at Bonneville in the 80's & early 90's and even then they had stated a desire to operate in the west. No one thought they would sell NY, but they did.

Bonneville owned 105.1 in NYC for about 30 years. They were fairly successful for about 20 years with WRFM as a beautiful music station. It flipped to soft rock WNSR in 1986, then it morphed to hot AC Mix 105 in the early 90s, then to 105.1 The Buzz before returning to soft rock. Bonneville sold 105.1 to Chancellor in 1997 and exited the New York market.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Bonneville is keeping (for now, at least) their properties in Phoenix, LA, Seattle and Salt Lake City. So they are solidifying their base in markets closer and closer to their home base in Salt Lake.

The jury is out on the rest.

If Bonneville isn't planning to exit the radio business, I think they'll keep their Phoenix, Seattle and Salt Lake City clusters. KSWD LA might be a spin-off candidate since it's Bonneville's only property in that market.

B'ville can use the cash they'll be receiving from Hubbard to bolster their clusters in Phoenix, Seattle and SLC. If they spin off LA, it'll be that much more.

 

[radioaircheck]

The question is....Will the new company hold the current formats if they are working?

 

[RadioStarOne]

Is Bonneville after the former ABC Radio Stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Dallas, and Chicago? mmmmmmm? Nice prize, Nice Price? Did Citadel offer a price to Bonneville they couldn't refuse for the stations? Is the other shoe about to drop? Like the pieces of a puzzle the picture is becoming very clear is it not? First, they traded their San Francisco Stations and now? This? Very Interesting Indeed!

 

[TheBigA]

The problem with that picture, as I see it, is they sold Chicago. So why would they sell stations in a market where they expect to buy?

The problem with the former ABC stations is they're small clusters, 2 or 3 per market. That's very inefficient. Plus at least one of those stations is a loser AM.

 

[radioguy39nj]

IIRC, it was rumored about 2 years ago that B'ville was at least kicking the tires at Citadel stations. Citadel stations were loaded with debt at the time, but their financial condition has improved some. B'ville sold Chicago, so it makes no sense they'd buy Citadel's WLS AM & FM.

 

[Word!]

Past experiences have shown that no matter how good (or bad) a station might be doing in any given market, whoever buys them has their own business strategy for their new signals.

This is why I'm really curious to see the shakeup that might happen with the Bonneville Chicago stations, and which is why I also said any format with the new owners is not secure. PERIOD.

Time and time again.... need I mention a few notables:

WKIE WKIF WDEK (yes i went there) Onda 92 then to 9FM and now FM talk.........What are you doing newsweb? I still don't know how they are making money, at least 9FM showed up in a book ???

WNIB/WNIZ to WDRV/WWDV (which made no sense, when they owned WLUP even though WDRV was aimed to target WXRT and they ended up selling WLUP?? Ok didn't make sense to me.. after so-called MAJOR market research they developed the Drive format??? Wow I wish ihad that paycheck for the consulting company because Bonneville got screwed! lol)

WJTW 93.5 to WVIX

WZFS to WPPN 106.7

WABT to WZCH to WWYW 103.9

WHTS to WLKU ... the most major shakeup in a market (Quad Cities) 98.9 The most popular station in the market went from CHR to CCM by the new owners. Wowwwwww

 

[TheBigA]

This is why I'm really curious to see the shakeup that might happen with the Bonneville Chicago stations, and which is why I also said any format with the new owners is not secure. PERIOD.

Keep in mind that while they have a new owner, the man who ran Bonneville now runs Hubbard. That means change is less likely.

 

[audioguy]

Sorry that The Mix is being sold. I loved working for them. Bonneville was a fantastic employer!

I have to wonder if they are seeing the handwriting on the wall: perhaps radio is going the way of the carrier pigeon and the dodo bird. Otherwise, I can't imagine why they would want to sell their entire Chicago cluster instead of just thinning the herd.

 

[jh]

WHTS to WLKU ... the most major shakeup in a market (Quad Cities) 98.9 The most popular station in the market went from CHR to CCM by the new owners. Wowwwwww

Not really the same thing. WHTS was LMAed to CC, but new market caps forced that to end. So it was sold to a non-com rather than a commercial competitor.


The Hubbards are billionaires, their family has owned KSTP-AM since it went on the air in 1923. They've owned KSTP-TV and KSTP-FM since they went on the air. They tend to be in things for the long-haul... their women's talk FM in Minneapolis has never done very well, anyone else would have dumped it after a year, but the Hubbards kept with it. Don't expect any drastic changes to stations that are doing well.

 

[TheBigA]

Don't expect any drastic changes to stations that are doing well.

And once again, the guy who ran Bonneville now runs Hubbard. That's a very unique thing. I think it will lead to more consistency that typical station sales.

 

[Kent]

WKIE WKIF WDEK (yes i went there) Onda 92 then to 9FM and now FM talk.........What are you doing newsweb? I still don't know how they are making money, at least 9FM showed up in a book ???

This station has never done well. While it was dance, it had its best ratings. It didn't do poorly, but it still didn't do well. Besides, it was sold to a broadcaster that only targets the Hispanic audience. So, it was obvious it would go Spanish-language. As for Newsweb, they didn't want a poorly performing Spanish-language station. So, they've tried to make it work. It's not working, but, since it's been English-language, it hasn't been changing formats due to changing owners.

WNIB/WNIZ to WDRV/WWDV (which made no sense, when they owned WLUP even though WDRV was aimed to target WXRT and they ended up selling WLUP?? Ok didn't make sense to me.. after so-called MAJOR market research they developed the Drive format??? Wow I wish ihad that paycheck for the consulting company because Bonneville got screwed! lol)

You do realize, don't you, that The Drive is one of Bonneville's most successful properties? They bought a station in WNIB that had poor ratings and an unsellable demo and turned it into a consistent money maker over 10 years that recent PPM's show cumes over 1.3 million. If that's getting screwed, I bet more people wish they'd get treated that badly!

WJTW 93.5 to WVIX

A suburban station was sold to a Hispanic broadcaster who wanted to extend coverage for another station. This isn't what's happening with Bonneville/Hubbard.

WZFS to WPPN 106.7

Similar to the situation above. 106.7 went from a religious broadcaster to a Hispanic broadcaster. No Hispanic targeting broadcaster is going to run an English-language CCM format. It just doesn't happen.

WABT to WZCH to WWYW 103.9

A station got sold because it was doing poorly. The new owner, predictably, tried to do something it thought would do better.

WHTS to WLKU ... the most major shakeup in a market (Quad Cities) 98.9 The most popular station in the market went from CHR to CCM by the new owners. Wowwwwww

Bad deal for the listeners? You bet! However, no one thought EMF was going to keep the CHR on 98.9, did they? Everyone knows EMF's game plan.

You haven't described a single situation that's similar to the Bonneville/Hubbard deal. So, your analogies don't work. With the Bonneville/Hubbard deal, you have three successful stations changing hands from one committed commercial broadcaster to another. Does that mean everyone at The Drive, The Mix and Rewind are safe and that everything's going to remain the same? Of course not. Nothing stays the same in radio for long. There's no security in the business, and there never has been. However, it seems to me like the stations aren't likely to see significant changes. They just do too well.