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John Catsimatidis Will be Acquiring another Station

CTListener said:
But not all FMs have the "-FM" suffix, right? Just the ones that have AMs -- or TVs -- with the same call letters? And what happens when the owner of such an FM decides to change its call for imaging purposes? Would, say, WNEW-FM become just WZZZ, not WZZZ-FM, under those circumstances? (Just a made-up hypothetical call, BTW. I'm not going to search a database for available letter combinations just to make this post 100 percent accurate.)
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It's up to the FM or TV station to decide whether it wants the call with the suffix or not. Unless the un-suffixed call is already in use elsewhere, in which case you have to take the suffix.

Case study: the public TV station in Rochester went on in 1966 as simply WXXI, no suffix. In 1974 it added an FM station as WXXI-FM. And then in 1984 it bought an AM station. In order to put "WXXI" on the AM station (no suffix), the TV had to become WXXI-TV.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Neither of those relatively brief periods seems to qualify the station as being a "heritage" facility. Neither was successful, and nothing that is put on 970 ever will be.
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Cats hasn't used the term "heritage" at all. His only qualification was 50K. and 970 fits.

I applied the term "heritage" because he owns WABC. What 50K stations in NY have that kind of heritage for a boomer like Cats?
 
DavidEduardo said:
A lot of us add "AM" when there might be confusion with another facility. In the case of KGO, the confusion is with the separately owned TV station. I prefer using parenthesis instead of a dash, though. KGO (AM) shows that we are referring to the AM radio station and does not make it seem like the calls are KGO-AM.
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I took that cue of using (AM) from Broadcasting magazine following my binge readings at the City College of New York library 30 years ago.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
I took that cue of using (AM) from Broadcasting magazine following my binge readings at the City College of New York library 30 years ago.
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I read Broadcasting in my college days, too, even though my concentration (and future career) was print. IIRC, that magazine's style -- and the FCC's, if I'm not mistaken -- calls for no space between the four-letter call and the (AM), so that's the way I write it today: WXXX(AM).
 
About a year back there had been word of Mr. Cats looking for an *FM* station.
I idly cared at first, being both out here a hundred miles due west of Columbus Circle and two decades removed from a radio paycheck. So I skipped over most of the five pages of speculation and landed here.
Subsequently.
To ask how hot the fellow might be on 98.7 or 99.5.
Any word from him on those, uh, turkeys?
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
About a year back there had been word of Mr. Cats looking for an *FM* station.
I idly cared at first, being both out here a hundred miles due west of Columbus Circle and two decades removed from a radio paycheck. So I skipped over most of the five pages of speculation and landed here.
Subsequently.
To ask how hot the fellow might be on 98.7 or 99.5.
Any word from him on those, uh, turkeys?
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WBAI was not a seller when the stick was actually worth something. There's probably no point in selling it now unless Pacifica's financial situation dictates.

98.7 is available if he's willing to pay the asking price. At this point, it might make sense for Emmis to hold off in hopes of the new administration relaxing the ownership rules thereby opening 98.7 up to more potential buyers.

The economics of Cats buying a FM station in NYC do not compute. I get it. He has a lot of money. But c'mon...
 
luperm said:
WBAI was not a seller when the stick was actually worth something. There's probably no point in selling it now unless Pacifica's financial situation dictates..
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Pacifica's financial situation has nothing to do with it. A few years ago, the foundation took over the frequency with the intent of cutting expenses, and the local station board took them to court, and the court ruled against the foundation. The view at that time was the foundation was preparing to either sell or lease the frequency. The court ruled that the foundation's charter with the station prohibits them from doing anything with the station. The station is run by its local board of directors, not Pacifica.
 
TheBigA said:
Pacifica's financial situation has nothing to do with it. A few years ago, the foundation took over the frequency with the intent of cutting expenses, and the local station board took them to court, and the court ruled against the foundation. The view at that time was the foundation was preparing to either sell or lease the frequency. The court ruled that the foundation's charter with the station prohibits them from doing anything with the station. The station is run by its local board of directors, not Pacifica.
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It may be run -- as in operated -- by the local board, but that does not mean Pacifica has abrogated its responsibilities as the legal licensee of its stations. If they wanted to sell any or all of the stations they are the legal licensee of, no local operating board could stop them, as that would be cause to have the license revoked. And basically that, or Chapter 11 bankruptcy, would have been the ways to unwind this untenable situation with the local boards acting in defiance of the stations' owner and legal licensee.
 
Weiserguy said:
It may be run -- as in operated -- by the local board, but that does not mean Pacifica has abrogated its responsibilities as the legal licensee of its stations. If they wanted to sell any or all of the stations they are the legal licensee of, no local operating board could stop them, as that would be cause to have the license revoked. And basically that, or Chapter 11 bankruptcy, would have been the ways to unwind this untenable situation with the local boards acting in defiance of the stations' owner and legal licensee.
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I'm pretty sure all parties are aware of the various legal and financial options, as they've been down that road many times already. In any case, WBAI is not on the market now, nor is it likely to be at any point. Unless the next FCC chooses to direct lawfare at them.
 
Gotta say: Terrific discussion from you folks on this matter.
And it's in the face of some notables who insist that politics per se on radio boards are gauche; that they have no place there; like they don't count.
Well, I see three recent people in discussion here now who apparently have deeper interests and concerns in 2024 (and 2025) radio aside from those of some retired pork chop in Pennsylvania. You posters say the opposite of the timid and aging radio-board zeitgeist ; that political position jockeying HAS to be considered at this date. A tip of the earphones to you.

And for speculation's sake, I'll try one more odd-person-out muse:
Mr. Cats will have no ownership cap in his way in acquisition of any NYC station -- now or in 2025. Doesn't matter if Brendan Carr or license-signer Ben F. Waple is the new chair of the FCC. Cats is immune from that monitor ankle bracelet whether it will continue or if it no longer exists. No doubt HE is aware, or has been advised, that this latest intrusion of political committee-feces will not alter any of his hobbies one bit. If he indeed were straight with that FM dream, he can wait for 98.7 or 99.5 to lower the price tags. If those facilities DON'T, or even if they dawdle, he's got WABC and its trending 3.8 - 4.0 - 4.4 - 5.0 hobby numbers to tinker with while Pacifica/Karma/Emmis/Whomever gets their shoelaces untied from each other.
No?
 
DavidEduardo said:
A lot of us add "AM" when there might be confusion with another facility. In the case of KGO, the confusion is with the separately owned TV station. I prefer using parenthesis instead of a dash, though. KGO (AM) shows that we are referring to the AM radio station and does not make it seem like the calls are KGO-AM.
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That’s why I do it with WDAF and others
 
Cats brought it up again on todays show with Sid 12/16/2024. He said they would reveal and absorb the station in January when they return from the break.
 
Ooooh, a cliffhanger! What's the over/under on additional pages of wild speculation here before the big reveal? My early line is 3.5. I'm especially looking forward to amateur sleuths scouring official and unofficial websites for clues, especially since the disclosure and the "absorption" of the station to be taken over by Cats and friends both will be happening in January, perhaps on the same day! There's got to be paperwork out there somewhere right now, no?
 
CTListener said:
Ooooh, a cliffhanger! What's the over/under on additional pages of wild speculation here before the big reveal? My early line is 3.5. I'm especially looking forward to amateur sleuths scouring official and unofficial websites for clues, especially since the disclosure and the "absorption" of the station to be taken over by Cats and friends both will be happening in January, perhaps on the same day! There's got to be paperwork out there somewhere right now, no?
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Nothing that's been filed with the FCC, no.

Until and unless there is, I keep this filed under "Cats really likes to hear himself speak, and he can afford it "
 
fybush said:
Nothing that's been filed with the FCC, no.

Until and unless there is, I keep this filed under "Cats really likes to hear himself speak, and he can afford it "
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It would be hilariously ironic if Cats ended up with 1190 WLIB. Considering WABC and WLIB were locked in a war of words back in the 1990s back when 1190 was news-talk four days out of the week.
 


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