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John Catsimatidis Will be Acquiring another Station

On yesterdays show with Curtis he revealed a bit more of his acquisition strategy.It is quite clear he doesnt part ways with money that easily.
Curtis asked him to counter Soros' purchases by purchasing Audacity stations.
John then said he doesn't work like that, he targets a station and then makes low ball offer. He said paying retail results in bankruptcy.
Then unlike other businesses radio stations get jittery and they start losing valuation and employees get scared and start leaving the moment they can.
Then at some point the price is within striking distance of his offer, management buckles and he buys the station and staffs it with his acolytes who then implement his wishes.
 
MacjT said:
Curtis asked him to counter Soros' purchases by purchasing Audacity stations.
Click to expand...
How do you counter a purchase by purchasing the same thing?

Trying to buy a business and making a lowball offer are two completely different things. If I went to an owner and offered them something not even close to what its worth, but then went on my other station and claimed to make an attempt to purchase it like he did with 880 that's not anywhere near factual as he knew he had zero chance to be successful.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
www.insideradio.com

So Long KGO: Historic Call Letters To Vanish From Bay Area Radio Dial.

A set of historic call letters will vanish from the radio dial on New Year’s Day. Come Jan. 1, KGO San Francisco (810) will adopt the KSFO calls long associated
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com

If Cats continues to hype up getting another radio station in 2025 this might have to come into play. Cats might play a similar card here like remove the WABC Call Letters from 770 and move the WNYM Call letters there via LMA agreement with Salem. Yes Basically in the same way Cumulus is removing the KGO call letters off 810 AM and putting KSFO there and 560 AM becomes KZAC(AM). Yes this is given Cats history of being on WNYM while being on WABC at the same time. Are we supposed to look at Red Apple as a sidecar company to Salem. Yes its like on the TV side we talk about Deerfield and Cunningham as related companies to Sinclair or Mission Broadcasting as a related company to Nexstar.
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Well we’ll see. He said they would discuss it further after the Holiday Break whether that’s Tomorrow or Monday Idk. 🤷. My Guess is it will be 98.6 FM.
 
MacjT said:
Then at some point the price is within striking distance of his offer, management buckles and he buys the station and staffs it with his acolytes who then implement his wishes.
Click to expand...

Funny. That's what the far right says Soros will do with Audacy. The only difference I can see is Cats is doing it one station at a time.
 
TheBigA said:
Funny. That's what the far right says Soros will do with Audacy. The only difference I can see is Cats is doing it one station at a time.
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This is exactly the thing. When you think about it, WABC hasn't changed much from the Citadel/Cumulus days as far as its programming ideology. It's as far right with very little balance as it was then. They're just doing it from an all-local standpoint. Any station Red Apple purchases is more than likely to follow that playbook.

And I should add that Curtis Sliwa and Anthony Weiner may have to silence their mics soon as both are planning to enter the 2025 NYC municipal election cycle–Sliwa for Mayor as a Republican (again) and Weiner for City Council as a Democrat, this time from Manhattan (he previously represented Brooklyn in the Council before he was elected to Congress). Catsimatidis himself was said to be mulling a second run for City Hall, but it looks like that's not happening.
 
MacjT said:
On yesterdays show with Curtis he revealed a bit more of his acquisition strategy.It is quite clear he doesnt part ways with money that easily.
Curtis asked him to counter Soros' purchases by purchasing Audacity stations.
John then said he doesn't work like that, he targets a station and then makes low ball offer. He said paying retail results in bankruptcy.
Then unlike other businesses radio stations get jittery and they start losing valuation and employees get scared and start leaving the moment they can.
Then at some point the price is within striking distance of his offer, management buckles and he buys the station and staffs it with his acolytes who then implement his wishes.
Click to expand...
Correction - Curtis asked him to counter Soros' purchases by purchasing IHeart stations.
 
DavidEduardo said:
As in all his businesses, he hires people who do understand. One of the first things a successful business person learns is to hire people to head departments and manage divisions, who know more about their area of specialization than they themselves do.

And yet he has a radio station getting top 10 6+ shares and he can use that to sell non-agency account and even some local agency accounts where he has contacts and friendships with the owners.

And Cats certainly seems to pick the right people. Just take a look at his other businesses and his net worth he is hardly prone to silly decisions.
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I would never argue with you, David. Everything you've said is correct.

But I don't know how often you have listened to the station in the past 5.5 years since Cats took over. I put together his "Cats Roundtable" program that airs on WABC and nationally via WNYM, so I deal with John and his team on a weekly basis. I have been in the WNYM control room while we're taking "Cats and Cosby" directly from their feed. And I have friends who work at WABC. Observations, conversations, and direct experience has formed my opinion.

Let's take "Cats and Cosby" for example. That one show is, IMO, indicative of what's wrong from an on-air standpoint. The show also supposed to be syndicated via their Red Apple Audio Network (or whatever they call it) and: 1) the content's way too NYC-centric; 2) they use WABC imaging instead of generic sweepers/jingles; 3) they have a format clock for the hour that they never follow; and 4) they also go past the top of the hour every single night, sometimes not finishing until 6:05 PM. Along with four or five voices conversing at any given time, the program is an aural and technical nightmare.

This is where Chad Lopez, or anyone else there in management who is supposed to be a seasoned radio pro, should step in. But Chad has become a Cats acolyte. No one wants to correct the billionaire boss for fear of losing their job.

I stand by my belief that Cats only cares about the megaphone and platform he has to use WABC to promote his other business interests and as a soapbox for him, his like-minded friends, and those who will sell themselves out for a check (like Anthony Weiner and David Paterson). Cats is not in it to make money, we can all agree. But he isn't ensuring the production of good radio, either.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
And I should add that Curtis Sliwa and Anthony Weiner may have to silence their mics soon as both are planning to enter the 2025 NYC municipal election cycle–Sliwa for Mayor as a Republican (again) and Weiner for City Council as a Democrat, this time from Manhattan (he previously represented Brooklyn in the Council before he was elected to Congress). Catsimatidis himself was said to be mulling a second run for City Hall, but it looks like that's not happening.
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At least in NJ, they wouldn't need to. Bill Spadea is still the morning host at WKXW despite running for Governor:
www.northjersey.com

Can Bill Spadea host radio show while running for governor? What we know

NJ’s Election Law Enforcement Commission took a wait and see approach for whether the morning radio show of Bill Spadea violates campaign finance law.
www.northjersey.com
 
kevtronics said:
At least in NJ, they wouldn't need to. Bill Spadea is still the morning host at WKXW despite running for Governor:
www.northjersey.com

Can Bill Spadea host radio show while running for governor? What we know

NJ’s Election Law Enforcement Commission took a wait and see approach for whether the morning radio show of Bill Spadea violates campaign finance law.
www.northjersey.com
Click to expand...
Wait and see, indeed. We shall see how long that lasts. It's gonna be really hard not to blur the line between talk show host and actively campaigning for elected office. It also puts the station in the tough position of giving other candidates equal time. I can see NJ 101.5 doing that before WABC.
 
For all of this, we can't actually determine the guy's "strategy" as to this point, he's only ever acquired and operated one station. There's no clear pattern here yet other than his tendency to talk about things that may or may not actually happen.
 
Andy Travis said:
For all of this, we can't actually determine the guy's "strategy" as to this point, he's only ever acquired and operated one station. There's no clear pattern here yet other than his tendency to talk about things that may or may not actually happen.
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Two stations… there is an East End FM that simulcasts WABC in an area that is part of the New York Metro survey area, but where WABC has no useful signal.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
...which is there only so Catsimatidis can listen when he's weekending and summering in the Hamptons.
Click to expand...
But there is a significant population in that area of Long Island that is not covered by New York City AM stations at all. It makes sense to fill in areas of your market where your main signal does not reach; that is exactly what Cat has done. Rather than being egotistical, this is a rather smart move to supplement his flagship station.
 
WLIB 1190 AM is currently off the air.
In addition, I cannot find any way of streaming it. I tried the station's website, TuneIn, and a couple of other radio stream sites. TuneIn states, "This station is not currently available."
This may be related to the speculation on this thread that Cats may buy the station.
 


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