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KDWN Sold

S

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Beasley Buys Big AM Signal In Vegas
BEASLEY is buying Talk KDWN-A/LAS VEGAS from RADIO NEVADA CORP. For $17 million. The acqusition of the 50 kw facility gives BEASLEY four stations in the rapidly-growing market.

--------
Two Points to Make:

1) You guys can now combine your "KDWN sucks" and "Beasley sucks" posts into one.

2) Someone called this here a month or so ago.
 
> 1) You guys can now combine your "KDWN sucks" and "Beasley
> sucks" posts into one.

Yes, that's called "efficiency."

LF
 
The question to ask now is..what does Beasley do with it once they get the keys?

What made KDWN in the condition its in worth 17 million as a stand alone AM?
 
> The question to ask now is..what does Beasley do with it
> once they get the keys?

The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they were gonna do adult standards.

> What made KDWN in the condition its in worth 17 million as a
> stand alone AM?

It's a 50 kw AM. They don't make many new ones anymore. And it won't be a standalone once it's combined with Beasley's 3 FMs.

It's surprising that neither Clear Channel nor CBS were willing to pay more.

LF
 
> 2) Someone called this here a month or so ago.
>


Thanks for remembering. I posted it on 2/10 (currently on page 3 of this board). A good source who is very familiar with KDWN told me this was going to happen and he was exactly right.

As for CBS and CC not buying KDWN, they probably thought 17 million was overpriced for an AM in Las Vegas, even if they do have an awesome signal.

What is Beasley going to do with KDWNs 1970s era equipment? Sell it to an antique shop?, donate it to a broadcasting museum?, or just throw it away in the garbage? lol
 
> The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they were
> gonna do adult standards.
>

If they do go standards, I wonder what station will pick up Michael Savage? 1280? 970? Savage get's too cranky for my tastes sometimes, but he still has one of the most interesting and entertaining talk shows. If KDWN plays music, this would be a good opportunity for another AM to pick up Savage, become a "real" talk station and go straight up against KXNT. Will they take advantage of the opportunity? Knowing Vegas AMs I would say probably not.
 
I doubt they will be doing Standards. Expect KXNT to have
some competition.







> > The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they were
> > gonna do adult standards.
> >
>
> If they do go standards, I wonder what station will pick up
> Michael Savage? 1280? 970? Savage get's too cranky for my
> tastes sometimes, but he still has one of the most
> interesting and entertaining talk shows. If KDWN plays
> music, this would be a good opportunity for another AM to
> pick up Savage, become a "real" talk station and go straight
> up against KXNT. Will they take advantage of the
> opportunity? Knowing Vegas AMs I would say probably not.
>
 
The way I see it, they couldn't afford to do talk. There's only so much in the AM pie, and if they took half of what KXNT does, it still couldn't pay the bills.

Now if there were a 50,000 watt spanish station, Wow!

> I doubt they will be doing Standards. Expect KXNT to have
> some competition.
>
> > > The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they were
> > > gonna do adult standards.
> > >
> >
> > If they do go standards, I wonder what station will pick
> up
> > Michael Savage? 1280? 970? Savage get's too cranky for my
> > tastes sometimes, but he still has one of the most
> > interesting and entertaining talk shows. If KDWN plays
> > music, this would be a good opportunity for another AM to
> > pick up Savage, become a "real" talk station and go
> straight
> > up against KXNT. Will they take advantage of the
> > opportunity? Knowing Vegas AMs I would say probably not.
> >
>
 
> > The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they were
> > gonna do adult standards.
> >
>
> If they do go standards, I wonder what station will pick up
> Michael Savage? 1280? 970? Savage get's too cranky for my
> tastes sometimes, but he still has one of the most
> interesting and entertaining talk shows. If KDWN plays
> music, this would be a good opportunity for another AM to
> pick up Savage, become a "real" talk station and go straight
> up against KXNT. Will they take advantage of the
> opportunity? Knowing Vegas AMs I would say probably not.
>

They will never go standards. If they had any interest in Standards they would have kept KJUL until they got the KDWN deal. My guess is Talk, but what does it matter? After doing all the crap needed to deal with the xmitter situation, after buying all the new equipment, they will have well north of $20 mill in this turkey. This deal will never work. BTW... don't forget that Vegas is america's 2nd worst AM listening market. What good is that 50kw flamethrower? Those out of state listeners don't make you any money. They need somthing in the $1.5-$2.0 million cash flow range to make this work. They will never BILL this much let alone cash flow.
 
Sports or brokered...

Beasley owns all-sports AMs. It also has several brokered AMs in markets like Miami, West Palm Beach and Philadelphia. It likes the cash flow brokered throws off, especially in markets with large retiree populations that respond well to snake oil and financial hucksters.

I think the two likely alternatives for Beasley are: change to sports, or
keep the brokered content on KDWN while getting rid of the local political talk hosts, or making them pay for the time as Steve Kane does on Beasley's WWNN in Miami.
 
> The way I see it, they couldn't afford to do talk. There's
> only so much in the AM pie, and if they took half of what
> KXNT does, it still couldn't pay the bills.
>
> Now if there were a 50,000 watt spanish station, Wow!

Hispanic AM listening is miserably low, mostly bcause the average age of Hispanics in the southwest is about 22, and there is not much of the 35+ AM talk audience, and talk is not a popular format. If anyhing, Hispancics use a higher percentage of FM than the general market.
 
Re: Sports or brokered...

> Beasley owns all-sports AMs. It also has several brokered
> AMs in markets like Miami, West Palm Beach and Philadelphia.
> It likes the cash flow brokered throws off, especially in
> markets with large retiree populations that respond well to
> snake oil and financial hucksters.

Beasley's Miami AM, WQAM, is a mix of spports and talk and is consistently if not the highest biller, in the top 2 or 3 in that market. I can definitely see them doing talk and, by offering an alternative, increasing AM shares enormously.
 
Oh, and your background in turning around AM properties is?
I love people who simply guess about these things. Tell me
about your background in programming talk?



> The way I see it, they couldn't afford to do talk. There's
> only so much in the AM pie, and if they took half of what
> KXNT does, it still couldn't pay the bills.
>
> Now if there were a 50,000 watt spanish station, Wow!
>
> > I doubt they will be doing Standards. Expect KXNT to have
> > some competition.
> >
> > > > The article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun said they
> were
> > > > gonna do adult standards.
> > > >
> > >
> > > If they do go standards, I wonder what station will pick
>
> > up
> > > Michael Savage? 1280? 970? Savage get's too cranky for
> my
> > > tastes sometimes, but he still has one of the most
> > > interesting and entertaining talk shows. If KDWN plays
> > > music, this would be a good opportunity for another AM
> to
> > > pick up Savage, become a "real" talk station and go
> > straight
> > > up against KXNT. Will they take advantage of the
> > > opportunity? Knowing Vegas AMs I would say probably not.
>
> > >
> >
>
 
WQAM is an anomaly...

> Beasley's Miami AM, WQAM, is a mix of spports and talk and
> is consistently if not the highest biller, in the top 2 or 3
> in that market. I can definitely see them doing talk and, by
> offering an alternative, increasing AM shares enormously.
>

For one thing, it has NEIL. No equivalent in Vegas.

For another, conservative talk underperforms the national average in Miami.

KXNT does better in share than WIOD. It has all the big shows. I can't see Beasley staffing up to the extent necessary to give KXNT a run for its money.
Without local names or news, just putting on second-tier syndicated conservatalkers will deliver about a two-share 12-plus if Beasley is lucky.

Beasley has no track record in political news-talk AFAIK. It does have a background in sports talk and brokered talk. You yourself pointed out the high Hispanic population in LV, which would have little use for conservative talk.
The large blue collar workforce doesn't seem to have a talk appetite either.
The default audience for conservative talk in LV is retirees. Staying in talk would leave KDWN right where it is, hardly an efficient use for a 17-million dollar facility. The only way to cover that nut right now is brokered, sorry as I am to say it, with sports as a long-term growth option.
 
Re: WQAM is an anomaly...

> > Beasley's Miami AM, WQAM, is a mix of spports and talk and
>
> > is consistently if not the highest biller, in the top 2 or
> 3
> > in that market. I can definitely see them doing talk and,
> by
> > offering an alternative, increasing AM shares enormously.
> >
>
> For one thing, it has NEIL. No equivalent in Vegas.

So they develop talent, or take the syndicated shows that 840 does not have. There is plenty of room.
>
> For another, conservative talk underperforms the national
> average in Miami.

Any market that is strongly ethnic will have underperformance of basically non-Hispanic white talkers. Miami is 40% Hispanic and 20% Black, with neither group being particularly attracted to conservative talk.
>
> KXNT does better in share than WIOD.

Miami is nearly 70% ethnic, if you include the Haitians. Indexed against non-ethnic listeners, WIOD and WQAM do extremely well.

Las vegas has pretty near zero Blacks and is just over 20% Hispanic. Near 80% is non-Hispanic white, vs. only 30% in Miami.

> It has all the big
> shows. I can't see Beasley staffing up to the extent
> necessary to give KXNT a run for its money.

There are many, many good syndicated shows. KXNT has some of the best, but not all of them. If they do a mimimal news job, they beat KXNT.

> Without local names or news, just putting on second-tier
> syndicated conservatalkers will deliver about a two-share
> 12-plus if Beasley is lucky.

It will expand the market, as always happens with competiton. There are shows, and things they can do. Eventually, someone will figure out how to make a talker perform like otners in the region such as KFBK, KMJ, etc.
>
> Beasley has no track record in political news-talk AFAIK. It
> does have a background in sports talk and brokered talk. You
> yourself pointed out the high Hispanic population in LV,
> which would have little use for conservative talk.

Far less than Miami, where they do marvelously, beating those same "big swhows" KXNT has by 3 to 1 in revenue.

> The large blue collar workforce doesn't seem to have a talk
> appetite either.

Talk listeners come from all groups. Blue collar is often the biggest. vegas has plenty of 35-54's for the station to be successful, if it is programmed well.
 
> Oh, and your background in turning around AM properties is?
> I love people who simply guess about these things. Tell me
> about your background in programming talk?

Instead, maybe we should welcome the competition. Hopefully, it will result in stronger local news and an alternative to what is only a mediocre talker.

(I _have_ programmed talk in the top 3 markets and abroad, and mos thave been turnarounds)
 
Re: KDWN Sold--Correction

David, the question wasn't aimed at you, rather to our friend who was shooting
down the viability of a new AM spoken word station. I was just curious about his expertise. (I have programmed talk as well)


> > Oh, and your background in turning around AM properties
> is?
> > I love people who simply guess about these things. Tell me
>
> > about your background in programming talk?
>
> Instead, maybe we should welcome the competition. Hopefully,
> it will result in stronger local news and an alternative to
> what is only a mediocre talker.
>
> (I _have_ programmed talk in the top 3 markets and abroad,
> and mos thave been turnarounds)
>
 
Re: Sports or brokered...

I agree. There is certainly room for a well positioned AM
talker to become a market force.


> > Beasley owns all-sports AMs. It also has several brokered
> > AMs in markets like Miami, West Palm Beach and
> Philadelphia.
> > It likes the cash flow brokered throws off, especially in
> > markets with large retiree populations that respond well
> to
> > snake oil and financial hucksters.
>
> Beasley's Miami AM, WQAM, is a mix of spports and talk and
> is consistently if not the highest biller, in the top 2 or 3
> in that market. I can definitely see them doing talk and, by
> offering an alternative, increasing AM shares enormously.
>
 
Re: KDWN = Mexican Language Station

I wonder if they will be a "Mexican Language" station? it's the borders! it is what it is.....I'm sure there will be a rush to secure the top broadcast talent now at KDUM..
 
Re: KDWN = Mexican Language Station

> I wonder if they will be a "Mexican Language" station? it's
> the borders! it is what it is.....I'm sure there will be a
> rush to secure the top broadcast talent now at KDUM..
>


That would be the ultimate irony. Immigration has been by far the #1 subject discussed on KDWN over the past few years. They even have shows exclusively devoted to the subject such as "Wake Up America" and Terry Anderson's Sunday night program.

Can you imagine how ANGRY KDWN listeners would be if their beloved station switched to Spanish language programming? I would have to laugh because it would be so ironic. That being said I seriously doubt KDWN will switch to Hispanic programming. We have plenty of FM Spanish language stations, the FM listeners will not switch to AM no matter how good the 720 signal may be. Plus as David Eduardo noted the average age of the Hispanic population is very young. Young people don't listen to AM.
 
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