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KFUO

J

JakeLongwell

Hello all.

This is the first post I've ever made on this particular RI board. It concerns your classical FM station, KFUO 99.1

The station is currently for sale, and I fear that will mean the end of classical music in St. Louis. I guess I am just trying to see who might be interested in buying the station. Pardon my ignorance, but what does the ownership landscape look like in the market? Are the so called "biy guys" at their market caps? Or, do any of these companies have room for another FM in their cluster?

What about EMF? Are the K-Love and Air1 networks spoken for in the market already?

Lastly, what about the locla public radio stations? Is there any chance any of them might step in and buy the station to keep it classical, as has happened in other markets?

Any feedback or opinions would be appreciated.

Jake Longwell
Geneva, New York
 
JakeLongwell said:
Hello all.

This is the first post I've ever made on this particular RI board. It concerns your classical FM station, KFUO 99.1

The station is currently for sale, and I fear that will mean the end of classical music in St. Louis. I guess I am just trying to see who might be interested in buying the station. Pardon my ignorance, but what does the ownership landscape look like in the market? Are the so called "biy guys" at their market caps? Or, do any of these companies have room for another FM in their cluster?

What about EMF? Are the K-Love and Air1 networks spoken for in the market already?

Lastly, what about the locla public radio stations? Is there any chance any of them might step in and buy the station to keep it classical, as has happened in other markets?

Any feedback or opinions would be appreciated.

Jake Longwell
Geneva, New York
Click to expand...

It appears that EMF is not in the St. Louis market. If EMF purchased KFUO-FM that would be a coup, but I'm sure the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod would want prime $$ for it.
 
Joy FM 97.7 & 94.1 recently revealed that they were in (previously) confidential discussions with the Lutherans about buying KFUO, but of course it all depends on the right price for both parties.

Wild idea - maybe EMF would buy the two rimshots, and that'd help Joy FM at least make a down payment on KFUO?
 
By the way, there already IS a fulltime Contemporary Christian music station in the St. Louis market, with a great signal that covers the entire metropolitan area. It's The Spirit. It's KEZK-FM's HD2 station at 102.5-HD2. CBS Radio launched the station a couple of years ago as KEZK's HD2 station, and they have a great signal that covers the entire area. I've listened to The Spirit for over a year, and my car radio picks it up as far as 65 miles from St. Louis. It's really a great signal, in crystal clear digital stereo. The St. Louis market has the best HD Radio signals in the country.

The Spirit is also available ONLINE at KEZK.com. It's one of the best online music players that I've heard. Their player includes a navigation bar that takes you to all of the CBS Radio markets, tons of different formats, and Yahoo! and AOL stations. Very cool.

The Spirit sounds great, both in HD and online. It's a much wider music variety than JoyFM or the typical CCM station. It's sounds more like an adult hits radio station. I've heard them play stuff from the early days, like Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, Daniel Amos, Parable, DeGarmo & Key, and other artists, and they do a really nice job of mixing them in with today's music.

Also keep in mind, regarding KFUO, that competitors can file a "petition to deny" with the FCC to stop the sale of a radio station. You can do an online search for "petition to deny" and you'll see the info that's available regarding such a legal move. You can also visit a site called STLMedia.net that includes more background information on the situation, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has also been covering the story over the past few days. Let's just say, it's not a done deal yet. Deals can be announced, and then fall through. I'm not saying that it'll happen this time, but those things do happen.
 
According to the FAQ's on Joy FM's website, they're working with the LCMS to find an alternative site (or sites) for the Classical format in St. Louis.
 
That's exactly what will happen. It'll end up on 99.1 HD2. Joy Fm's other signals are based in Potosi and Bowling Green which are both an hour outside St. Louis. These signals would not do a great job reaching most of the classical music listeners in Metro St. Louis.

Another possiblility I assume (though less likely) would be that KWMU or WSIE drop some of their news programming and play some classical music. But I doubt it.
 
The financials on this deal just don't make sense. They don't add up. This smells like the type of wacky, backroom Wall Street deal that got this country into economic trouble in the first place. This is NOT a done deal.

Here's a link so you can check out the various articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding the situation, including insights on the financial side of things (that's the side that the FCC should focus upon before they authorize the license transfer):

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/culture-club/

Look for all the stories labeled KFUO, LCMS, or KFUO/LCMS together. You might be very surprised at the overall lack of funds on the side of JoyFM/Gateway, when you compare it to the final amount of the deal, which is around $24 million by the time it's all done a decade from now.

From my viewpoint, there's something's very fishy about this deal, and it all starts with Mr. Brashear and the secret negotiations. Kudos to Sarah Miller and The Post-Dispatch for staying on top of the story.
 
Mrtraveler01 said:
That's exactly what will happen. It'll end up on 99.1 HD2. Joy Fm's other signals are based in Potosi and Bowling Green which are both an hour outside St. Louis. These signals would not do a great job reaching most of the classical music listeners in Metro St. Louis.

Another possiblility I assume (though less likely) would be that KWMU or WSIE drop some of their news programming and play some classical music. But I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Or it ends up on KWMU-HD2 or WSIE-HD2.

(that's what happened in Milwaukee when their commerical classical station flipped, and when Nashville Public Radio flipped several hours of daytime programming from classical to talk they converted their existing HD2 to 100% classical.)

Have they announced a date for the KFUO flip yet? Heard them over the weekend (via tropo) and they were still classical.
 
There will be no changes until the final closing of the sale. I have been following this very closely for awhile, and I think that there is a fair chance that this deal may never close.

w9wi said:
Mrtraveler01 said:
That's exactly what will happen. It'll end up on 99.1 HD2. Joy Fm's other signals are based in Potosi and Bowling Green which are both an hour outside St. Louis. These signals would not do a great job reaching most of the classical music listeners in Metro St. Louis.

Another possiblility I assume (though less likely) would be that KWMU or WSIE drop some of their news programming and play some classical music. But I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Or it ends up on KWMU-HD2 or WSIE-HD2.

(that's what happened in Milwaukee when their commerical classical station flipped, and when Nashville Public Radio flipped several hours of daytime programming from classical to talk they converted their existing HD2 to 100% classical.)

Have they announced a date for the KFUO flip yet? Heard them over the weekend (via tropo) and they were still classical.
Click to expand...
 
Tyke said:
...the final amount of the deal...around $24 million by the time it's all done a decade from now.
Click to expand...
Too much for a station in this market. A full power NYC station sold for $45 million (market size equal to the Rocky Mountain tiime zone) along with a weaker FM which still covers half a dozen times as many people as in St Louis for $11.5 million.
 
Mr. ai4i,

Not too much. In business, something is WORTH what someone is WILLING to pay for it. I once sold a construction permit (a mere piece of paper) for over 100 thousand dollars. That amount talked me out of building a station.

I'm very happy for the Lutherans. I bet the folks that own kmox are happy, too. Just think what this sale makes that place worth - or are you bored once again?
 
Prais said:
or are you bored once again?
Click to expand...
This is one of my "real" posts.
I do not know what KMOX is worth today, but I go back to a time when they were one of a very limited number of stations known (and recievable) throughout much of the nation at night. Those old AM clears are usually today's news/talk leaders and enjoy numbers up with the leading FM's.
 
The night thing is wotrth alot - but the ratings and BILLING are the "BIG DEAL." Believe me, KFUO's sale price impacts (for the good-that means UP!) EVERY other St. Louis radio property!
 
Here is a hypothetical question to ponder.
Three stations with stable legacy formats and nearly identical high ratings and bookings for many years.
One is a full class C FM that covers the market as well as any other FM.
The second is a dominant clear with a good skywave, but high up the dial as KMOX.
The third is a 5Kw 24 hour single stick regional, below 600 Khz with an enormous ground wave.
Compare their stick values?
Perhaps the answer would depend on how spread out the market is.
 
In Reply #13 above, "ai4i" said:
Quote from: Tyke on November 11, 2009, 06:14:30 AM
...the final amount of the deal...around $24 million by the time it's all done a decade from now.
Click to expand...
Too much for a station in this market. A full power NYC station sold for $45 million (market size equal to the Rocky Mountain tiime zone) along with a weaker FM which still covers half a dozen times as many people as in St Louis for $11.5 million.
Click to expand...

If you'd like a good basis for comparison, Gary Stevens, one of the top media brokers in the business, believes that Seattle's classical KING-FM could have fetched $50-70 million a few years ago, but in today's depressed market, it would be more like $15-25 million, "assuming a buyer could find financing."

So he's talkng about KING's "stick value" -- and remember that Seattle-Tacoma is the 13th ranked market, while St. Louis is number 20. The St. Louis metro population is only 68 percent of Seatlle's, so you can dropp that range to $10.5-17.5 million. What's more, KING is a full Class C station, while KFUO is only a Class C-0 (a new class in the last few years, more powerful than a C-1 but less powerful than a C), so you can knock of another 15-20 percent.

Source for the Gary Stevens quote: http://crosscut.com/2009/10/01/arts-beat/19272 (about the middle of page 2). It was quoted at greater length than an R-I board moderator might allow in John Gorman's Media Blog on Oct. 20 (http://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/2009/10/radio-peter-principle.html). In that post, John was ridiculing Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth, whose company killed commercial classical FM's in Philadelphia and Detroit 12 years ago.

The rock formats that replaced classical on those stations both tanked, exactly as Gateway's "Christian" psuedo-rock or psuedo-AC will. They'll never be able to meet the financial obligation they're taking on. But Brashear will get his excessive fee in the first year, before the whole scheme collapses.

The people filing those petitions to deny the sale should contact some real media brokers, who might be persuaded to serve as expert witnesses, telling the court that (1) Brashear's compensation for this deal is excessive, and (2) the LCMS will never get the money it expects. They'd probably be delighted to do it just for their expenses, because they probably resent an interloper like Brashear meddling in their business..
 
For some reason, my PDA would not send the whole message, so, first an italicized close quote, then the following:
So, classical music is safe @ least through the middle of '12, as Bill Kling inches closer to making Classical 24 the first national HD radio network. Shucks, we only get them as an analogue rimshot signal in Fort Lauderdale. :(
 
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