KGOW investor scare

[slone]

At least one investor in the KGOW 1560 mess has contacted two, not one, but two, radio brokers to start looking into ways to get out them out from under the deal. Is there any taker out there for them to be able to unload this lemon? Morning dude and part owner John Granado welcomed his "four" listeners back after being off the air for a half hour (again.) Sounds like he thinks his cume has doubled!

 

[Mediafrog+]

Such a sad situation. "The Game" may not even make it to 2008. But this is what happens when you launch any kind of business well before it is ready to go. The potential audience is gone, and not coming back. The shorter Fall days (thus shorter broadcast hours) are going to kill them. The only thing that might save things is a complete relaunch if and when the signal issues are solved.

Perhaps all the publicity KGOW got in the Chronicle was a bad thing--when it first hit the air, there probably were plenty of people who tuned in, but were instantly turned off by the bad signal, and haven't come back. The transmitter situation has improved, but too late.

Perhaps the BizRadio 1320 programming will move to 1560 after the KXYZ contract expires?

 

[adguy]

From what I hear, Frishberg is shopping hard for a signal in anticipation of losing his lease at the end of this year. It appears he has blown through his investors' money and probably doesn't have enough to buy, but he could conceiveably convince KGOW to lease their signal to him at a discount with all the problems. That, however won't help BizRadio. They'll still be at the mercy of KGOW's woeful signal issues that would probably cost them most of the very limited audience they currently have and would have to reclaim after a hard signal change UP the end of the dial. It's a plausable idea that will remain just that...an idea.

I do agree with the sentiment of this post that KGOW's days may be numbered. The signal has not improved in the least from the 2nd week they were on the air and it doesn't appear it will be fixed anytime soon. I agree that the samplers have probably fled in frustration. I would have to consider myself one of those. I thought the programming was good and edgy for Houston sports talk, but the signal is so iffy in so many parts of town you can't keep in on if you're driving any significant distance point A to point B. I still hear that Lance Z will be joining Granato on Nov 1, but sans signal it won't matter.

 

[stan]

I'm not sure how the coverage is in the immediate Houston area, other than driving north towards Dallas it came in pretty well for a longer period of time than I expected.

 

[Bobby Chaffin]

Without a major sports team and talent on KGOW , I bet the format won't make it to Thanksgiving 2007. No matter how deep the finanacial pockets are. I understand that they are getting rates way under the Houston Market average. As has been stated before on the board, KGOW should not have signed on till everything was ready. You only get once chance at this in a competitive market.

 

[adguy]

Without a major sports team and talent on KGOW , I bet the format won't make it to Thanksgiving 2007. No matter how deep the finanacial pockets are. I understand that they are getting rates way under the Houston Market average. As has been stated before on the board, KGOW should not have signed on till everything was ready. You only get once chance at this in a competitive market.

I agree that the lack of a LOCAL sports team (major at that) could eventually damage the station, but it is the signal that will kill them early. Bear in mind David Gow reportedly has deep pockets with all the investors and his own $$$s. He'll most likely give it a year and then reevaluate. Any reasonable business plan would not even consider folding within the first year absent a major catastrophe. With that said, their signal issue could be cause for a major catastrophe that would put the station up for sale or lease to recoup dollars now. However, they have Lance Zurlein coming on board on Nov 1 with Granato. That might boost their AM drive and bring back the lost samplers. If by some miracle they get their signal problems worked out by then you might see them pick up steam. I'm with the majority in the opinion that they should never have signed on until they were ready, which would still have them on the sidelines today, but they knew they had to get going to keep some of the talent like Richard Justice and to lure Zurlein. No doubt, KGOW is in a tough spot, but Gow and his investment group will no doubt ride this thing out for a while.

 

[SPOTS FOR DOTS]

I agree with adguy. I am surprised that there hasn't been a stampede to the brokers offices to unload this sick puppy. Signal coverage is horrendous with no real true fix in the offing. Even with Zierlein coming, that doesn't fix all the other dayparts. Justice and Hoffman are not ready for prime time and the guys in PM sound like they were hired from the Rice station. Amateur and juvenile at its best.
If I hear the same six spots, (their investors, no doubt) starting with "John Granato here........." I will puke. This station lacks relevance, credibility, talent, meaningful sport franchises and signal strength. Next will be a lack of iinvestors too.

 

[franknfurt]

I originally thought this station might have a shot,if only as a competitor never as a frontrunner. However that hope diminished after day 1. their signal issues sunk them but quick. Having Zierlein join will only finish off his career. The afternoon guys are a joke. Justice and Hoffman should stick to their days jobs, esp. Hoffman, it's embarassing to listen to. Word on the streets is that Granato and co. are trying to rally their troops and present a united front but the investors as well as personnel are thinking of jumping ship. Too bad, really, Houston needs a good sports radio station.

 

[adguy]

I heard this morning that they are installing a new transmitter that will be operational in 3 weeks. They claim this will fix the signal problems. Their problem here is the horse may already be out of the barn. They will have a hell of time getting back lost samplers.

 

[CW]

I heard this morning that they are installing a new transmitter that will be operational in 3 weeks. They claim this will fix the signal problems. Their problem here is the horse may already be out of the barn. They will have a hell of time getting back lost samplers.

Damn they are just getting around to the 50KW rig??? NO WONDER their signal sucks....1540 blows them away almost everywhere.......and thats saying a lot!!!

 

[pepe]

I agree with you adguy.....I heard the same claim this morning about their new transmitter being up and running in "three weeks". I hope that's true, but based on their track record, it's hard to believe.

Having said that, I truly hope they're able to overcome their engineering stumbles. I know the programming and talent is not universally welcomed, but it should have a chance to succeed or fail on a level playing field, for all to hear. Hey, maybe the lousy signal is providing cover for questionable programming. If they're a full strength, the programming and talent won't be able to hide.

During a segment earlier this week, I heard Granato poke fun at the station by calling it "1560-The Static". He seemed to be making light of a bad situation and I'm sure he's furious about the problem, but I wonder if they'll be able to recover.

 

[Bobby Chaffin]

Even if KGOW has a better daytime signal, they still have the night time situation of going to another frequency that can't be heard. Except for Granato, then rest of the station's talent is very amateur as mentioned several times on this board. Sorry, but they are just not ready for "Prime Time Players." The bottom line is that they only have 6 sponsors on the air. This is not going to cut it. Obviously the sales department can't sell ratings(they still have a zero share), so sales has to sell a radio concept approach. And I'm not sure what that would be with KGOW. John Granato can't endorse all the commericals on the station or he loses credibility.

 

[slone]

KGOW insiders are talking

The KGOW insiders are talking. It's turned out not to be the station the investors were expecting. That is where the reall pressure is coming from. Gow himself is a rank amature with zero stroke at this point. Even the staff (what there is of them) runs all over him. Ken Hoffman is embarassed, but he should be. He is a writer, not a talk show host. God he sounds pitiful. Biz Radio should be talking to the money behind KGOW to get a lease deal done sooner than later. They would surely listen to a reasonable offer now that the signal has proven to be next to worthless and the staff uncontrolable. Ten dollar live spots are not going to pay off the debt. Granado and Zerline made the career mistake of a lifetime. They are scrambling to fix it.

 

[Jay5Ok]

Re: KGOW insiders are talking

The KGOW insiders are talking. It's turned out not to be the station the investors were expecting. That is where the reall pressure is coming from. Gow himself is a rank amature with zero stroke at this point. Even the staff (what there is of them) runs all over him. Ken Hoffman is embarassed, but he should be. He is a writer, not a talk show host. God he sounds pitiful. Biz Radio should be talking to the money behind KGOW to get a lease deal done sooner than later. They would surely listen to a reasonable offer now that the signal has proven to be next to worthless and the staff uncontrolable. Ten dollar live spots are not going to pay off the debt. Granado and Zerline made the career mistake of a lifetime. They are scrambling to fix it.

Is that you Laura Morris?...................... Rich Lord?.................... Charlie Palilo?

Can't be Charlie because my spell checker is going crazy as I have this previous post quoted.

 

[Nichole]

Last night between 8 and 9, I couldn't hear anything at all; just static. On the previous Friday night, September 28, during the same time, there was an interesting show on about a cave exploration. It wasnt real clear, because there was some kind of a sports show on at the same time. The sound on the sports show was lower, but I could still hear it. I do not know how long it lasted but both were still on when I got home. Who is the program director anyway?

 

[SPOTS FOR DOTS]

KGOW is not only bad radio, it is an embarrassment to the radio industry. This is a place where the only two sales people working there, both have Vice President titles. I guess each is responsible for three of the six advertisers they have on the air. Let's start a pool to see who can guess the date when they blow this sick puppy up to take it dark.

 

[Bobby Chaffin]

I hear from an insider that the end is much closer than you think. Mr. Gow is absolutely pissed that his few head honchos did not make this happen. Broadcasting is a very complex business that needs to run correctly on all cylinders, and that doesn't even guarantee any success. My goodness, look how the big boys are struggling.

KGOW will probably be gone around Thanksgiving and if bizz radio doesn't want it, I say bring back Korean Time Brokerage!

 

[adguy]

BizRadio would be absolutely stupid to take 1560 with the signal issues, although Brent Clanton could probably fix it the way KGOW could not. Switching signals would be equivalent to starting all over again and completely discounting any momentum 1320 has built over the past three years. With Frishberg's track record and inexperience there's no way it would survive unless he got another deal similar to what MRBI gave him. I don't think KGOW's investors want to give Frishberg a heavily back loaded lease that enabled Frishberg to operate at least a year and half or longer without advertisers and I seriously doubt they are willing to sell to Frishberg for $6M or less, which is probably what Frishberg wants to pay. Plus, I doubt Frishberg and his group even have the capital remaining to purchase anything right now.

I still believe KGOW will stay the course for a year before blowing it up. If they really do have a new transmitter going in and Lance Zurlein is REALLY coming as added talent, you have got to believe they will see how that boosts their listenership. Perhaps they should tap better salespeople too. Outside the same 3 or 4 advertisers I hear, I hear nothing but PSA's and thier juvenile "we care about you" promos. Other "weak" stations in this market have been able to sell advertising early on in their launch phases. Perhaps they should hit the networking circuit like those other stations did successfully. KSEV was very successful early on when they had similar problems. How KPRC hangs on to advertisers today is a bonified mystery. If I were selling KGOW, I'd be in every KPRC advertisers' kitchen each and everyday. Gees, even BizRadio had managed selling advertising successfully with only a couple of reps that know how to network and SELL.

 

[SPOTS FOR DOTS]

AdGuy,
a year might be stretching it. 6 months tops.

 

[adguy]

OK, set the over/under for KGOW's survival at March 31, 2008. I'll take over.