KRBR 99.7 For Sale On Craigslist

[LibertyNT]

Seems the owner can no longer operate it due to health problems.
He's selling it for $200,000
KRBR Class A 6 kW
Sulfur Bluff, TX

dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/bfs/1704110889.html

 

[Lazy J]

I hate to say it, but Buyer Beware. I have worked on a station that he built and sold. All I can say is get a Due Diligence Inspection by a reputable engineer before you spend a dime. If it comes back clean, then more power to you.

Also, make sure the stations local image hasn't been dragged through the mud. Do a Google search for Leo Ashcraft and see what you find.
Here is what I found... http://www.topix.net/forum/city/mount-vernon-tx/T52SMCFCPU1J8CES4

I'm not trying to slander the guy, I just have seen a bad situation with his name attached to it. So cover your bases.

 

[KRBR]

Sounds exactly like slander to me. This is the fellow that calls you on the phone and says he is your friend and wants to work with you. But when you don't want to run a Hispanic radio station - this is what you get behind your back... I have no issues with anyone operating a Hispanic station - but I do not speak Spanish and cannot responsibly operate a station when I don't know what is being said on the air. -- But yes - I would expect anyone purchasing a station to go through everything to know what they are getting. So the posts he refers to are only meant as an attack on my person. The posts he refers to are a part of our programming and free speech on one of the small towns the station covers. The city unfortunately is run by criminals who saw the station as a threat to their endeavors. In private talks they said they felt the station would bring too much traffic downtown! Go figure! The made us remove our signs and harassed us with city "inspectors" shut off our water at our house and business - stopped sending our water bills and on and on. This is a town of 2000 people out of our 350,000 total population coverage. The downtown is nearly dead - for apparent reasons. We have been and continue to attempt to make a change and remove these criminals from office. If you are afraid of free speech - don't buy this station - in fact you should stay out of all media entirely. This is not our main city - it unfortunately - is my home town - that I intend to clean up. Thats the only reason I tried to locate the studio there. But it is not located outside the city limits causing a personal loss of $30,000 to us. Does the station need improvement - yes! But the station is offered at a bargain basement price because I have deteriorating diabetes that this fellow knows about - but continues to try to berate me in message forums and other venues continuously because he knows the stress aggravates my illness.

 

[Bill Betten]

I can't say anything about this station, but I can say either your email/voicemail/answering service absolutely sucks, or you refuse to return calls. I have tried to contact you since November and NO return email, calls, NOTHING. I actually needed your services for two LPFM's. Best of luck with this deal and your health,
Guy

 

[KRBR]

We did have a horrible answering service. I agree with you. But I have been unable to handle any engineering work since around November of last year due to my health. I'd be happy to recommend someone else if you haven't found someone to help. I am sorry my illness has prevented me from serving you.

 

[Bill Betten]

PM sent,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Iused2nothat]

You can be heard on two stations in N.E. Texas, KRBR 99.7
in Sulphur Springs/Paris and 100.9 FM in Mt Pleasant/Gilmer!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPFM/message/6721

TUNE TO 99.7 FM IN MOUNT VERNON PARIS AND SULPHUR SPRINGS. IN MOUNT PLEASANT, DAINGERFIELD AND PITTSBURG WE WILL BE ON 100.9 FM.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/mount-vernon-tx/T91KF2ECETJ1ISMER

Hey, Leo, you do "engineering work". Are you familiar with:

Sec. 74.1232 Eligibility and licensing requirements.

(d) An authorization for an FM translator whose coverage contour
extends beyond the protected contour of the commercial primary station
will not be granted to the licensee or permittee of a commercial FM
radio broadcast station. Similarly, such authorization will not be
granted to any person or entity having any interest whatsoever, or any
connection with a primary FM station. Interested and connected parties
extend to group owners, corporate parents, shareholders, officers,
directors, employees, general and limited partners, family members and
business associates.

???
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2008/octqtr/47cfr74.1232.htm

 

[KRBR]

We do not own the translator if that is what you're getting at. The translator carried our programming in the Mt Pleasant area. However due to the slumping economy that translator was recently turned off and dismantled. So I am not sure what your point is here. I can point out hundreds of translators operating around the U.S. in the same manner - and legally. The translator is for sale and may or may not rebroadcast the KRBR signal in the future - that is up to the license holder.

 

[Lazy J]

This is a town of 2000 people out of our 350,000 total population coverage.

I would LOVE to see how you can claim 350,000 population coverage! Where to begin...
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KRBR&service=FM&status=L&hours=U
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1323097.html

Paris - 26,000
Sulphur Springs - 15,000
Mount Pleasant - 14,000
Mount Vernon - 2,000
Clarksville - 4,000
Winnsboro - 4,000
I'll even throw in Commerce - 8,000
Throw in 25,000 for all the tiny towns in between.

Now did I somehow over look a giant town of 250,000 people, or are you exaggerating your numbers?

Maybe you hit the "0" key one too many times... Or maybe you forgot a decimal point somewhere in your number.

 

[KRBR]

Those were numbers supplied previously with translator coverage to the 40 dbu. You're right on there - not sure where that came about. The station is listenable out to the 30 dbu- but even that doesnt seem like it would stretch that far. I need to update that information to reflect the correct numbers or indicate the reference dbu. Its all from the 2000 census - but I dont think we grew quite that much. -- The 2000 census shows the population inside the 40 dbu only to be 119,759 and 241,289 to the the 30db.. And with the translator in the 40 added 63,323 and to the 30 126614. So there is the answer - to the 30 the total pop in 2000 was 367,903 people. From what I can tell locally the population may be approaching that number inside the 40 now. We wont know for sure until the 2010 census data is released. The station is listenable due to favorable terrain and some terrific cp antennas we brought in from Indonesia. Light weight - based on the penetrator design. I was sure the wind would rip them off the tower since they are made of light aluminum. But we have had some very severe storms and a nearby tornado and never any issues with them.

 

[KRBR]

Well there I go answering a post before checking all my data. Comstudy doesnt always pull the correct AGL data in from the FCC. I corrected the AGL to 55 meters and the pop count inside the 40 dbu on KRBR is 165,825 - then going out to the 30 it is 355,860. So thats where the over 350,000 came from. You had me wondering myself where I had come up with those numbers. Add in the translator that previously rebroadcast us and thats quite a large number. We hated to see the translator go - but we legally could do nothing to help it along financially and they had been unable to sell local insert commercials due to the economy. The main station is not in any better shape - if it doesnt sell it will also go dark soon as well. We're not trying to get by anything on anyone - and I would think anyone considering purchasing the station would drive around and check the signal to be sure it was something they were comfortable working with. We're not a powerhouse by any means - but the signal does travel well across the plains that start about 8 miles south of our transmitter site. Additionally the station can increase its tower height by another 150 feet or so which would be a huge improvement. And there may be an upgrade possibility to 25k with some directional methods. So there is room for improvement and thats why the station has been listed for such a low price.

 

[Lazy J]

So there is room for improvement and thats why the station has been listed for such a low price.

Well, I agree with you that $200,000 does seem like a reasonable price. Especially for a built and operating station. So I'll stop giving you a hard time. I am curious, what all is included in the sale price? Tower? Transmitter? STL? EAS unit? Automation System? Switchers? Console?

 

[LibertyNT]

The Craigslist says everything comes with it excluding the real estate, but could be included.
Im sure if the Station Transmits in Mono its easily heard in Paris and Sulphur Springs.
I do wonder whatever happened to "The Rebel" It used to be.

 

[Iused2nothat]

You calculate your coverage to the 40 dbu contour ???
Is that the 40 dbu 50/10? :

I guess that is why its called "marketing".

 

[KRBR]

It is the 50/50 - I know it sounds odd - but it is a usable signal - and we are in mono - have been since day one - even though we have an optimod 8100 for processing. You know the funny thing is - no one ever noticed - or never mentioned it. The stereo indicators on most car radios now days are not obvious so I dont think people look for that anymore.

I have lowered the price a bit more by including the house in the deal at $250k - The house is easily worth $100k by itself with over 5000 square feet split between home use and business use. So at $250k this covers everything - all equipment - property, etc. The only thing it doesn't cover is the land where the tower resides - this is a land lease at $100 per month.

The Rebel format was extremely popular - but was difficult to sell to the businesses. We reluctantly switched formats last week in an effort to appeal more to local business leaders. In an unrated market this happens quite often since there are no ratings numbers to show potential advertisers. So with the lack of that we have chosen to program directly to the business owners. That said - we have received a tremendous listener response to the new format - so we may have found a decent compromise.

Our sales team is back together this week and receiving good response - but I still need to sell as it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to operate. Its the last thing in the world I would want to do as this is a life long project and dream for me. The snafus with the population numbers as exhibited in the previous two messages - are a prime reason I dont handle FCC applications anymore. My concentration is difficult to control and I can easily make mistakes like that if I dont go over my data several times. So something I could do in 10 minutes before can take me 30 - 45 minutes to make sure I haven't made a mistake like that. And thats not something I want to take a chance on.

You may see me working in the upcoming LPFM window - but those are simple applications and I have a friend helping that will be verifying my data and/or doing many of the applications with me verifying data. But I have dropped support for TV. AM and commercial FM applications as a result of my illness.

Currently the station is operating with the following

24 Channel Tascam Slide mixer
Simian Automation 2.07
New Trigger hardware
Two XDS Satellite receivers
One Max Satellite Receiver
Optimod 8100
TFT EAS
STL
60 foot tower - with room to go to 150
4 MB DSL INternet - trade out with phone company
2 MB DSL Internet - trade out
Studio Monitor
Various Microphones, booms (full talk studio)
180 foot Rohn 25 tower with phillystrand at top
Four Bay Penetrator style antennas
McMartin 3.5kw xmitter
Sage Remote Control
very large transmitter building cant remember dimensions off hand


This is the basics of our operation - there are quite a few other pieces involved in the operation.

We have the fancy studio there - but most of my production I do right from my desk with adobe Audition. I find that more comfortable for some reason. Down the line I plan to do an overnight talk show nationally from my desk- in similar style to the old Coast 2 Coast program when Art bell ran it.. Who knows maybe thats my real calling. I've been working with several networks that seem interested. We'll see how it goes.

 

[musicsweep]

The last owner of this car was a little old lady who only drove to church and back.

 

[93-3TheSurge]

Give this guy a break.

I would love to buy your station, but I don't think a rock alternative station would be very successful in NE Texas. I wish it covered more of I-30 as well. Oh yeah, and I don't have $200,000.

There was a station in '92 called, "The Rebel Rocker," either northwest or northeast of Dallas. Was that this station?

 

[musicsweep]

No, that was KTUX "99X" out of Shreveport.

 

[fredcantu]

KTUX was licensed to Carthage which would explain it's east Texas coverage.

 

[93-3TheSurge]

Yeah, I was thinking it was 99X out of East Texas/Shreveport. I have listened to that station recently, same format but different moniker.