KTRB & KMPH - Pappas for sale plus all tv

[JimA]

From Fresno

http://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/v-printerfriendly/story/721700.html

List of all properties

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappas_Telecasting

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Quoting the Bee article:

> The additional money was needed to be a reserve while the bankruptcy proceedings continue and a buyer is found for a portion or all of the 30 TV stations and two radio stations the company owns across the United States.

> Pappas announced in December that it was putting most of its stations up for sale. No deal has been made.

This is the first time (that I know of) that there has been a hint that the radio stations might be sold ... unless the reporter was making an assumption.

 

[DavidKaye]

From Fresno
http://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/v-printerfriendly/story/721700.html

Hey, look at this: "Pappas Telecasting owed $5.8 million to its top 20 creditors. The company's estimated assets, per the document, are between $100 million and $500 million. "

This is very strange. The amount owed is very small compared to the value of the assets. I can't think of any other company being thrown into bankruptcy for such a small percentage of assets. Usually on assets of $100 million, they've got to have debts of, say $50-75 million before people get worried.

I suspect that someone is trying to get control and is using s sleazy way to get it, or that the Pappas revenue problem is so severe that this is just the beginning of a huge revenue slide in future quarters.

 

[DubbaDon]

I suspect that someone is trying to get control and is using s sleazy way to get it, or that the Pappas revenue problem is so severe that this is just the beginning of a huge revenue slide in future quarters.

Pappas had some corporate changes a few years back that strayed from the direction that Mr. Pappas and his original staff had established. They started buying equipment that was expensive - cutting edge instead of waiting until it was tested and true. They made some bad choices in station purchases (one has since gone dark).

I don't know if these folks were working for or against the company - sort of like a destructive mole.

From what I've read, the stations revenue is covering expenses, it's the debt from poor purchase decisions that's resulted in bankruptcy.

(Disclaimer: I was an eight year manager, "making a little too much noise".)

 

[DavidKaye]

I don't know if these folks were working for or against the company - sort of like a destructive mole.

This is something that has happened in business from time to time. Used to be that there was a consumer-owned co-operative grocery store chain called Consumers Co-Op of Berkeley. They had 13 supermarkets from Berkeley to Walnut Creek, and San Francisco, most in very prosperous areas.

Well, after decades of management by fairly conservative money-watchers who grew up in the co-op movement, some people joined the co-op and began campaigning for "more professional management." Some folks were brought in who had been former Safeway managers. It didn't take very long for them to bring in other former Safeway managers, and for the co-op's finances to get rocky and the company suddenly go into bankruptcy.

Thus, Safeway was able to knock out the main competion in one of their most lucrative Bay Area markets. Yes, indeed, some of these people were "hired back" by Safeway a year or so later. Many people wonder whether they had ever left Safeway's employ at all....many of those lucrative former Co-op stores are now...Safeway stores or belong to non-threatening chains such as Andronico's.

Could the same thing have happened with Pappas? Well, you have the experience of having worked there. It's something I hadn't considered, but it makes a lot of sense.