Apparently KWED in Seguin has angered the Seguin School Board. The school board wants to buy KWED. KWED states that they have been critical of the school board ant that is the reason the board wants to purchase the station, The Seguin School Board replies they want to use 1580 AM for educational purposes. Apparently KWED owned by Guadalupe Media Inc. is not inclined to sell for the $400,000.00 that was mentioned. Stay tuned!
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KWED Up For Sale?
- Thread starter Sammo770
- Start date
It sounds like to me the station simply received an offer to buy KWED from the Seguin School Board. Getting an offer to buy a station, while not all that common, it is not uncommon. At the station I manage, we get the occasional 'would your owner sell?' and more infrequently 'would X dollars be in the ballpark?'. Some proceed on to the owner.
I'm not sure why a school district would want to jump in the radio business but I must assume they have a well thought out plan. Most school districts are always trying to squeeze more from every dollar. If they might be interested, perhaps leasing some time might be an option. I still have to wonder how the public would view the idea. I'd say the offer begs for several questions: Is the school district prepared to operate a radio station? What purpose and enhancement would the station offer the school district? If it is to air school sports and give kids an outlet to 'play' or learn radio, is the school district in the business of running a radio station? Would it be a financial burden? If so, could those dollars be allocated in a more vital educational purpose?
In their defense, the Mesquite Schools in Mesquite, Texas has an FM station. Several other schools across the nation do as well. In fact, that number might surprise you. I have to question if any actually throw off an income or do as much as break even. There are certain costs involved in running a station, especially one like KWED. Would ownership be a financial burden? If so, and budgets got tighter, a radio station is not something that can be sold easily. In other words, you have costs that cannot be eliminated and even if a decision to sell was made, might require maintaining the station for an extended period of time until a qualified buyer is found and a deal finalized and executed.
If the School District has become angered, that is certainly no time to take on such a responsibility. I would contend if anger is the motivation, members of the board need to check their egos at the door before the next board meeting. I have seen crazy things happen in radio. Stuff you'd never believe unless you saw it unfold. But I have also seen ill fated decisions create nightmares for the group that acted crazy in their decision making. If there is such a rift, it might be best for a 3rd party to help work out a solution both parties could live with or at least offer other solutions.
If I recall, and if things have not changed, I think Guadalupe Media is a 3 station group: the AM and FM in New Braunfels and KWED, Seguin. From my understanding, none of the stations were hurting for income. The general thought is they are well run stations. $400,000 would certainly be under the actual value. I would suspect well under the 1x gross income figure.
KWED might be up for sale. We'd likely never know unless we signed a confidentiality promise with the broker offering the station. If for sale, it could be any of several stations you see 'advertised' by brokers such as 'established, profitable Texas AM in growing area' with or without an asking price.
KWED is a 'heritage' local station that has served Seguin for decades. The FM was sold many years ago and became a San Antonio player. KWED continued their full service local emphasis.
I'm not sure why a school district would want to jump in the radio business but I must assume they have a well thought out plan. Most school districts are always trying to squeeze more from every dollar. If they might be interested, perhaps leasing some time might be an option. I still have to wonder how the public would view the idea. I'd say the offer begs for several questions: Is the school district prepared to operate a radio station? What purpose and enhancement would the station offer the school district? If it is to air school sports and give kids an outlet to 'play' or learn radio, is the school district in the business of running a radio station? Would it be a financial burden? If so, could those dollars be allocated in a more vital educational purpose?
In their defense, the Mesquite Schools in Mesquite, Texas has an FM station. Several other schools across the nation do as well. In fact, that number might surprise you. I have to question if any actually throw off an income or do as much as break even. There are certain costs involved in running a station, especially one like KWED. Would ownership be a financial burden? If so, and budgets got tighter, a radio station is not something that can be sold easily. In other words, you have costs that cannot be eliminated and even if a decision to sell was made, might require maintaining the station for an extended period of time until a qualified buyer is found and a deal finalized and executed.
If the School District has become angered, that is certainly no time to take on such a responsibility. I would contend if anger is the motivation, members of the board need to check their egos at the door before the next board meeting. I have seen crazy things happen in radio. Stuff you'd never believe unless you saw it unfold. But I have also seen ill fated decisions create nightmares for the group that acted crazy in their decision making. If there is such a rift, it might be best for a 3rd party to help work out a solution both parties could live with or at least offer other solutions.
If I recall, and if things have not changed, I think Guadalupe Media is a 3 station group: the AM and FM in New Braunfels and KWED, Seguin. From my understanding, none of the stations were hurting for income. The general thought is they are well run stations. $400,000 would certainly be under the actual value. I would suspect well under the 1x gross income figure.
KWED might be up for sale. We'd likely never know unless we signed a confidentiality promise with the broker offering the station. If for sale, it could be any of several stations you see 'advertised' by brokers such as 'established, profitable Texas AM in growing area' with or without an asking price.
KWED is a 'heritage' local station that has served Seguin for decades. The FM was sold many years ago and became a San Antonio player. KWED continued their full service local emphasis.
P
purpledevil
Guest
I may be wrong, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time, but I believe KWED is it for Guadalupe. Something triggered in the back of my mind that recollected a sale of New Braunfels, and I can only find 1580 attached to Guadalupe's name online.
As for a sale of KWED, here it is from "the horse's mouth" via Twitter and/or the Seguin Today.
Darren Dunn @kwed
"Guadalupe Media has decided to opt out of the negotiations with Seguin ISD. We appreciate the support the community has given us."
Put your mind at ease, Sammo. KWED is staying the course.
As for a sale of KWED, here it is from "the horse's mouth" via Twitter and/or the Seguin Today.
Darren Dunn @kwed
"Guadalupe Media has decided to opt out of the negotiations with Seguin ISD. We appreciate the support the community has given us."
Put your mind at ease, Sammo. KWED is staying the course.
Ok. My source was Tom Taylors Radio Newsletter. What caught my eye was they reported that the board wanted to buy the station due to bad publicity. But as b-turner pointed out, that would be ridiculous. I just can't imagine how an already strapped school board could afford to operate a radio station. As an asset it would also be a drag on the budget. The price of Class B 1000w day and directional 253w nighttime on 1580khz is only going down.
KWED is probably worth some real cash and likely will be for a good length of time. Since KWED is the only Seguin station, a heritage station at that, it would not be until San Antonio swallows up the area to the point there is no local identity. As long as local information is aired and folks are on the streets visiting business owners, KWED can buck the trend and likely can for a number of years, making a decent profit.
Many AMs are simply not worth anything close to what they were worth even a decade ago.
Maybe the New Braunfels stations sold. I haven't checked. I know my owner knew the guy that owned the stations and we talked once. He struck me as a smart operator but like any business owner, when the right offer comes along, you go for it. That was several years ago.
If the Seguin School District has the cash and can create a way to make the station at least pay for itself, that might work. Still, I would think a School District is not in the business of creating a business portfolio. I have spoken with some high school stations and their goal was to get the kids involved and have the operating budget covered by the revenue the station could generate. Pretty much the instructor was paid by the district and the station was to pay for itself with a guarantee the school district would cover any losses, which in theory would be minimal. Still the trend is for schools and colleges to divest of their radio properties. At some schools in the Northeast, the NPR affiliate public broadcasters have arranged to air their programming outside the few hours a high school station might operate each week. I suspect this was done to lessen the financial burden of the respective school.
Many AMs are simply not worth anything close to what they were worth even a decade ago.
Maybe the New Braunfels stations sold. I haven't checked. I know my owner knew the guy that owned the stations and we talked once. He struck me as a smart operator but like any business owner, when the right offer comes along, you go for it. That was several years ago.
If the Seguin School District has the cash and can create a way to make the station at least pay for itself, that might work. Still, I would think a School District is not in the business of creating a business portfolio. I have spoken with some high school stations and their goal was to get the kids involved and have the operating budget covered by the revenue the station could generate. Pretty much the instructor was paid by the district and the station was to pay for itself with a guarantee the school district would cover any losses, which in theory would be minimal. Still the trend is for schools and colleges to divest of their radio properties. At some schools in the Northeast, the NPR affiliate public broadcasters have arranged to air their programming outside the few hours a high school station might operate each week. I suspect this was done to lessen the financial burden of the respective school.
At some schools in the Northeast, the NPR affiliate public broadcasters have arranged to air their programming outside the few hours a high school station might operate each week. I suspect this was done to lessen the financial burden of the respective school.
I wish I could remember all of the details, but at least one of the reasons for these arrangements was that other operators, mostly religious, were trying to squeeze the schools off-the-air because they didn't operate for a minimum number of hours. So, the schools went to the NPR affiliates to arrange for them to program the stations during the time they didn't otherwise operate.
U
Unknowable
Guest
So I think KWED should go after this translator that expires in November. If they don't, throw this one into the trash with the countless other expired CPs.
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