Magic Johnson and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa invest in three Phoenix FMs

[michael hagerty]

Just read on all access that all 3 stations sold for 16 million? Seems very low for these three stations even in this economy.

Ouch. That number has to put the owners of Mega/The Beat and Movin in a very, very, very sour mood.

That's actually not half bad, considering CBS sold three full-power FMs in Denver in 2008 for $19 million total.

 

[DJ_Perry]

I think Beau was implying the opposite, as one of the stations he mentioned was sold for about half of the average price of the other 3 (5.3M). Ironically, the buyers flaked out even after a hefty deposit made.

 

[For the love of Radio]

They better not flip 103.9

 

[oldiesfan6479]

They better not flip 103.9

Guess you haven't heard of the upcoming LMA of 103.9 then...a simulcast
of 1230/KOY to improve the adult standards signal to the East Valley. ;D

 

[asugeorge1]

They better not flip 103.9

Guess you haven't heard of the upcoming LMA of 103.9 then...a simulcast
of 1230/KOY to improve the adult standards signal to the East Valley. ;D

I think you're mistaken oldiesfan. I heard another, more credible rumor* that our beloved Goldmine, KAZG, would simulcast their signal on 103.9 FM. From what I could gather, Sandusky needs the signal in order to provide those golden oldies all night long to the fair listeners of the East Valley!

* Rumor originates from the Buckeye Media Hut, home of the buy one Gremlin, get one free deal, available exclusively on Groupon! ;D

 

[EricStein]

They better not flip 103.9

I don't know. Maybe the only way to save alternative rock on 103.9 is to get some fresh voices on the air. There are former Valley radio part-timers who are now working in mid-sized markets trying to work their way back to a full-time major-market gig.

 

[OneHorseTown]

There's nothing wrong with the voices...it's the playlist! Adding different voices will do nothing.

For the past three days in the late afternoon, they've played "Lightning Crashes" by Live. I think it's a boring song personally, but I'm just one person. So, it's fine to play Alternative Gold...just not three days in a row, around the same time each day.
Someone is lazy.

 

[ykw]

There's nothing wrong with the voices...it's the playlist! Adding different voices will do nothing.

For the past three days in the late afternoon, they've played "Lightning Crashes" by Live. I think it's a boring song personally, but I'm just one person. So, it's fine to play Alternative Gold...just not three days in a row, around the same time each day.
Someone is lazy.

That's what I was talking about upthread. The Ramones had more than just their self-titled debut disc. Pearl Jam released more albums than just Ten (and that one charity comp their cover of "Last Kiss" escaped from). Faith No More had more hits than just "Epic". Korn and Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit actually existed and generated alternative hits -- and lots of 'em. But you wouldn't know any of that by the shallowness of their gold pool. A handful of gold bands are well-represented... Sublime, Nirvana, Blink, 311, Green Day, No Doubt. But most others are covered by one or two tracks or tracks from a single album, while many key bands are simply wished away into retroactive nonexistence.

I want to be surprised when the third or fourth song in a set turns out to be the Dead Kennedys. Or even the Dead Milkmen. I want to be reminded that Reel Big Fish wasn't just my imagination. I want a big smile to cross my face when "Hell" or "Sheep Go To Heaven" or, heck, even "Nookie" starts up. I want my alt to be fun, not the same old repetitive grind. There are plenty of other Valley stations I can go to if I want to hear the world's smallest playlists, thanks anyway.

 

[Saladressing]

There's nothing wrong with the voices...it's the playlist! Adding different voices will do nothing.

For the past three days in the late afternoon, they've played "Lightning Crashes" by Live. I think it's a boring song personally, but I'm just one person. So, it's fine to play Alternative Gold...just not three days in a row, around the same time each day.
Someone is lazy.

That's what I was talking about upthread. The Ramones had more than just their self-titled debut disc. Pearl Jam released more albums than just Ten (and that one charity comp their cover of "Last Kiss" escaped from). Faith No More had more hits than just "Epic". Korn and Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit actually existed and generated alternative hits -- and lots of 'em. But you wouldn't know any of that by the shallowness of their gold pool. A handful of gold bands are well-represented... Sublime, Nirvana, Blink, 311, Green Day, No Doubt. But most others are covered by one or two tracks or tracks from a single album, while many key bands are simply wished away into retroactive nonexistence.

I want to be surprised when the third or fourth song in a set turns out to be the Dead Kennedys. Or even the Dead Milkmen. I want to be reminded that Reel Big Fish wasn't just my imagination. I want a big smile to cross my face when "Hell" or "Sheep Go To Heaven" or, heck, even "Nookie" starts up. I want my alt to be fun, not the same old repetitive grind. There are plenty of other Valley stations I can go to if I want to hear the world's smallest playlists, thanks anyway.

Agreed 100%. The station seems to think that familiar = ratings, but look at the ratings. They tried the "Real Alternative" format for a book or two a couple of years ago as "FM 103.9" and it sounded great but it was never given a chance to catch on. If you listen to even a quite commercialized station such as KROQ, they will slip in a surprise from time to time. Besides that, as mentioned earlier in this thread, 103.9 has become an alt. gold station more or less. The alt. format was built around excitement, adventure, FUN and new music discovery.

 

[EricStein]

Agreed 100%. The station seems to think that familiar = ratings, but look at the ratings. They tried the "Real Alternative" format for a book or two a couple of years ago as "FM 103.9" and it sounded great but it was never given a chance to catch on. If you listen to even a quite commercialized station such as KROQ, they will slip in a surprise from time to time. Besides that, as mentioned earlier in this thread, 103.9 has become an alt. gold station more or less. The alt. format was built around excitement, adventure, FUN and new music discovery.

Looking at the station's yes.com playlist, most songs outside the top 15 played are recurrents. Compare that with Tucson's KFMA, where older songs don't show up until number 37 (which, at this time, is Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" from '94). I'm surprised to see Incubus's "Megalomanic," which is the band at its worst (I was tired of the song right after they started playing it in '04), is in the top 50 on "X."

Going down even further, I found Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Unless this is used in a commercial (yes.com sometimes counts songs within ads as spins), this doesn't fit the format at all.

I've got to say that the last time I listened to the station for an extended period of time was when it was still "FM 103.9." It might still be around and sounding great if previous ownership didn't fall into financial hardship.

 

[DJ_Perry]

For the past three days in the late afternoon, they've played "Lightning Crashes" by Live.

I realize there is a thin line between Alternative and Modern Rock...but Live sucks. They belong on 98 KUPD....103.9 has always included songs that are not true to their format.

 

[radioresearcher]

Agreed 100%. The station seems to think that familiar = ratings, but look at the ratings. They tried the "Real Alternative" format for a book or two a couple of years ago as "FM 103.9" and it sounded great but it was never given a chance to catch on. If you listen to even a quite commercialized station such as KROQ, they will slip in a surprise from time to time. Besides that, as mentioned earlier in this thread, 103.9 has become an alt. gold station more or less. The alt. format was built around excitement, adventure, FUN and new music discovery.

Looking at the station's yes.com playlist, most songs outside the top 15 played are recurrents. Compare that with Tucson's KFMA, where older songs don't show up until number 37 (which, at this time, is Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" from '94). I'm surprised to see Incubus's "Megalomanic," which is the band at its worst (I was tired of the song right after they started playing it in '04), is in the top 50 on "X."

Going down even further, I found Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Unless this is used in a commercial (yes.com sometimes counts songs within ads as spins), this doesn't fit the format at all.

I've got to say that the last time I listened to the station for an extended period of time was when it was still "FM 103.9." It might still be around and sounding great if previous ownership didn't fall into financial hardship.

The station is up about 30% to the shares it was delivering as "FM 103.9" The station has been floating between in the mid to high 1 share range with X as opposed to the low 1's or even 0.9 weeks it had as "FM 103-9" There are a lot of Alternative stations (including 91X in San Diego) playing Adele.