To be honest, secondchoice, my reply was done without you specifically in mind. But more of a general assessment of the arm chair quarterbacks that second guess radio pioneers like Johnny every chance they get. It just seems odd that there are people with $50 in their bank account (again, speaking generally) and they talk about how awful and stupid people are that have made millions... and as if their financial success was just pure luck and has nothing to do with their work ethic and decades of sacrifices. Sure, we can lob doo-doo at the big time radio operators once they make it big... but where were we when they took out second mortgages on their homes to make payroll, lived in their cars in the parking lot of the radio station, or when they took other enormous risks to keep a little piece of the radio industry alive?
As far as operating costs, my news talk station costs me 1/3 what my music station costs me to operate. It all depends on how you operate it. More importantly, a critical factor is your sales force and how they can compete in the marketplace.
When you make the assessment that country would've been the clear better choice than continuing news/talk on 100.3, you are making that assessment based on May 6, 2013 information... the luxury of knowing now what you did not know when Oak Ridge FM took the station back over. When the lease was terminated, there were several factors to look at, a biggie included keeping some of agency dollars on 100.3. Both news/talk and country were fine options, both with their own risks and opportunities. Do you stay with news/talk, keep some agency $$$ and be the 100,000 watt talker against a 8,000 watt talker? Or, do you go country? A rimshot 100,000 watter against the heritage 100,000 watter, start with $0 in revenue and hope for the best? I probably would've gone with JP's choice at the time... and this is coming from a child of I-100 and an alumnus of HitKicker country days of 100.3 WOKI.
Now it is 2013, WIVK has slipped to #2, 25-54 for the first time in a very very long time, morale is a wreck. Journal has the staff and connections (and now a signal) to put up a serious threat to WIVK. It is a very different playing field.