Per Tom Taylor - WDSY AM/FM Dansville sold for 350k -

[radioray]

Good luck to the guy but that's a lot of money! Good luck!

An Internet radio entrepreneur appears to be the buyer of an AM/FM combo in Dansville, NY. Brian Patrick McGlynn has been interested in both over-the-air broadcasting and Internet radio (through Solace.fm, among other projects). Now McGlynn’s buying south-of-Rochester WDNY-AM/FM. The AM is adult standards WDNY at 1400, with 880 watts daytime, 1,000 watts at night. The FM is AC “Y93.9”, a Class A. The seller is Mark Miller-run Miller Media, and the price is $350,000. McGlynn’s Genesee Media Corporation is paying $100,000 in cash, then $250,000 over the next ten years. Payments for the first six months are interest-only.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Dansville's actually an interesting small market. The Dansville-Mt. Morris-Geneseo-Hornell area should be big enough to support an AM-FM combo if they do it right.

 

[SirRoxalot]

BTW, I'd be GLAD to buy WDSY FM for $350K.

 

[chas108]

BTW, I'd be GLAD to buy WDSY FM for $350K.

You mean the Dansville station with typo'ed calls or a certain Pittsburgh station with those actual calls?

I just had to ask...

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'd LOVE to buy WDSY Pittsburgh - County Y108 - for $350K. I might even become a country fan.

The deal sounds pretty doable for WDNY if you've got a couple of guys who really know how to make small market radio work. They'd need to be "energetic".

 

[Savage]

Except, Rox, 93.9 can't be heard in Geneseo. (See: WBLK 93.7 and WZNE 94.1)

Hornell: twice the size of Avon - just Avon, no other Rochester metro territory, 8000ish souls. They have a Class B FM, semi-fulltime WLEA-AM (daytimer with adequate PSSA for local nighttime sports,) Class A FM, daily newspaper, Pennysaver, local cable, plus neighboring radio signals from Bath, Wellsville and Alfred.

"Energetic," indeed....

 

[radioray]

Oops, I meant WDNY obviously. Sorry.

:

That said, doesn't that area seem too overradioed already? I find it hard to believe you can make a buck.

The new owner has some background in smooth jazz radio (at least from I saw on google). Maybe a format flip is in the works?

 

[Mark Giardina]

Just my opinion, but 350k seems like a lot of money for a radio station that can't be heard in Rochester or any other major metro area.

What is really puzzling to me is that the Dansville radio station shows up in Arbitron surveys while stations that can actually be heard in Rochester apparently have no listeners, at least according to Arbitron. :

 

[Bob1370]

"Just my opinion, but 350k seems like a lot of money for a radio station that can't be heard in Rochester or any other major metro area."

Mark's right, in the sense that lots of stations with similar facilities go for less. But it could be a function of cash flow--if you have a good sales manager and a relatively low cost structure, as WDNY probably does, you could fetch a hefty price even for a small town radio outlet. And the mystery of how WDNY consistently shows up in the Rochester market Arbitron can be explained by Livingston County's inclusion in the TSA and WDNY's strong performance in the southern end of the county--although that doesn't explain why some other stations appear to be under-reported or inconsistently reported.

Having said all that, the latest WDNY sale is also an example of how stations have DECLINED in selling price over the last 20 years. When I was planning to sell the family business and return to radio in the late 80s, and weighing whether to try to buy a small market station or take a gig in a larger city, WDNY and its FM CP came up for sale. I put in a bid with the broker for over $400K--and lost out to a substantially higher bidder. Kicked the tires of a couple other stations as well, both in New York and in the upper Midwest, but opted to work in Rochester instead. The way things have gone in this business, just as well--I'd probably have had to sell at a loss when retirement time came, even assuming I'd done a good job of running the place profitably in the meantime. Radio today is a good business to be in if you run it right with the idea of making money from the cash flow of a well run enterprise, but not so hot a business to be in if you want it to be a long term growth investment.

 

[bmcglynn]

Hello All,

I'm the new owner of WDNY-AM/FM and look forward to the challenges ahead with small market radio. Coming from a small town in the Southern Tier of New York, I appreciate the dynamic and believe we are well positioned for success.

WDNY is in a very interesting position: It's located in a valley halfway between Rochester and Corning. With Rochester 45 miles north and with another class-A second adjacent frequency at 94.1, there is no chance of serving that market. As for Corning, that market is oversaturated with media for its size and the mountains block out the signal heading down that direction anyways.

WDNY's transmitter location for the FM is very good for the local area. It's a Class-A that had to be powered-down to 570 watts due to its HAAT. The AM is a full 1,000 watts at night (880 Day) and does a good job covering the local region.

Most of WDNY's area is a patchwork of villiages and small towns. Many areas can pick up Rochester, Buffalo, Corning, and Canandaigua signals although many of the inhabitants choose to listen to WDNY for its local news, local advertisers, and local event coverage. WDNY pulls a .5 due to the fact that all of Livingston Country is part of the Rochester DMA. WDNY has a very loyal following down there and the few diaries that make their way down to southern Livingston Country and get marked for WDNY.

We looked at several other options in and around the area and decided to invest in WDNY due to its positioning in the communities it serves. There is an AM for sale in Rochester for slightly more than we paid for WDNY. In the case of an AM in market #56, we thought long and hard about having to pump tens of thousands of promotional dollars to wrestle listeners away from market stalwarts such as WHAM, WYSL, and WHTK. As for a full class-A FM in Rochester (should Lee Rust or one of the conglomerates want to sell), the pricetag would be substantially higher.

Only time will tell, although I firmly believe that WDNY-AM/FM can thrive in its small market environment.

As they say, stay tuned...

Brian McGlynn
President, Genesee Media Corporation

 

[cee]

There is an AM for sale in Rochester for slightly more than we paid for WDNY.

What station could that be?

 

[Savage]

I think it's 990 kHz.

 

[Mark Giardina]

When I worked at (then) WNYR-990 AM, that station had a decent signal. I have no idea if that has changed since I haven't listen to 990 in many years.

350k wouldn't be a bad price for that station, depending of course if any work needs to be done on the tower or transmitter.

One immediate obstacle is what format would a new owner program?

Talk and sports pretty much makes up most of the programming on AM stations in the Rochester area. Oh and I forgot about religion. WXXI has public radio covered with NPR, unless 990 could somehow program shows from PRI that WXXI doesn't carry. But I don't see two public radio station in the Rochester market. It is unnecessary and unaffordable. Music on AM is as dead as Julius Caesar.

There is one thing that I wanted to mention to the new owner of WDNY. While I congratulate him on his recent purchase of the radio station in Dansville, I should also note that in his post he mentioned the .5 rating the Dansville station has. Do not be beguiled by that number. Arbitron has WYSL with a .6 rating, and that station has a more powerful signal that reaches into Rochester; yet Arbitron claims WYSL has no audience. So don't believe what the ratings say.

 

[Bob1370]

Mark mentioned in relation to a possible buyer for 990 AM, "Music on AM is as dead as Julius Caesar."

Pretty much true, with the exception of the "True Oldies" approach (1955-65 pop hits) or maybe even earlier pop standards of the 1935-54 era. It is, of course, an open question whether the 55+ demos who'd gravitate to an "older oldies" mix, would be attractive to enough advertisers to make the nut.

As far as talk, forget NPR (covered by WXXI) and the big name warhorses of commercial talk (covered by WHAM, although their audience, too, is aging out). Programming secondary and tertiary hosts in the syndicated realm didn't work for WROC-AM, and woudn't work for anyone else now. Sports is oversaturated with two signals, neither one getting a significant share--the city would struggle to support one sports station profitably, much less the two (plus one suburban FM rimshot simulcast) trying to make it here today. The two things now missing from the market that could work on AM are progressive talk (which 950 tried with better results than it's getting now from sports but still not good enough for Entercom) and a Spanish-speaking format that might mix Latin AC music with news and features for the 50,000+ Spanish speakers aged 12+ in Monroe County who don't have a station of their own now. That 50,000 nearly guaranteed exclusive cume would combine with a TSL that might make the overall AQH numbers very attractive. I don't know enough about the Latin radio realm to know what mix of local and syndicated content would be available, but there's certain to be enough material from both local and satellite sources to program a station pretty much around the clock. 990's signal would probably be adequate to reach nearly everyone a programmer of that format would want to reach.

You might wonder why this kind of station hasn't already appeared in Rochester, but the Spanish speaking population of the Rochester metro just recently reached that critical mass big enough to make a 24/7 station programmed just for them, economically viable. Once that station appears it'll have a captive audience for the next decade at least...

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Hello All, I'm the new owner of WDNY-AM/FM and look forward to the challenges ahead with small market radio. Coming from a small town in the Southern Tier of New York, I appreciate the dynamic and believe we are well positioned for success.~~~ Only time will tell, although I firmly believe that WDNY-AM/FM can thrive in its small market environment.
As they say, stay tuned...
Brian McGlynn
President, Genesee Media Corporation

Small market radio can be challenging and at the same time, immensely rewarding. That you committed to invest a substantial amount of money at a time when the economy and radio face diverse obstacles, speaks volumes about your positive attitude. I, along with the many here who are true believers in terrestrial radio as an advertising, community-serving and entertaining medium, wish you and your associates much success.

 

[Paul_Warren]

...We looked at several other options in and around the area and decided to invest in WDNY due to its positioning in the communities it serves...Only time will tell, although I firmly believe that WDNY-AM/FM can thrive in its small market environment...

Brian, bravo! I find it refreshing to see someone who's investing in a small market with a business plan that doesn't involve hiring engineering consultants to make a small market allocation into a rim-shot in some overcrowded, larger market.

I've worked in small markets enough to have seen some things that still make money. Some are surprisingly inexpensive. Being there when your community needs you is a common thread to making all of them work. We'll watch with interest!

 

[ThePickleReport]

I've worked in small markets enough to have seen some things that still make money. Some are surprisingly inexpensive. Being there when your community needs you is a common thread to making all of them work. We'll watch with interest!

Indeed! Congrats and give your audience something they can't get anywhere else. And that can mean many things.

 

[chas108]

What Jim, Paul and Pickle said.

 

[radioray]

I don't think you can make money there doing live and local radio!

Is there some smooth jazz service the new owner will provide?

 

[chas108]

I don't think you can make money there doing live and local radio!

Is there some smooth jazz service the new owner will provide?

Ray, I beg to differ.

25 miles from Pittsburgh, in a small city that receives every Pittsburgh station, is WJPA/FM-AM.

http://www.wjpa.com/airstaff.htm

They're live and local to their COL and county. Musically, they differentiate themselves with a much deeper library of oldies than the market leader. I honestly don't listen to them much but when I do hear them, the bulk of the spots are local Washington County advertisers...people who aren't on my station or any other Pittsburgh station afaik. They're not living off the Pittsburgh PPM's unless they're getting a breakout for their own coverage area.

I worked at the station below back in the late 80's:

http://www.1063theriver.com/default.asp?pid=9750

I know this station is VT'ed after AM Drive but it's all done with local talent who turn their attention to other duties after they load up their breaks. Not ideal but it has a live feel and it's definitely local. Location is 35 miles from Pittsburgh, also they have to compete with signals from Wheeling WV and Youngstown OH. But again they make their way.

This is probably not an apples-for-apples comparison but I want to show that it can be done. They are small markets living in the shadow of a major market...more of a shadow than WDNY will be under from the way it's described. They thrive serving their local areas with programming people can't get elsewhere.