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RADIO ONE BOUGHT 3 OF DETROIT'S HISTORICALLY BLACK OWNED RADIO STATIONS

To properly preface this discussion, it needs to be noted that this occured about a year ago.

Bottom line is that the Masons had a harder time competing with radio conglomerates and I'm sure there was some desire to cash out. It should be noted that WGPR is under a Local Marketing Agreement and the Masons effectively retain title to the station, but won't have control for many years.

This is a continuation of a trend that has been occuring for years and was likely exacerbated by falling ad revenues.

Radio One seems to be managing the stations well and has more resources to invest in them. This isn't bad for Detroit fans of Urban radio.
 
umfan said:
It should be noted that WGPR is under a Local Marketing Agreement and the Masons effectively retain title to the station, but won't have control for many years.
Click to expand...

How will the Mason's be able to regain control of WGPR FM many years from now in the future, if they are leasing WGPR 107.5 FM to RADIO ONE?
 
umfan said:
To properly preface this discussion, it needs to be noted that this occured about a year ago.

Bottom line is that the Masons had a harder time competing with radio conglomerates and I'm sure there was some desire to cash out. It should be noted that WGPR is under a Local Marketing Agreement and the Masons effectively retain title to the station, but won't have control for many years.

This is a continuation of a trend that has been occuring for years and was likely exacerbated by falling ad revenues.

Radio One seems to be managing the stations well and has more resources to invest in them. This isn't bad for Detroit fans of Urban radio.
Click to expand...

A YEAR AGO!?!??!

I helped broker the Bell Broadcasting deal which included WCHB, over a decade ago..... That and JZZ had a enterprise value, if my memory serves me correctly, 35 mil....
 
They need more resources to do something about 1200's signal. I remember when they had EMU Football a few years back and, it was a tough listen. I also know they got a translator at 99.9 FM, but I don't know if it is still running. To be fair, I know part of their signal issue is to protect WOAI in San Antonio. Where does 1200 AM even come in great here?
 
It was more like almost 15 years ago that Radio One purchased WCHB-AM/FM (I believe Bell Broadcasting had already ditched WJZZ in favor of "105.9 The Beat" by the time the sale happened). The deal to enter into the LMA with WGPR was in October of last year.

And the status quo isn't bad for Detroit urban listeners if said urban listeners enjoy listening to Radio One's typical cookie-cutter urban formats and tons of syndication. For the true R&B junkies who were passionate about the music as more than just background noise and who liked WGPR the way it was before the LMA and found it the freshest, most interesting listen on Detroit's commercial FM dial, the Radio One takeover was a tragedy. I personally prefer Mix 92.3 and WJLB to Kiss FM and Hot.

On the bright side, Detroit did finally get an FM Gospel station out of the deal (a move that was much overdue), and Radio One did restore a sliver of smooth jazz programming to the Detroit airwaves.
 
ChrisinMi, I have to agree about the FM Gospel station. On a less than stellar signal, Praise 102.7 has hovered around a 3.0, and at one point in a few books this year, had better ratings than Doug and AMP. the success they are having there is nothing to scoff at. Now, in regards to giving Detroit a format that we need right now, somebody has to get to work.
 
Jry, I was referring only to the WGPR deal being a year ago. I realize that I didn't describe the other ownership changes accurately. My apologies for any confusion my post caused.
 
umfan said:
Jry, I was referring only to the WGPR deal being a year ago. I realize that I didn't describe the other ownership changes accurately. My apologies for any confusion my post caused.
Click to expand...
You're fine. The WGPR deal is a time brokerage agreement.

Believe me, the property is not for sale. We've knocked on that door, for a couple of our clients. a few times. Only Radio One could have pulled this off.
 
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