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Report: Stop 26-Riverbend Up Financial River

O

OldAkronite

Summarized by OMW here:

<a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2005/07/another-youngstown-operator-in.html>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2005/07/another-youngstown-operator-in.html</a>

TheDeal.com reports that Stop 26-Riverbend's Percy Squire and Frank Halfacre are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for their radio companies (Stop 26 and various sister companies).

Stop 26-Riverbend owns, as far as I know, WRBP/101.9, WGFT/1300 and WASN/1330 in the Youngstown market, and a Columbus station or stations I can't remember (WSMZ/103.1?).

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Stop 26-Riverbend owns, as far as I know, WRBP/101.9,
> WGFT/1300 and WASN/1330 in the Youngstown market, and a
> Columbus station or stations I can't remember (WSMZ/103.1?).


Yep, 2 stations in Columbus, WVKO 1580 AM and 103.1 FM (I think it's calls are WVKO as well. I could be wrong and they may still be WSMZ).
Both have some kind of Spanish format, and the last time I was down that way, 103.1 had audio in the right channel only (you could faintly hear some in the left), it was VERY quiet, and has a horrible signal to start with.

With operations like that...no wonder they are in trouble. If I were an advertiser, I would not buy a spot on that station.
 
> Yep, 2 stations in Columbus, WVKO 1580 AM and 103.1 FM (I
> think it's calls are WVKO as well. I could be wrong and they
> may still be WSMZ).
> Both have some kind of Spanish format, and the last time I
> was down that way, 103.1 had audio in the right channel only
> (you could faintly hear some in the left), it was VERY
> quiet, and has a horrible signal to start with.
>
> With operations like that...no wonder they are in trouble.
> If I were an advertiser, I would not buy a spot on that
> station.
>

I live in Columbus and 103.1 and 1580 both frequently run dead carrier, poor telephone quality audio among other things, if you look at the FCC record for WVKO-FM it appears they have not even received their license renewal yet due to petitions against them. WVKO-FM (formerly WSMZ) has not sounded decent since Salem sold it many years ago to stop 26.

It would be nice to see someone come along and clean up the place and put a decent sounding FM station back on the air and a decent sounding AM, while 103.1 has only 1.6kw if someone who knew what they where doing could put it back together and clean up the STL issues, it could be a little decent station.

Are their properties in Youngstown known for techincal issues? I dont live up there so ive never heard them.

Sad to see these stations lack.<P ID="signature">______________
Lenks
Program Director/Music Director
X Music Online
The X
Today's Best Music
http://www.xmusiconline.com/</P>
 
> Are their properties in Youngstown known for techincal
> issues? I dont live up there so ive never heard them.

The Stop 26 properties in Youngstown aren't the worst technically in the market, but that's only because there are others even worse. (Yes, WRTK/1540, I'm talking about you!)

I wasn't listening much to 1330 (religious) or 1500 (Spanish) when I was in the market the last few times, but they sounded about average for small locally run AM stations, and I didn't notice anything too weird on 101.9 (urban).

Maybe they just fade into the noise of the general state of bad engineering in the market, of course, with the notable exception of the professionally run clusters like Clear Channel and Cumulus.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Maybe they just fade into the noise of the general state of
> bad engineering in the market, of course, with the notable
> exception of the professionally run clusters like Clear
> Channel and Cumulus.


IMO, the Cumulus Youngstown stations have the worst sound processing in that market, with the exception of possibly K105.
 
> IMO, the Cumulus Youngstown stations have the worst sound
> processing in that market, with the exception of possibly
> K105.

I wouldn't blame that on the engineers. It sounds like one of those cases where the programmers have a hand in it...

Even so, none of the Cumulus stations, no matter who's controlling the processing, sound as bad as the low-rent AMs in the market.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Summarized by OMW here:
>
http://ohiome> dia.blogspot.com/2005/07/another-youngstown-operator-in.html
>
>
> TheDeal.com reports that Stop 26-Riverbend's Percy Squire
> and Frank Halfacre are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
> protection for their radio companies (Stop 26 and various
> sister companies).
>
> Stop 26-Riverbend owns, as far as I know, WRBP/101.9,
> WGFT/1300 and WASN/1330 in the Youngstown market, and a
> Columbus station or stations I can't remember (WSMZ/103.1?).
>
>
> -OA
>


Wasn't Stop 26-Riverbend a shell for CC? I seem to recall issues with them in Marietta or something a year or so ago.<P ID="signature">______________
Everyone is entitled to my opinion.</P>
 
> I wouldn't blame that on the engineers. It sounds like one
> of those cases where the programmers have a hand in it...
>
> Even so, none of the Cumulus stations, no matter who's
> controlling the processing, sound as bad as the low-rent AMs
> in the market.
>
> -OA
>

more than likely the low-rent AM in the area dont have an engineer to blame, they probally contract out their engineering problems when major ones occour, so unless the transmitter is shooting out flames, its ok to them.<P ID="signature">______________
Lenks
Program Director/Music Director
X Music Online
The X
Today's Best Music
http://www.xmusiconline.com/</P>
 
> Wasn't Stop 26-Riverbend a shell for CC? I seem to recall
> issues with them in Marietta or something a year or so ago.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Percy and company haven't hooked up with CC.

In fact, Stop 26-Riverbend FOUGHT rather hard with Clear Channel over 101.9 Hubbard, as I recall.

-OA <P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> TheDeal.com reports that Stop 26-Riverbend's Percy Squire
> and Frank Halfacre are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
> protection for their radio companies (Stop 26 and various
> sister companies).
This wouldn't be the first time Msr. Squire and company have had finanical problems. I recall Stop 26 defaulting on a loan on the former WRRO/1440 back in 2000. As a result, crosstown operator Otter Communications (WASN/1330) picked up the station, only to lose it the following year after its own bankruptcy. The rest, as Salem would agree, is history...
 
Stop 26 and CC went into an LMA to purchase agreement over 101.9, wherein CC was required to maintain the same programing on the station (urban, I believe).

CC decided they wanted to change programing despite the terms of the LMA. Stop 26 kicked them out. CC went into municipal ccourt in Youngstown claiming breach of the LMA and obtained an order that allowed them to take control of the station. Stop 26 complained to the FCC, and the FCC fined CC some 25 grand for the attempted forced (and unauthorized by the FCC) transfer of control of the station.

About the same time the FCC started scrutinizing verious time brokerage/LMA deals that CC had with other stations in the Youngstown market. The upshot was that CC ended up breaking off various LMA's and sold a couple of stations to Key market. Shortly afterwards the new radio ownership rules emerged wherein these various time brokerage, and joint sales agreements would be counted or attributed towards ownership caps.
 
> Stop 26 and CC went into an LMA to purchase agreement over
> 101.9, wherein CC was required to maintain the same
> programing on the station (urban, I believe).

Ah, yes.

Wasn't 101.9 CC's first attempt at putting on CHR (as "The Beat")?

When this all collapsed, they put it on 95.9, of course.

No matter, Stop 26 was never a "shell" company for CC...just an LMA partner in a relationship gone bad. "Shell" companies are more like Concord Media, etc...

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> Ah, yes.
>
> Wasn't 101.9 CC's first attempt at putting on CHR (as "The
> Beat")?


Sort of. CHR debuted on 101.9 as "The Beat" on Labor Day weekend 1998, if I am not mistaken.
June 2000 was when it got shifted to 95.9 (with about 12 hours notice to listeners because Stop 26 pulled the plug on the simulcast and put "102 Jamz" on the air).
February 2001, 95.9 re-launched as Kiss-FM.
 
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