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Report: WDRQ To Be Sold

TheBigA said:
Anyone can buy a radio station. It doesn't have to be a big corporation. Stevie Wonder owns a radio station in LA. Imagine if a musician from Detroit bought a radio station. How good would that be? I bet the sale price here is less than $8 million. Berry Gordy spends more than that on his landscaping. That's how easy it would be to improve the quality of radio.
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These celebrities have the money but don’t have the interest to buy a radio station. There is no shortage of New Jersey or New York-based rock musicians who could have bought WPLJ when Cumulus wanted out in 2019.

I’d be surprised if it didn’t have to do with the chances of not having a return on investment, competing against larger clusters with economies of scale and considerably more resources, let alone the challenges stand-alones have just trying to break even. Stevie Wonder has owned KJLH for decades largely because he wants to for the community; KJLH’s performances with ratings and revenue is almost immaterial.

One minor aside, James Brown was part of a group that owned WJBE in Knoxville TN but financial problems forced the station’s sale a decade later.
 
TheBigA said:
Anyone can buy a radio station. It doesn't have to be a big corporation.
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That doesn’t mean just anyone can run a radio station or know what they are buying.

radioinsight.com

How Not To Buy A Radio Station - RadioInsight

Paul Izard Communications acquired then Silent 105.9 WGWE Little Valley NY in September 2021 for $25,000. The Seneca Nation had taken the former Classic Hits station off the air at the end of March 2021 citing "financial distress including long-term losses in its operation of the station that...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
speer360 said:
That doesn’t mean just anyone can run a radio station or know what they are buying.
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I agree. But my point is that there are a lot of unhappy music lovers who can't understand why big corporations don't love music with the same passion that they have. The reality is that there are a lot of very rich music lovers who could buy radio stations with petty cash. But they don't. They could run them as non-profits or with minimal commercials. They could partner with music institutions, including the Grammys or the R&R Hall of Fame. It would be so easy. I would offer to show how for free.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree. But my point is that there are a lot of unhappy music lovers who can't understand why big corporations don't love music with the same passion that they have. The reality is that there are a lot of very rich music lovers who could buy radio stations with petty cash. But they don't. They could run them as non-profits or with minimal commercials. They could partner with music institutions, including the Grammys or the R&R Hall of Fame. It would be so easy. I would offer to show how for free.
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Would those rich music lovers receive the same tax breaks that the Godcasters get? You keep saying that these various alternative scenarios could happen, yet they never do. The only nonprofits that ever wind up with radio stations are Christian proselytizers.
 
CTListener said:
Would those rich music lovers receive the same tax breaks that the Godcasters get?
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Any non-profit entity, whether a listener-supported radio station or the Red Cross, gets the same relief from most taxes, including income tax and property tax.

But in no case is the benefit transferable to individuals who help found the charity. The only thing "rich music lovers" can do is deduct donations to legitimate non-profit organizations. It's only the non-profit stations themselves that get tax exemptions.

Of course, a non-profit would pay no income tax, anyway since the, as the name suggests, make no profit. The more significant savings is in other kinds of taxes like property tax in most jurisdictions.
 
Station is running jockless so far this morning, but morning show and contest promos are running as normal as if nothing is afoot.

I suspect there was either an "emergency meeting" at the end of the day yesterday or the staff was fired by email.

Wouldn't surprise me if we don't hear a damn thing on social media from the on-air staffers. Might be a condition of any severance.
 
TheBigA said:
Anyone can buy a radio station. It doesn't have to be a big corporation. Stevie Wonder owns a radio station in LA. Imagine if a musician from Detroit bought a radio station. How good would that be? I bet the sale price here is less than $8 million. Berry Gordy spends more than that on his landscaping. That's how easy it would be to improve the quality of radio.
Click to expand...

I wonder if Berry, or Motown Corporation buying a Detroit station would now, or would have then (1960s/70s) been allowed?
 
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Nathan Obral said:
These celebrities have the money but don’t have the interest to buy a radio station. There is no shortage of New Jersey or New York-based rock musicians who could have bought WPLJ when Cumulus wanted out in 2019.

I’d be surprised if it didn’t have to do with the chances of not having a return on investment, competing against larger clusters with economies of scale and considerably more resources, let alone the challenges stand-alones have just trying to break even. Stevie Wonder has owned KJLH for decades largely because he wants to for the community; KJLH’s performances with ratings and revenue is almost immaterial.

One minor aside, James Brown was part of a group that owned WJBE in Knoxville TN but financial problems forced the station’s sale a decade later.
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Interesting that two people as philosophically opposed as Stevie Wonder and John Catsimatides own radio stations for something other than mere profits. Sadly, there are few others who can make that claim.
 
It was probably time for Cumulus to give up on this station. I'm not sure if it could be said they didn't try, but it has been a consistent underperformer for what, 2 decades? There weren't a lot of viable format opportunities, and neither adult hits nor country got them anywhere, although there were some periods where country did decently. Similar issues to 106.7, although they've had a few decent showings as classic rock.
 
RadioGuy1864 said:
I doubt a commercial operator would have paid 10 million for that station.
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That's likely true.

RadioGuy1864 said:
That's why owners are selling to the EMF's etc., they are paying more than what the stations are worth to a for profit business.
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I'm not sure that is completely true. There is no magic to large, non-profits.

What is true is that most of these large, non-profits that have been buying, such as EMF, is they have a much better balance sheet and are not servicing much if any debt. They did not overpay for licenses in previous cycles. They did not go through unwise leveraged buyouts, or mega-mergers on shaking financial footing.

There is a reason that iHeart, Audacy, and Cumulus are not buying and in some cases selling large assets and the reason is not because they are structured as "for profit" businesses.
 
Ryan Williams said:
What is true is that most of these large, non-profits that have been buying, such as EMF, is they have a much better balance sheet and are not servicing much if any debt. They did not overpay for licenses in previous cycles. They did not go through unwise leveraged buyouts, or mega-mergers on shaking financial footing.
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That, and banks nor private equity are interested in financing traditional media anymore. The only one's with cash in the bank, are the ones able to purchase radio or TV properties.
 
Bear in mind the crappy translators and AM daytimer FLR sold last fall fetched $5 million.

$10 million is about what I would've guessed for 93.1.

Shortly before COVID, the station now known as WDKL sold for either $12 million or $12.5 million. WDKL was subsequently relocated to the same tower WDRQ uses, but WDKL has a pretty deep null to the WSW to protect 102.9 Ann Arbor.

I suspect 93.1's broadcast cash flow was in the neighborhood of $1 million. There are probably 3.5 million persons within the 65 dBu of WDRQ, give or take a few hundred thousand. EMF paid about 50 cents more per head (for 102.7) than FLR paid for 93.1.
 
Why do I support my local Christian broadcasters (and even donate to their fundraisers)? Because unlike EMF, they're not on a crusade to take out every secular FM radio station in the United States. Case in point WTSS, WCCC, the one station in Memphis, all satellators of EMF K-LOVE based in Nashville with zero local presence outside of the TOH ID, which is either Charlie Van Dyke or the other guy whose name I don't know. WTSS was in the top 10 and still got sold to EMF.
Family Life Radio seems to be going the same way. Too bad. But interestingly enough, all of their affiliates, whether on non-comm (below 92.1) or above 92.1, they all started as Christian stations in some way except for their FM affiliate in Tucson.

SOS Radio in Las Vegas and Missoula all started as Christian stations, and Positive Life Radio here in eastern WA as well.

I guess I can make the analogy: K-LOVE is to radio what TBN is to TV. In fact, TBN airs K-LOVE's glitzy awards ceremony every year.
 
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