RUMOR CONTROL: WYSL AM-FM IS NOT FOR SALE

[Savage]

It has come to my attention (thanks, Box Of Hair and Freebird) that another radio blog is extensively discussing whether or not WYSL is being shopped - someone has declared that we're listed with Kozacko Media Services for the absurd price of $590,000 (reduced!)

For the record WYSL is NOT for sale. NOT.

I am intrigued by the description in the broker listing of a "Rochester metro AM" with an "FM translator which covers most of Monroe County." So I wonder what station around here IS being shopped fitting that description. Anyone have ideas? I'm scratching my head.... ???

 

[Bob1370]

Anyone who knows the Rochester metro knows this station isn't WYSL. The description on Kozacko Media's "Radio For Sale" website can help you figure out what station it might be.

First, here's the description in the posting:

"Rochester ,NY - AM with FM translator $595,000 - Rochester is Market # 56 with $38 million of radio advertising revenues. This signal will cover over 500,000 people and is priced at just $595,000. contact: George Kimble or Pat Anderson"

Now, how do we eliminate WYSL? WYSL's AM signal footprint all by itself (even before you consider its FM translator on Pinnacle Hill) covers too many people 24/7...it's more like 800,000+ in Monroe and Livingston counties alone. So do all the stations licensed to Rochester proper, none of which have a translator but several of which have full class A or class B FM sister signals. So that eliminates not only WYSL but even the weakest Rochester AM signal.

What's left that COULD fit this description? Only a rimshot AM/translator combo with partial market coverage. Two candidates that could fit the description come to mind immediately. One is WCGR, a 250-watt daytimer on 1550 with a simulcasting 200 watt FM translator at 104.5 FM. The other would be WGVA, a 1,000 watt fulltimer at 1240 with a recently added FM translator at 96.1 with 220 watts. As it turns out, the George Kimble who is listing the station in question is also a partner (along with his brother Russ) in the Finger Lakes Radio Group, which owns both of the stations I've mentioned as well as a number of others. He may be posting one of his own stations for sale here.

There are a few other AMs in the general area using translators but these two are the best fits with the posted description.

 

[heydaybegone]

First...I like that RCS has Bob1370 doing his leg work in damage control (good sign of good ownership!! )

Second...the WYSL rumor is officially removed...via Sir Savage ;D

Now...RCS....EVERYTHING has a price tag....what IS yours!!! ROFLMAO

All in fun.....HDBG

 

[Mark Giardina]

Two candidates that could fit the description come to mind immediately. One is WCGR, a 250-watt daytimer on 1550 with a simulcasting 200 watt FM translator at 104.5 FM. The other would be WGVA, a 1,000 watt fulltimer at 1240 with a recently added FM translator at 96.1 with 220 watts. As it turns out, the George Kimble who is listing the station in question is also a partner (along with his brother Russ) in the Finger Lakes Radio Group, which owns both of the stations I've mentioned as well as a number of others. He may be posting one of his own stations for sale here.

Bob- I thought that George owned WGVA and Russ owned the FM station in Geneva separately. Not that I'm starting any rumors here, but it was my understanding that the brothers Kimble went their separate ways when it came to ownership of their media empire. Am I wrong here or not?

 

[georgew]

Sorry Bob. The station that IS for sale is WRSB - 1310 AM with an FM translator covering most of Monroe County,and parts of Wayne and Ontario. The price is an excellent opportunity . IF anyone is interested please email me at [email protected] or check out www.radio4sale.com

 

[Element9]

Only $595k for an AM and an FM translator that the FCC could shut down should one listener to a co-channel, fully licensed FM station complain? Caveat emptor. No disrespect, but it's 2012. Those who own stations such as these will likely be the last owners, passing them to their heirs by way of their estates. The "greater fool" principle has run its course, in large part thanks to Clear Channel, Citadel and a host of other players large and small.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Maybe you can make a deal for both WASB in Brockport and WRSB in Canandaigua. That way you can miss Rochester from two sides - but you'll have 'em surrounded!

 

[DaveMasonsd]

Boy, it's a tough room. Bob, I'll come up there later this month and we'll discuss "Groveland's Greatest Radio Station" and now we can rimshot both with 1040 and 1310. After all, Groveland will grow someday, won't it?

 

[Savage]

I'm way ahead of you, Mike Melody. That's what the 1220 Lakeville app is all about. Groveland - better watch out!!! You too, Linwood!!

Wanna do morning-show oldies??

 

[Bob1370]

Sir Roxalot speculated (apparently with tongue firmly in cheek), "Maybe you can make a deal for both WASB in Brockport and WRSB in Canandaigua. That way you can miss Rochester from two sides - but you'll have 'em surrounded!"

Rox, it looks like you got your wish. Check out this new posting on the same website where WRSB and its translator had been posted before, filed by George Kimble's associate Dick Kozacko (himself a veteran upstate NY broker);

"NEW – Two Full-Time AM’s Serving Rochester, NY Market
Rochester, NY Arbitron market #56, two full-time AM’s licensed to Rochester suburbs and simulcasting a Christian/talk format. One AM owns real estate and is central site for programming of both stations. Asking price $250,000. Other AM is located in a charming Finger Lakes community. Studios and offices would have to be built for this facility. Asking $400,000.
Contact Dick Kozacko"

Sounds like that's got to be WASB and WRSB, no other pair of stations would answer that description of being fulltime suburban faciities and simulcasting religious programming. The FM translator for WRSB isn't mentioned and therefore presumably not included in this deal. Buy the two AMs together and it sets you back $650K.

Anyone familiar enough with both those properties to venture an opinion on whether they could be run profitably either doing what they're doing now, or hitting the suburban fringe by doing something else?

 

[umtrr-author]

Rats, if I could only WIN Powerball once in a while... hmm, I could almost make it after taxes with that new $1M second prize.

And I think I could hire a lot of you also...

 

[SirRoxalot]

Sir Roxalot speculated (apparently with tongue firmly in cheek), "Maybe you can make a deal for both WASB in Brockport and WRSB in Canandaigua. That way you can miss Rochester from two sides - but you'll have 'em surrounded!"

Rox, it looks like you got your wish.

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a wish...

Anyone familiar enough with both those properties to venture an opinion on whether they could be run profitably either doing what they're doing now, or hitting the suburban fringe by doing something else?

Well, at least for the Brockport facility, non-stop fishing shows and Lake Ontario Marine Forecasts might reach their primary audience.

 

[aaronread]

What translator are we talking about here? I wasn't aware there was a translator relaying WRSB...? I know there's W283BF which, IIRC, is physically located on the WRSB towers. But that's owned by the FLRG and relays WCGR 1550AM, which in turn is a simulcast of WFLK 101.7 in Geneva.

 

[Savage]

Somewhere around 2004 I explored buying WASB from Dr. Wolfe (RIP.) The asking price was $150,000, which I promptly rejected. I was thinking something more like $25K.

All I wanted was the license, but Wolfe wanted me to take over that raccoon and snake hotel on Fourth Section Road. If I could have found a buyer for the real estate I would have taken bolt cutters to the Tx lines about 40 minutes after closing. Then I would have bulldozed the whole thing, selling the towers for scrap. The plan was 1600 kHz, 10kw DA-2 from a Churchville site with a nice Rochester lobe.

Cost would have been at least 5x the cost of the 92.1 translator. Things work out!

 

[Play Freebird]

Somewhere around 2004 I explored buying WASB from Dr. Wolfe (RIP.)... Then I would have bulldozed the whole thing, selling the towers for scrap.

Or you could have set fire to the building and watch it burn. Hmmm... didn't someone already try that back in the '70s?

 

[Savage]

"Hot Hits" 1560/90 WADDJBTASB EIEIO.....or something....

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Poor 1560 WADD, WJBT, WBKT or 1590 WASB (did I miss any?) It's the Rodney Dangerfield of the AM band. But it served a purpose for many alumni who got a paycheck to make air checks, do production, improve and move on. College radio with commercials. At the start, WADD was nicely equipped with an Autogram board, Audimax-Volumax, decent cart decks and reels, QRK turntables and a 1 kw Collins transmitter. (Truth is, it had better studio equipment than KB.) All for naught after the RF left the Collins and went into a phasor, then a choking three stick array that fed the Lake Ontario sturgeon. It might have done better at 250 watts non-DA. Well, it could have at least reached Spencerport and Batavia. Thanks to Dan Kelly, Bob Bittner, Larry Hunter, Dallas Orlando and a many others who tried their best to make it work. A good friend and I paid a visit last summer. Just sad. The land might be better suited for a storage center, a strip mall or student apartments.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Why is when I think of the Brockport station WDOA (Dead on Arrival) comes to mind.
Is there any truth to the story I heard that the station's first owners could have acquired a lower frequency on the AM dial which could have actually been heard past Spencerport but instead chose the higher frequency because instead of 250kw 1560 had 1,000kw? (Even though that pattern fed the fish in Lake Ontario)

 

[Savage]

OMG!! Talk about a scary thought! 1000kw of WADD? The mind reels. And so would the sturgeon.

Which reminds me: wonder if we can expect Madonna to perform "Like A Sturgeon" at the Superbowl?? (fire "RIMSHOT" on rattling grey Fidelipac) I dunno about you guys but I find nothing's hotter than a crusty ol' grandmother dancing in a bustier during halftime.... :

 

[audio4tv]

Call letters were WADD, WWBK, WJBT, WASB. You mentioned some of the early people involved. I remember listening to the station when it first went on the air, and it was actually not bad in terms of what they did. Many people have passed through the doors of the "mighty" 1560/1590....Glenn Garmin, Mike Doyle and "Jay Stevens" were working there when I was. Glenn gave me first "real" radio job. New Director was Duane Schepler, who later went on to work at Channel 8 in the tech area. Paul Jason, who is still on the air in this market did time there, as did Tom SanFillipo, who was on the air as "Tom Scott". And yes, the stories of the snakes in the building, mice, skunks, deer, weasels (the four legged kind, as we know the two legged ones worked there at times) are all true. The sacrifice of the coverage area even close to the metro area, for the sake of being on 24 hours a day, and making sure no one else could put another station on 1560 was the mindset of the owners at the time. It sealed the doom, well before changes in the industry.