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Saga buys QFM

H

HardHarry

Seems like a good move for Saga. This gives them two top quality signals in town. What happens to the other two Wilks rimshot stations?
 
My guess is they'll go to Salem and/or EMF, though I suppose we can't rule out Radio One or NABCO as buyers either. I wouldn't expect Dispatch to buy them, though they might be able to theoretically buy one or both depending on how much of their 70 dBu signal contour covers Columbus.
 
I saw this over lunch today but didn't get to the board till now.

My guess Salem or EMF will go after 107.1 and or 95.5. I do not see Wilks staying in the market with just two signals. I also don't see other "major" groups interested in the rim shot signals but hey if the price is right anything is possible.
 
Wilks is selling everything. All it has left are the two Columbus stations and three FM's in Reno. It's had a big "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" sign on the door for about a year now.

The one reason a company like Dispatch might want them is because it can't buy stations that citygrade Columbus (or at least most of it; I don't remember the percentage) on account of it owning the newspaper. However, Dispatch has never seemed to have much of a desire to expand in the past. That leads me to think the new buyer will be religious. Those signals are worth nothing to most anybody else.
 
So Saga finally, finally, finally managed to get a second big signal in its biggest market! Since Saga considers themselves "Classic Rock Specialists" QFM seems like a good fit, too. While, with the exception of Columbus, they have NOT been an AC-oriented operator, at least not in their biggest markets.

And it was just a few weeks ago I was wondering in another thread why buy-to-sell Wilks was still in this market. I'm sure the people at QFM aren't sorry to see them go. While change always creates a little uncertainty, I don't think Saga has a reputation for making sweeping personnel changes. Heck, aren't they the only major Columbus player that is still live and local even in overnights?

Kent said:
The one reason a company like Dispatch might want them [95.5 and 107.1] is because it can't buy stations that citygrade Columbus (or at least most of it; I don't remember the percentage) on account of it owning the newspaper.
Click to expand...

The newspaper+broadcast cross-ownership is not an issue any more since the Wolfe family sold the Dispatch earlier this year, while retaining the WBNS TV and radio stations. It's hard to believe that in this explosion-of-media era, when newspapers have lost so much business and influence, that the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership restrictions haven't been eliminated everywhere.
 
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Kent said:
Wilks is selling everything. All it has left are the two Columbus stations and three FM's in Reno. It's had a big "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" sign on the door for about a year now.
Click to expand...


My understanding is the other two have been sold... just hasn't been announced yet.
 
QFM is in good hands with Saga. Saga has great experience, when it comes to managing a classic rock station. I will start listening to those guys again soon.
 
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