• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Salem sells KLTY, six other CCM stations to EMF

TheBigA said:
With regards to "long term operation," Salem tipped its hand on that in this release, selling off a chunk of its debt to a Christian investment company that does a lot of work in the digital world. Salem likely sees its future as creating content that will be distributed digitally rather than by AM radio stations. Radio companies need long term strategies that go beyond selling spots on radio stations.
Click to expand...
I am guessing they will focus on expanding/growing their "Salem News Channel" that airs as a HD Subchannel in a bunch of markets. They no doubt see the money made in the right wing/conservative talk market and that's going to be their main focus -

They will keep the "preaching/teaching" stations also along for the ride as Salem sells airtime for those preaching/teaching programming.
 
TheBigA said:
I don't see it that way. They're cutting costs there a lot. The audience is aging, they just lost a couple of talk hosts, and their ratings are abysmal.

I think their main focus will be whatever WaterStone tells them it is, since they now own 40% of the company.
Click to expand...
Do you think Salem will ultimately ditch radio altogether?
 
Mark Roberts said:
Do you think Salem will ultimately ditch radio altogether?
Click to expand...
Salem is giving off similar vibes to Emmis. Paying down debt and liabilities, slowly dispersing assets and gradually cease altogether in a calm, orderly manner. It's possible they go all-in on their digital properties (Townhall, HotAir, Redstate, etc.) in the process.

But that implies there's anyone who wants many of those mid-to-poor AM facilities.
 
leethalweapon said:
Did Salem ever consider switching some of their AM talk, to FM, and ditching the AM?
Click to expand...
Salem owns only a few FM stations. After this sale, the company will have about 17 FMs, 4 of which are in Honolulu and 3 of which are in Little Rock.

Having said that, many of their FMs do run the Christian teaching & preaching format, including Honolulu, Little Rock and Dallas. Very few markets air the right-wing talk lineup ("The Answer") on FM.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
Salem owns only a few FM stations. After this sale, the company will have about 17 FMs, 4 of which are in Honolulu and 3 of which are in Little Rock.

Having said that, many of their FMs do run the Christian teaching & preaching format, including Honolulu, Little Rock and Dallas. Very few markets air the right-wing talk lineup ("The Answer") on FM.
Click to expand...

They have two now in Little Rock as they sold the former KKSP “93.3 the Fish” to KVNE Tyler, which it now relays under the KVNB calls. The two remaining FMs are religious KDIS and “Answer” KDXE.

With the EMF sale, they really will exit the CCM market.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
Having said that, many of their FMs do run the Christian teaching & preaching format, including Honolulu, Little Rock and Dallas. Very few markets air the right-wing talk lineup ("The Answer") on FM.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems like if they would have thought turning these Fish FMs into "The Answer" would have been profitable they would have kept them vs. selling them. However, in this situation the answer was to sell them to EMF for the cash.

Not sure how many markets they have Preach/Teach on AM and Talk on FM but I do know in Columbus, OH 880 WRFD is the "preach/teach" (with a translator at 104.5) and 98.9 (Class A signal but centered in market) is the home of the talk "The Answer"
 
txchipk said:
They have two now in Little Rock as they sold the former KKSP “93.3 the Fish” to KVNE Tyler, which it now relays under the KVNB calls. The two remaining FMs are religious KDIS and “Answer” KDXE.

With the EMF sale, they really will exit the CCM market.
Click to expand...
Don’t they still own Christian talk KWRD 100.7 in the DFW market?
 
101.9 La Kalle said:
It flipped to a simulcast of "Radio Luz" 620 KTNO quite a bit ago.

I don't believe it's part of the deal.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the clarification. I remember the translator when it was La Pez. It blocked KMAD. I thought it went off the air because I was able to get KMAD further into the Metroplex. I noticed El Pez was off KLTY-HD2. It has been a while since I checked.
 
txchipk said:
The call letters are only used for legal ID as EMF brands around the K-Love name. The only use in keeping them is to prevent someone else in the market from taking the familiar calls and using them, i.e. why Star 102.1 is still KDGE, Alt 103.7 is still KVIL.

Presumably, they could move the KLTY calls to KYDA and put the KLUV calls they control on 94.9.
Click to expand...
KLTY could also be good calls for the K-Love affiliate in the Tyler/Longview market.

I imagine iHeart is holding on to the KDGE calls for the same reason as they have the Edge on 97.1 HD2.

I could see EMF parking them somewhere to prevent a potential competitor from using the calls and cashing in on the KLTY legacy, even though that would be unlikely in a market crowded with CCM stations.
 
TheBigA said:
"Ultimately" is a long time.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. I wrote "ultimately", not "eventually", because "eventually" implies an event distant in the future while "ultimately" simply refers to the final step in a series of steps whose duration is undefined, i.e. those steps could happen in rapid succession or could occur at a slower pace or could accelerate, etc. etc.

Salem may be taking the steps that it's taking to postpone the final day of reckoning for its remaining radio properties. This may tide them over for a while. But we can see the trend lines.

TheBigA said:
I think what they're doing on AM has a short future.
Click to expand...
I certainly agree with you there. Actually what they're doing on FM, where they have it, isn't going to have a great shelf life, either.
 
Nathan Obral said:
Salem is giving off similar vibes to Emmis. Paying down debt and liabilities, slowly dispersing assets and gradually cease altogether in a calm, orderly manner. It's possible they go all-in on their digital properties (Townhall, HotAir, Redstate, etc.) in the process.

But that implies there's anyone who wants many of those mid-to-poor AM facilities.
Click to expand...
Aspiring ethnic broadcasters (e.g. Radio Zindagi) are the most likely market, either as new entrants or as upgrades.
 
Mark Roberts said:
Salem may be taking the steps that it's taking to postpone the final day of reckoning for its remaining radio properties. This may tide them over for a while. But we can see the trend lines.
Click to expand...

I think you could say the same thing for every radio company. Nothing is permanent. All of the heritage radio networks are out of the ownership business.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom