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Sinclair selling KOMO, KVI & KPLZ

Kelly A said:
6+ doesn't mean anything. With single digit, but growing Hispanic population, 6+ ratings are really no indicator of how well a station does with their target demo.


Remember that KOMO has a rimshot FM too. It would be up to the other stations as to whether the format pie can be sliced thinner with more competition. Spanish language formats are as diverse as English language formats. There are several common popular music formats, along with forms of talk.
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Understood, but the Neilsen ratings stats say that there are around 350K Hispanics in the metro (I thought there were more than that), and given that many of them probably follow English language media, that's a fairly small pie to slice and dice.

I'm sure it can work. KKMO has been on the air as a Regional Mexican station for decades now, so obviously they're making some money, but I'm just wondering if a station with the greater coverage of KOMO goes Hispanic, if that would negatively affect the other Hispanic stations in the area.
 
boombox4 said:
There are several other Hispanic stations in the market (KKMO, KNTS, KZTM, KDDS, KLSY, KTDD, and the presently silent KMIA), with the highest rated one pulling a .2.
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Minor error noted. KTDD is running "Worship247" on their 104.9 outlet.. Signal targets Southside but actual listening experience proved it to be fairly marginal.. KMIA is now " Amor 1210" , an Hispanic Christian LMA arrangement with Bustos.
 
boombox4 said:
Understood, but the Neilsen ratings stats say that there are around 350K Hispanics in the metro (I thought there were more than that), and given that many of them probably follow English language media, that's a fairly small pie to slice and dice.
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If you consider there are a lot of stations with a .1 (hashmark) 6+ (KVI comes to mind) a .2 is double that. As was discussed in another thread, if 7% of the in-market population identifies as Hispanic/Latino, then I'd say 350,000 seems about right. There again, if a station could get even a solid 2-3% of the in-market population that listened to a particular station frequently? That's a win.
boombox4 said:
but I'm just wondering if a station with the greater coverage of KOMO goes Hispanic, if that would negatively affect the other Hispanic stations in the area.
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If Lotus goes Latin-something, I'm sure they would like to take some business (all) away from splinter-market stations and rim shots.
 
Lightingnut said:
Rumor on the street is that KVI will be spun off, KOMO will go Spanish language with new call letters, and KPLZ will go sports.
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KPLZ going sports would make absolutely no sense to me...

Every major sports property in the market is already locked up; KIRO AM/KIRO FM/KTTH already have ESPN Radio, the mariners, Seahawks, Washington state football and basketball, even Seattle university basketball, along with the World Series.

KJR 950 has the huskies, Kraken, fox sports radio, super bowl and Final Four.... while 1090 KJR has sone fox sports radio programs, some CBS sports radio programs and the Seattle thunderbirds...

So, unless KPLZ has done secret plan to do mostly local sports talk, with either sports betting or the former sporting news radio(I think it’s called sportsmap radio, but I remember it as sporting news radio) the rest of the time, I just don’t understand it.
 
Kelly A said:
Agreed, I don't think so either. Sports isn't a cheap format. A successful sports station needs one or both expensive ingredients: 1. Sports Talk Hosts 2. Team Contracts.
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Without all of that, Lotus operates several successful sports outlets in Las Vegas, Reno, Tucson, Bakersfield and LA. In fact, it has 4 sports stations in Las Vegas!
 
DN14224 said:
More deets on the deal: KOMO Call Letters Stay With Sinclair Under Terms Of Radio Sale To Lotus.

Highlights:
-Lotus is paying $5M in cash and has an option to take the remaining $13M in TV ads in markets where Lotus has stations
-KOMO calls and branding stay with Sinclair (which we knew already)
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That's fascinating, as KOMO (the call letters) will still be MIA on the Seattle area radio dial. I don't think Sinclair owns any other radio stations. At least according to Wiki, they don't. So where will the radio KOMO calls be used?

PS, apologies for the KTDD glitch in my previous 'list' of local Hispanic stations. I had KTDD confused with the other FMer on that part of the dial that went Regional Mexican, KZTM 102.9, which I had also listed, which used to be alt classic (which I used to listen to a lot in 2016).
 
DN14224 said:
More deets on the deal: KOMO Call Letters Stay With Sinclair Under Terms Of Radio Sale To Lotus.

Highlights:
-Lotus is paying $5M in cash and has an option to take the remaining $13M in TV ads in markets where Lotus has stations
-KOMO calls and branding stay with Sinclair (which we knew already)
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A whole new chapter in station sales...bartering. Just waiting to see who gets the land under KOMO-AM. If it's Lotus, they'll sell it for housing and get far more than their $5m downpayment on the four Sinclair radio stations.
 
boombox4 said:
That's fascinating, as KOMO (the call letters) will still be MIA on the Seattle area radio dial.
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KOMO TV would still have the calls.
boombox4 said:
I don't think Sinclair owns any other radio stations.
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No, they don't.
boombox4 said:
At least according to Wiki, they don't. So where will the radio KOMO calls be used?
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That's the point. They may not be. Like KIRO, Sinclair would have to work out an agreement to let AM 1000 to keep the calls. To my knowledge, that's not part of the deal.
 
DrAkbar said:
A whole new chapter in station sales...bartering. Just waiting to see who gets the land under KOMO-AM. If it's Lotus, they'll sell it for housing and get far more than their $5m downpayment on the four Sinclair radio stations.
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Unlike Bainbridge Island, Vashon isn't loaded with high end housing developments. King County and Island political NIMBY's have kept most of that at bay. KVI beach is more valuable than the KOMO property, but even then, KVI has always let the general public use the beach around the tower. Not sure if a well heeled land owner would carry on the tradition.
 
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Kelly A said:
Unlike Bainbridge Island, Vashon isn't loaded with high end housing developments. King County and Island political NIMBY's have kept most of that at bay. KVI beach is more valuable than the KOMO property, but even then, KVI has always let the general public use the beach around the tower. Not sure if a well heeled land owner would carry on the tradition.
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Wouldn't surprise me if KVI ended up diplexing at the soon to be non-KOMO site. That's a way to generate some serious money.
 
I am surprised the radio stations hung under the Sinclair banner as long as they did likely a testament to the folks here who were smart enough to keep corporate happy (or stay off their radar) for as long as they did. End of an era and wishing those impacted the best outcomes. As far as Lotus, if a company can't even correctly spell the headline copy on own their home page should that lead someone to question their ability to run stations in major markets? Time will tell.
 
CarAgencyGuy said:
I am surprised the radio stations hung under the Sinclair banner as long as they did likely a testament to the folks here who were smart enough to keep corporate happy (or stay off their radar) for as long as they did. End of an era and wishing those impacted the best outcomes. As far as Lotus, if a company can't even correctly spell the headline copy on own their home page should that lead someone to question their ability to run stations in major markets? Time will tell.
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Well, let's see. They have been operating for 59 years. They have stations in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas markets. I have a hard time questioning their ability to run stations in major markets. Spelling issues aside.
 
The New Chico said:
Well, let's see. They have been operating for 59 years. They have stations in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas markets. I have a hard time questioning their ability to run stations in major markets. Spelling issues aside.
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They are running very profitable stations in markets like LA, Fresno, Tucson, Boise, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Reno, Bakersfield. They have grown slowly with no debt, and very efficient operations. Their key staff seems to stay with them for years and even decades.

They currently have 50 stations, all in clusters.
 
CarAgencyGuy said:
As far as Lotus, if a company can't even correctly spell the headline copy on own their home page should that lead someone to question their ability to run stations in major markets? Time will tell.
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That's like saying because a producer misspells a lower third graphic on the evening news, the parent company isn't fit to run the business. I doubt the CEO or President of the company is also acting as a webmaster.

Lotus is already in markets larger than Seattle-Tacoma. Los Angeles being one.
 
It really doesn't come as any surprise, but it's still sad to see the all-news format leaving Seattle. It's been nice to have a dedicated station on the radio dial for current information, weather, and most importantly, up-to-date traffic. Other stations provide traffic updates, but KOMO did it five times every hour. Smart phones exist in 2021 and one could easily get a traffic update from an app, but I would argue that it's easier to tune into KOMO radio for a more comprehensive update from a real person. KIRO-FM is also a great station, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a direct line to what is going on locally at all times.
 
fordranger797 said:
It really doesn't come as any surprise, but it's still sad to see the all-news format leaving Seattle. It's been nice to have a dedicated station on the radio dial for current information, weather, and most importantly, up-to-date traffic. Other stations provide traffic updates, but KOMO did it five times every hour. Smart phones exist in 2021 and one could easily get a traffic update from an app, but I would argue that it's easier to tune into KOMO radio for a more comprehensive update from a real person. KIRO-FM is also a great station, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a direct line to what is going on locally at all times.
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I wouldn't assume you have to abandon ship yet. The fact that Lotus is building local studios for at least two stations would seem to indicate they intend on keeping live-mic capabilities around. Whether that includes space enough for a local all-news station, remains a mystery, until it isn't.
 
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