P
Professor
Guest
So, I was sitting around this morning, thinking deep thoughts, as Professors are apt to do. And, I began to ponder the following:
Let’s pretend, arguendo, that you are the leader at Citidel/Memphis, holed up in an office by the railroad tracks out East (choooo, choooooo!). Let’s also assume you have a stable of 4 stations, 2 of which are underperforming. Like everyone else, you have read that CBS is selling its Memphis properties to Entercom. Your mind begins to wander, as you sip your steaming cup of overpriced Starbucks...
You conclude that Entercom will NOT see the need to keep 94.1 AC. It would be silly, you internally opine, to be stacked 3 deep in a format. It is likely, you therefore conclude, that 94 will flip, and that will likely be soon – perhaps as early as the initiation of the LMA.
You look at this Board, and listen to the peons* around you. While Country is far from being a home run guess as to the change, we have to at least prepare for an attack on Kix106, the group’s cash cow (you snicker to yourself at your cleverness – “country” and “cow” in the same sentence. “No wonder I am the leader, if I can turn a phrase like that,” you whisper to yourself. Siiiip… OK, back to the issue at hand).
So, what is a high-powered radio executive to do? You concentrate, fortified by the caffeine you have been main-lining. “Do I sit and wait for the attack, or do I go on the offensive? Perhaps it would be smart to jettison the format on one of my losers – most likely 98.9 – and attack myself. It would be silly, one might think, for Entercom to enter the fray as the THIRD country signal in town. Also, 98.9 is a full 100kW, with a transmitter at WKNO, an advantage over the 94 signal. If there are going to be two countries, I want both of them to be me. A smart executive – and gosh, I am one (sip) – would attempt preemption.”
So, what do you think. Is Citadel circumspect enough to think this way and preempt a format challenge to 106? There is a narrow window of opportunity here, perhaps just over a month. Will the pieces on the chess board start moving sooner than later?
See? Deep thoughts.
-Prof.
*Did you know that the word “peons” comes from the Spanish, meaning those who walk? It was a sign of breeding, wealth and nobility to own a horse.
Let’s pretend, arguendo, that you are the leader at Citidel/Memphis, holed up in an office by the railroad tracks out East (choooo, choooooo!). Let’s also assume you have a stable of 4 stations, 2 of which are underperforming. Like everyone else, you have read that CBS is selling its Memphis properties to Entercom. Your mind begins to wander, as you sip your steaming cup of overpriced Starbucks...
You conclude that Entercom will NOT see the need to keep 94.1 AC. It would be silly, you internally opine, to be stacked 3 deep in a format. It is likely, you therefore conclude, that 94 will flip, and that will likely be soon – perhaps as early as the initiation of the LMA.
You look at this Board, and listen to the peons* around you. While Country is far from being a home run guess as to the change, we have to at least prepare for an attack on Kix106, the group’s cash cow (you snicker to yourself at your cleverness – “country” and “cow” in the same sentence. “No wonder I am the leader, if I can turn a phrase like that,” you whisper to yourself. Siiiip… OK, back to the issue at hand).
So, what is a high-powered radio executive to do? You concentrate, fortified by the caffeine you have been main-lining. “Do I sit and wait for the attack, or do I go on the offensive? Perhaps it would be smart to jettison the format on one of my losers – most likely 98.9 – and attack myself. It would be silly, one might think, for Entercom to enter the fray as the THIRD country signal in town. Also, 98.9 is a full 100kW, with a transmitter at WKNO, an advantage over the 94 signal. If there are going to be two countries, I want both of them to be me. A smart executive – and gosh, I am one (sip) – would attempt preemption.”
So, what do you think. Is Citadel circumspect enough to think this way and preempt a format challenge to 106? There is a narrow window of opportunity here, perhaps just over a month. Will the pieces on the chess board start moving sooner than later?
See? Deep thoughts.
-Prof.
*Did you know that the word “peons” comes from the Spanish, meaning those who walk? It was a sign of breeding, wealth and nobility to own a horse.
