Station sold - Sounth Central spins one in Knoxville

[radioray]

http://www.rbr.com/radio/radio_deals/south-central-spins-one-in-knoxville.html

 

[knoxbob]

I had heard there was an FM for sale in the area but did not realize that South Central was marketing one of their stations. Didn't they give $1.5M for it when they acquired the Norris FM?

 

[BRH]

Yay, just what we need; yet another non-comm religious station. : Knoxville is such a lame radio market (especially with people like S Central & Journal. Wish Clear Channel, CBS, or Entercom had bought a cluster here). Thank goodness for smartphone apps like I Heart Radio & Radio.com so I don't have to listen to the small town crap from around here!

 

[borderblaster]

If Clear Channel was in Knoxville, it would be all Premium Choice All the Time with the market size,

 

[BRH]

Clear Channel's premium choice is better in many formats than what we have here. CHR is a prime example. I'd take CC's Kiss FM in Chattanooga over Star 102.1 any day.

 

[Kent T]

The market is not a CC preference. Get a smartphone. Your kind of CHR is fine in big cities. Rather have South Central than a CC station which is more automated than even a Cumulus automated. Dance, edgy CCR, and Urban no go in Knoxville. Conservative market. Streams are your friend. Business. I do despise religious non coms though, we've got too many of them that mostly yak, they need to be on AM (preferably close to a clear channel 1A running IBuzz).

 

[Kent]

The question I have is what is South Central up to? I can't imagine they'd be selling a station unless they have the opportunity to buy another one. Does this mean they're about to LMA WNOX from Pirkle, or could something else be up their sleeve?

 

[Tennessee Cowboy]

The question I have is what is South Central up to? I can't imagine they'd be selling a station unless they have the opportunity to buy another one. Does this mean they're about to LMA WNOX from Pirkle, or could something else be up their sleeve?

Since we're all kibbitzing here, it's possible that 106.7 was an expense they could do without and a load of tax-sheltered cash was looking mighty attractive. It would be nice if the appraisal came back strong enough to help comps for prospective buyers and sellers.

I'll miss the strong signal for Jack in Oliver Springs. We've learned in Sunday school that God is everywhere. It seems like his son is trying to get all of the broadcast rights.

 

[borderblaster]

Despite all the transplants from the north and east, Knoxville is still in the Bible Belt (and I guess all those transplants need saving). Jack never even acknowledged 106.7 on the air except for the legal ID; its been "95-7 Jack FM" every time I've heard it with no mention of 106.7. Cash and a write-off for what they apparently considered a superfluous signal. Begin and end of story most likely

 

[RadioGaGa75]

The question I have is what is South Central up to? I can't imagine they'd be selling a station unless they have the opportunity to buy another one. Does this mean they're about to LMA WNOX from Pirkle, or could something else be up their sleeve?

That would be a very smart move on SC's part if they were prepping for a WNOX LMA.

 

[Tennessee Cowboy]

The question I have is what is South Central up to? I can't imagine they'd be selling a station unless they have the opportunity to buy another one. Does this mean they're about to LMA WNOX from Pirkle, or could something else be up their sleeve?

That would be a very smart move on SC's part if they were prepping for a WNOX LMA.

And an interesting strategy. How would you like to be the guy in this market with three 100kw stations?

 

[xmusicmatt]

Despite all the transplants from the north and east, Knoxville is still in the Bible Belt (and I guess all those transplants need saving). Jack never even acknowledged 106.7 on the air except for the legal ID; its been "95-7 Jack FM" every time I've heard it with no mention of 106.7. Cash and a write-off for what they apparently considered a superfluous signal. Begin and end of story most likely

and 106.7 complements the purchasers 106.9 at Black Mountain NC quite nicely looking at coverage maps.

 

[BRice16]

The question I have is what is South Central up to? I can't imagine they'd be selling a station unless they have the opportunity to buy another one. Does this mean they're about to LMA WNOX from Pirkle, or could something else be up their sleeve?

That would be a very smart move on SC's part if they were prepping for a WNOX LMA.

And an interesting strategy. How would you like to be the guy in this market with three 100kw stations?

The prevailing thought from the people I've spoken with have said that either Pirkle re-takes 94.3 or he LMAs 100.3 to South Central and re-ups the 94.3 deal with them.

SC was ready to move "The X" format to 95.7 and keep Jack on 106.7 in the event they lost 94.3. They even cut the cost of a local morning show to prepare for this. The fact that they sold 106.7 tells me it's going the other direction.

Still, it's very interesting. Pirkle's profits (and ratings) are far less than he anticipated. You have to wonder if an SC country station on 100.3, maybe even one programmed by Ed Brantley would make all the involved parties more money. That said, he's invested a lot of cash into the WNOX building on Kingston.

 

[RMarino]

Is there a chance that Pirkle would sell? My first thought on this was that SC was letting go of a weak frequency so that it could purchase 94.3 and 100.3 and still be within ownership limits. Is there any chance this might be the plan? Beyond this, should SC control both frequencies, I would think the smart move would be to keep 94.3 as The X and to switch 100.3 to CHR. South Central could use a young female-leaning format in their stable and 100.3 would be the ideal signal on which to do it.

 

[borderblaster]

Let's do the math: South Central LMA's the blowtorch in addition to continuing to LMA 94.3. From the reports that were out at the time, Citadel was paying $60,000 a month for 100.3, plus another $30,000 per year in administrative fees as I recall before they defaulted and reneged in the bankruptcy. I have no idea what South Central is LMAing 94.3 for but let's say as a wild guess $30000 with admin fees of $10000. Maybe Pirkle comes up with a package of $75k for both signals and add admin fees. We're close to a million a year! How does this make sense on a spreadsheet?

 

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Let's do the math: South Central LMA's the blowtorch in addition to continuing to LMA 94.3. From the reports that were out at the time, Citadel was paying $60,000 a month for 100.3, plus another $30,000 per year in administrative fees as I recall before they defaulted and reneged in the bankruptcy. I have no idea what South Central is LMAing 94.3 for but let's say as a wild guess $30000 with admin fees of $10000. Maybe Pirkle comes up with a package of $75k for both signals and add admin fees. We're close to a million a year! How does this make sense on a spreadsheet?

94.3's lease is currently to South Central's advantage. One would expect Mr. Pirkle's next deal with SCC will bring that advantage back to his side of the table.

 

[BRH]

Is there a chance that Pirkle would sell? My first thought on this was that SC was letting go of a weak frequency so that it could purchase 94.3 and 100.3 and still be within ownership limits. Is there any chance this might be the plan? Beyond this, should SC control both frequencies, I would think the smart move would be to keep 94.3 as The X and to switch 100.3 to CHR. South Central could use a young female-leaning format in their stable and 100.3 would be the ideal signal on which to do it.

I was thinking the same thing. Journal is very conservative with Star (and even Hot for a rhythmic). It would be interesting to see a true (non adult leaning) CHR in the market. And South Central has experience in the CHR format with WSTO "Hot 96" in Evansville. If that situation transpires and SC chooses CHR over country, my money is that Journal would then put Q93's country format on 102.1 (and do Hot AC/Adult CHR on 93.1 or maybe something else like classic hits). Could set up a fun domino effect of changes if Pirkle sells or leases 100.3.

 

[Kent]

Just for the record, someone suggested I check the ownership rules for Knoxville, and South Central can't acquire anything else simply by divesting 106.7. They were grandfathered in at the higher limit, and they can't add a fifth station in Knoxville.

So, they either sold 106.7 because they were afraid their renewal of the lease on 94.3 would not have been possible if they had kept it, they have plans to replace 94.3 with 100.3 in a few months, they intend to use the money they got for selling 106.7 to buy some additional stations somewhere, or they wanted to shore up their financial situation.

 

[Tennessee Cowboy]

Or Johnny gets back 94.3, more than doubling his share of audience in the Knoxville market, and a fourth station group is born.

And Ed Brantley voice tracks the midday show: "Hey kids! Remember to always be polite to your parents! Here's Motor-haaid on The X"

 

[SuperQ]

South Central was grandfathered over the new limit til 106.1 and 106.3 signed on in the metro. That raised the number of signals in the market so now one owner can own 5 FM's.