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Judging by the actions of upper management at the cluster of stations I work for, I'm pretty sure we're up for sale. Is there any way I can find out? It's not like if I straight up ask the GM he'll tell me the truth....
So, is there a website that lists these things or something? I REALLY don't wanna be blind-sided....
Selling a broadcast facility is no different than selling a home you may be renting. The landlord could be transparent about it, put a 'for sale' sign in the yard and such, or they could send you a letter with a new address for the next month's rent.
There are brokerage firms out there who list their current offerings on the web. Start with the National Association of Media Brokers.
Years ago I was GM of a small station in Southern Indiana owned by a group in another state. I was flipping through a trade publication and right there...bigger than snot...was a blind ad for my station. I called the principal owner when I saw it (almost midnight on a weekend). He could not give me a good reason for not notifying me. All he said was that in the six months since I took over net income was up and it was time for he and his partners to get out.
Check current publications that carry those listings. Also, use any contacts you might have to do a little snooping, but be careful.
Johnny: Give us a clue as to which cluster you're talking about and this board will be more than happy to speculate for you ;D Try not to worry about things that you cannot control. There's always a chance that you could benefit from the sale (promotion, exciting transfer, etc.). Even in a worst case scenario, sometimes the "lucky ones" are the employees who get axed and are spared the indignity of having to work for an awful company to pay the rent. Stay positive!
Gonzo: Is this the same owner who "bought" the station after drinking large quantities of wine and playing a marathon session of poker? You did a great job holding things together during your short tenure there. Good to see you on the board!
Remember the suit guys who come through with an engineer. This is the walk through. If you were there and the owner dropped by with people this is the walk through prior to at least an offer or maybe a sale. I have been on these so many times and every time the shear fear factor the people have even though they have no idea what is happening is eerie.
The broker will also suit through prior to the listing to see what's there.
The rule: AMP stations are always for sale at the right price. ALWAYS.
Unless you're paranoid you probably got a hint like one of these. Crossroads is for sale. The departure of all the former owners was the clue for that. Salem might be on the block with the death of Don Martin. Franklin 95.9 and their 950 WXLW. It might be easier to tell who isn't for sale: White River, Emmis, Clear Channel, Cumulus, Jasper, South Central, PBS stations.
Get a clue here. The GM might have experienced a walk through and this could affect him.
Clusters. Crossroads. Townsquare Evansville. This is their smallest market. Backyard Muncie?
Went through a particularly messy sale from Rockford of WGBF AM/FM years ago. Prior to the sale employees found ou that this was an assets only sale. "I have a contract" says one. Look at the public file to see if it is part of the sale. It was not, assets only. Station is sold but no employees are kept. This is the way most sales are written. Might ask where their paycheck was coming from. They never did. Day of the closing management left. There wasn't a single "goodbye" or a letter or any notification to any of the employees.
New manager saw the old owner leave and knew what had taken place. Called a meeting. I think 50 really mad people walked out after being told they were not employees and not being rehired. The station was employee heavy and had too many people for the numbers and sales at the time: Lots of employees, low numbers, low sales. The people who hired them should have told them. Many had to fight for unemployment. They claimed the FCC filing was employee notice of termination.
Some companies will keep employees. Most will not. Good chance to lower the pay scale and remove people who are deemed overpaid. Large clusters will make big cuts. Clusters like radio one will always try to fire white employees to hire African American. This is their mantra from Big Momma Hughes.
Get an aircheck together. Have someone look at your resume. You are responsible for your future. Don't leave this responsibility to a new owner or an old owner you don't trust. This doesn't mean you have to be angry or upset about it. Many times this will allow you to evaluate your position, make positive changes, and advance.
And no, it's not an AMP facility...I haven't seen any "suits" walking through with the engineer. Besides, the way our owner works that would be done late at night or on the weekends when no one's there...They're quite crafty that way.
What's funny is that after discussing things with my wife, it would probably be a good thing if we were sold. We'll see. I'll do some more snooping around and maybe I'll dig something up one way or the other...
Oh heck yes! People walk onto a car lot because they have a transportation need. Who needs an intangible like airtime? You have to call and call and call just to find someone who might have an interest in meeting with you. Then you perform a needs analysis to find out if there's a fit. After that you have to write the copy. With cars, the vehicle is already built - just ring up the sale. You actually sell the extras and don't have to give added value. With a finance manager handling the credit there's no worries about collections or chargebacks either.
Auto dealers seem to have higher turnover in the sales department than your average radio station. I agree with 45 guy though ... much higher conversion rate.
I actually made this transition in 1971. For over a year, I was selling for WGEE AM/FM in Indianapolis. We were ranked at the bottom of the heap with "The Parade of Hits" Format. Phone calling was futile. Cold calling burned gas and wasted time. It was totally frustrating. The front office of the station was a revolving door and keeping the station on the air was a real chore. We had GREAT people working there, many of whom went on to bigger and better things. FOUR STATIONS at the time, WIBC, WFBM. WIRE and WIFE (ALL AMs !!!), ruled the market and had virtually all the business. Ad agencies would not talk to us. Media buyers would not talk to us. It was a very frustrating period in my early work career.
Then, one day, I saw Shadeland Dodge was looking for sales people. I was hired immediately and my frustrations ended. Within a year, I was one of the top-ten sales people in the Cincinnati zone for Dodge. I made good money and loved the job. However, in 1973, I moved on to even bigger things out of state and have not looked back. From then on, radio remained an interest of mine and in the 1990's worked on-air (part-time) for several years before the computer got me... Glad I had a full time job to fall back on !
I tried the radio to car sales thing about 5 years ago and it drove me back to radio! I always wonder if I would have been better off selling radio. Why? I know the product, so I can sell the benefits. (Assuming there were some actual benefits of the station to be sold to an advertiser.)
As a car salesman it was difficult for me to learn some of the sales benefits of the various vehicles I was selling. It was easy to learn the parts that I look for when I buy a car, but more difficult to learn and talk about the parts of the car I normally wasn't all that familiar with. Finally, at most places one or two sales guys are dominate and the rest are fighting for scraps. It's a tough business, but those who are good at it can do fairly well.
As for stations being sold: look for the engineer or someone in authority to do an inventory of all the equipment. That's tipped me off a couple of times that the place I was working at was being sold.
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