Stations Sold in 2008 and Their Values

[LasVegasRadioJunky]

BIA Analysts reported today that the number of radio stations sold was down year to year 26.7% last year and their values plummeted 50.7% in 2008. Television transactions were hit even harder.

This should be a lively thread. YIKES!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Here is a link to a couple articles on BIA's report.

http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/73104
http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=1110503&spid=24698

This is not surprising at all. The Pappis Broadcasting bankruptcy indicated severe weakness in the station sales market. If memory serves, at least one of the Pappis stations did not find a buyer in the liquidation.

 

[TheBigA]

I assume these points were made in the articles, but there are two main reasons for the drop in value:

1) The glut of available properties. Clear Channel put 400 stations on the market 3 years ago. Then Citadel added some more. Last fall, CBS announced it would sell another 70 or so stations. My estimate is that there about 800 radio stations on the market now.

2) Lack of investment money. Read the papers. Companies can't get credit to buy properties right now. Unless you can pay cash or trade, your hands are tied.

Beyond that, advertising money has been cut. Retail in in a depression. Stores going into liquidation. If you are an ad-based business, you're in trouble. It won't be changing any time soon. You will need to be prepared that ad rates will be lower than they were a few years ago. Lower ad rates mean you can't support a big staff. Thus, we have staff cutbacks.