I just herd about WABB going off the air this past friday. This news of WABB is so sad! Unfortunately I have never herd of WABB up untill now reading about it online. I did get the chance to listen to WABB over my phone. Have to say I LOVE IT nice station Mobile will be harting when 97.5 WABB goes off the air!!!! I remember in 2005 when I lost my favorite radio station 93.1 DRQ in Detroit to crappy ass 95.5!!! Detroit still miss 93.1 DRQ to this day! Also 97.5 WABB sound alot like 95.1 WAPE in Jacksonville,Fl. SOOOOOOOOOOO sad 97.5WABB R.I.P.
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WABB SOLD!
- Thread starter Dr voicetrack
- Start date
I know my two cents doesn't really matter because I live in Huntsville, but I can't believe it. I like CHR and CCM both, but to see a heritage power house successful locally owned station in a market that size disappear like this is very sad. R.I.P. WABB. You'll go down as one of the most legendary stations in history.
It is the Dittman family's station to sell. If I owned a good radio property and died, and my widow decided to sell, I would hope she gets the most money for if. I hope EMF is paying more than one of the national C's. I do not know who is advising them but, unless there is a tax angle, the AM should have been part of the deal. Let the "new" owner "deal" with it.
macab4490, I need to step back and apologize. You can't possibly be more happy about this news than this man:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=123902.0
(P.S. Are they ever going to fix the internal search functions on R-I? I had more success finding this and other WABB-related board posts through Google.)
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=123902.0
(P.S. Are they ever going to fix the internal search functions on R-I? I had more success finding this and other WABB-related board posts through Google.)
Nate Wesley said:
Bahahaha....... ;D about laughed myself sick... I forgot all about Mr. Icycool. Maybe someone should post on that thread and see how many pages we can accumulate.
-Travis
EMF has cash on hand for making deals like this, which gives them considerable latitude to make moves like the acquisition of WABB-FM. EMF has a business model that is clearly working, and while it seems to me like EMF is leaving money on the table by taking a 100kw blowtorch heritage CHR to non-commercial status and piping in CCM off the bird, ultimately it's their acquisition and their choice as to do what they want to do with it.
The sale listed an undisclosed purchase price -- how much do you all think that EMF coughed up to seal the deal?
The sale listed an undisclosed purchase price -- how much do you all think that EMF coughed up to seal the deal?
LouPickney said:
In the millions I am guessing at least -- We'll likely find out when things close.
People can say what they want about EMF but nothing said the Dittman Family had to sell to them... My guess is the Dittman's wanted out and EMF was offering something they could not refuse... and the rest is history..
What will be interesting though is -- Isn't WABB the "local primary" for EAS in the Mobile area? Wonder how that is handled with a satellite only operations (My guess is after the sale is there will be a MSW) -- Since they are LMAing starting March 1st I am guessing at first they will run the EMF iPump Satellite Feed thru the WABB facility until the sale closes.
xmusicmatt said:
Is WABB a "input" or originating station? IIRC it really doesn't matter, because whatever government agencies (FEMA, NWS, Law Enforcement etc) has "access" to the "tones" and can interrupt whenever they need. I do think if you are an originating station you have of operated 24 / 7 and I think there are some required "back up" facilities required.
Does anyone know if a broker was involved? Or was this a for-sale-by-owner? EMF may have dealt directly with the seller, cutting out the middleman, which means more money for the seller.
I forgot to add that it seems to me the retention of the AM by the current owner is only going to be to their detriment. Unless, they reached a deal with the buyer to operate and maintain the AM station for a period of time. Even if all programming is automated or syndicated talk shows, there are still utilities, FCC fees, maintenance and engineering costs for directional AM array, insurance, etc. I doubt the AM billing is going to cover those costs.
Megacycler said:
My guess is they will eventually sell off the AM... EMF does not do AMs so I am guessing that is why it wasn't included in the sale to EMF... The only time EMF has gotten an AM too is when they have no other choice to reach a deal on an FM they want.
EMF will take an AM if it suits their purpose.
Here in Memphis, for example... EMF did a rather complicated set of moves to allow a suburban Class A to move into town as a C3. To do that, though, another peripheral Class A they owned licensed to Turrell, AR had to be moved. To do that, another station had to license to Turrell. The throw-away AM they had acquired licensed to Collierville, TN fit the bill nicely.
EMF got the move approved and sold the station. Slick, really. I must say, EMF knows how to get stuff done.
That station is now the subject of some interesting litigation unrelated to EMF. It's going to be fun to watch.
EMF has no such need for an AM in Mobile. WABB is fully mature from an engineering standpoint.
DE
Here in Memphis, for example... EMF did a rather complicated set of moves to allow a suburban Class A to move into town as a C3. To do that, though, another peripheral Class A they owned licensed to Turrell, AR had to be moved. To do that, another station had to license to Turrell. The throw-away AM they had acquired licensed to Collierville, TN fit the bill nicely.
EMF got the move approved and sold the station. Slick, really. I must say, EMF knows how to get stuff done.
That station is now the subject of some interesting litigation unrelated to EMF. It's going to be fun to watch.
EMF has no such need for an AM in Mobile. WABB is fully mature from an engineering standpoint.
DE
G
Groove1670
Guest
Wow. Well below the days of the 6M+ past market transactions.
The next step is an authorization to take WABB-FM from commercial to non commercial. When that happens you will know for sure if it is K-Love or Air1
NoWayNoCC said:
Unfortunately, the FCC won't halt this sale. It will be rubber-stamped, just as other station sales are routinely rubber-stamped. You can thank deregulation for that. The saddest thing about this is that the area loses a local service to a greedy out-of-state operator who will run canned satellite-delivered programming without a shred of localism. I fail to see how stations such as those owned by EMF (the parent of "K-Love") even remotely serve the public interest.
ka2xuk said:
They don't, but the government doesn't want to get in the way of religion. It would be a political mud wrestle.
ka2xuk said:
I've always had some beef with K-Love and not because they are a religious outlet (I am a born again Christian myself) but because they have run other local stations with the same format with local talent, content, traffic, weather, ect. out of business. That doesn't seem to me like a very "Christian" thing to do.
That combo was once worth $25 mil. Hard to believe it went for 3.1!
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