WARM Gone?

[Silkie]

WARM is on leased land in Falls. It's a long-term lease done in the 50s with several renewal options at the station's choosing. It is a relatively small amount of moneyby today's standards.. The ground system was troublesome back in the 90s, so it probably is worse now.

During any number of economic downturns in our history annual ground rents were created as a means of postponing interest. Most were 99 year leases with a mandatory automatic renewal option, but many were structured so that they could be "redeemed" for a specific amount. They were usually paid monthly. An example of one type of annual ground rent would be a 99 year lease with a $90 annual rent. At the time of its creation it was created with a capitalization rate of 6%. Thus, to redeem the ground rent and pay the deferred interest you took the $90, divided by 6% and paid $1,500 to redeem your ground rent, extinguish the lease and acquire fee simple interest in the land.

Some ground leases were created with a timeline in which to merge the lease with the fee. With each passing date, which occurred maybe once every ten to fifteen years, the amount of the fee simple interest acquisition increased, with a final window, after which the lease would expire and you had to get off the land. The smallest of lots, by lease option, could be released from the lease for payment of a paltry $750,000.00, for example. These were the types of leases created by land baron wannabes during the 1920s Many of these leases will be maturing shortly. You will see worse than radio towers on the sites.

Pennsylvania may have either of these types of leases, or some commercial arrangement.

 

[jeffwoehrle]

Back during the first waves of consolidation, many mom & pop operators sold out to the Clear Channels of the world. Many (if not most) of these smaller operations owned their transmitter sites outright, as the 'home' mentality was in full force back in the day. When the sales took place, many operators were surprised that their operations were not worth significantly more because the real estate was owned outright. The old yardsticks of 2x gross or 10x cash flow really didn't vary much with regard to real estate holdings.

When the group operators got control of the stations, they commonly sold the transmitter sites to one of the more memorable names in the tower business, leasing back the sites for x-dollars per month. The idea was the the next buyer (dare I say, the next greater fool?) would pay based on multiple of gross or cash flow, just as they had. Meanwhile, the original purchaser was able to pocket the $ from the tower site sale in addition to turning a profit on the station spinoff.

Indeed, some groups negotiated fairly high rent payments (resulting in commensurately higher sale price for the tower site) with the express idea that the station (and the tower rent) would be another owner's problem shortly.

THEN, the bottom fell out of the market. The greater fools never materialized and the groups who thought they would flip the station quickly ended up stuck with it...and a backbreaking tower rent payment.

I don't know the back story on WARM's site, but I'm willing to bet that costs associated with it were a major part of the decision to jettison the signal. As mentioned elsewhere, AM transmitter repairs can be accomplished with scrap household appliances by one with such knowledge and experience. For that matter, new solid state AM boxes are really not that expensive anymore.

 

[Silkie]

With a ground rent/lease arrangement you own everything on the site, i.e. the tower, the studio, sidewalks, water and sewer lines that are actually on the property. Your real property rights are limited to a leasehold interest as opposed to a fee simple interest.

 

[kfitz]

My understanding is that WARMS's lease is with a farmer and the land is either farmed (hayfield likely) or was formally forested. This is not a corporate lease back. I believe the lease amount is favorable for the enormous area it takes up which I understand is 80 acres. This is way in the middle of nowhere and the land is not valuable for anything but farming.

By the way....good used 10 kw transmitters can be had for 10 to 20 K. I don't think this current problem has anything to do with the phasor or the tower array....I think that's all working OK. You know....WARM would be better off with 1 or 2 kilowatts non-directional with a 320 foot tower right in the valley say around Pittston. The night-time could be dropped to a level that would not interfere and not require any directional array. 590 non-DA in the valley with 1 or 2 kw would still have a rockin' signal. When I had the AM contour program a few years back I looked at every NEPA station....this change is possible although granted it would still cost a couple hundred K.

On my way to the Omnia/Telos/Axia thing in LV at the NAB.

KF

 

[BaltimoreJack]

I have never understood the mentality of not owning your own tower site, especially when it comes to an AM. Within reason, FM bays can be relocated to another tower. Often FMs are hung off a local AM or TV tower. But when it comes to AM stations, you have to fit everything into a specific place, and the site cannot be easily moved. If the lease expires and the land-owner doesn't want to renew, or if you get into some sort of legal question vs. the land owner, standing on the roof of your studio yelling thru a megaphone is a very poor alternative to a hot tower. I might be old fashioned here, but I think that tower site land ownership is a decent investment.

 

[jeffwoehrle]

Hey Kevin,

I recall seeing WARM's site about twenty+ years ago. I think there was some type of farming going on as the thought of radials wrapped around a plow came to mind... Impressive site.

As far as value, lots of land in the Poconos was considered worthless not that long ago...unless you were farming rocks.

 

[jeffwoehrle]

"You know....WARM would be better off with 1 or 2 kilowatts non-directional with a 320 foot tower right in the valley say around Pittston."

Exactly the conversation I had with Mr. LaRose the other night. Probably some good swamp land available that only floods once or twice a year. Not that such a thing would be breaking any new ground, eh?

Vegas?

 

[warmland]

"You know....WARM would be better off with 1 or 2 kilowatts non-directional with a 320 foot tower right in the valley say around Pittston."

Exactly the conversation I had with Mr. LaRose the other night. Probably some good swamp land available that only floods once or twice a year. Not that such a thing would be breaking any new ground, eh?

Vegas?

Don't fort WSCR went dark years ago. There was no transmitter problems there.

 

[Element9]

A friend of mine put me onto this thread. As a self-admitted, unrehabilitated, unapologetic radio junkie, it's sad to see WARM waste away and flat line. Like a patient on life-support, you hear the beeping tones which become more intermittent as the doctors say "we've done all we can do, call it: Time of death...."

If it's any consolation (and it isn't) Buffalo's one time 50kW flame-thrower 1520 WKBW also is limping along on life support. Anybody who lives anywhere on the east coast over the age of 45 knows about the legendary WKBW. Now it's doing progressive-talk as WWKB, owned by Entercom and a mere shadow of what it was. Ground radials and tuning networks for the three tower DA-1 array are in dire need of repair and maintenance. The station operates on 50% power for periods on end.

Posters on the Buffalo-Niagara Falls board bemoan the KB's condition, the lousy format, the failed attempts at Oldies and everything else. Even with a solid state transmitter, the station's electric bill is formidable, although not as formidable as it once was with a Continental 50 or before that with the great, rich sounding Westinghouse 50 (with two story modulation transformer parked in the basement, topped off on the second floor.) Entercom also owns two other big signal AMs in Buffalo: 5kW WBEN Newsradio 930, which is the Queen of its AM cluster, and WGR Sportsradio 550, which runs hot and cold, depending on the sports season and how well Buffalo's major league sports teams perform.

It's really sad to hear about WARM's demise. It was a GREAT radio station that spoke for NEPA like no other station could. It was heard everywhere and made its mark. I love AM radio. Always have. It's the radio-romantic in me. But AM is so tragically handicapped these days that only one or two AMs (if that) make it work in most medium or major markets. And a company like Citadel, with its six cent stock, is having major problems keeping its FM money makers on the air. The company is truly screwed with nobody to blame but their greedy selves.

Citadel most likely will implode before the end of the year, with more layoffs and cutbacks. The clock is ticking on this group of radio carpetbaggers that has been known to fire employees who have cancer, leaving them without a paycheck or health insurance. Bankruptcy looms ever closer each day. It's sad, because there are many good people who work for the company and they stand to be hurt the most, while the CEO and his crew of weasels get platinum parachutes. So much for spending money on a big signal AM like WARM. Won't happen.

Citadel might be able buy itself a break and some much needed good will by donating the station, lock, stock and barrel to a bonafide college or university in NEPA and take the tax breaks. The license and the people of NEPA would be better served by such a deal. At this point, Citadel needs all the breaks it can get, because it's likely they'll never get $3.5 million from ANYBODY for the license that once was The Mighty 590... and Citadel won't invest in getting the transmitter back to operating standards.

BTW, this legendary engineer poster shave written about sounds like The Man. Props to him and so many great engineers like him who made it work. The most significant line in the stories about WARM is this: "Citadel could not be reached for comment." That says a lot about the company: CitaDeath.

 

[TheBigA]

Citadel might be able buy itself a break and some much needed good will by donating the station, lock, stock and barrel to a bonafide college or university in NEPA and take the tax breaks. The license and the people of NEPA would be better served by such a deal.

I'm sure the idea has been discussed. But the problem is that few colleges can afford the luxury of owning a money pit. Even if they get the license and facility for free, someone has to pay for staff and maintenance. The endowments have been descimated by the stock market crash. Universities are like the car companies, paying off former employees with full pensions and benefits. Around the country, many colleges are selling off their radio stations. So not many, especially in NEPA have spare money to support a dinosaur with a big appetite.

A similar idea would be to donate it to WVIA or similar public/community licensee. But these organizations are also short on cash. There's a chance they might use it for all the residual news/talk programming from NPR. But there won't be a return to former glory, if that's the goal.

 

[Silkie]

Citadel might be able buy itself a break and some much needed good will by donating the station, lock, stock and barrel to a bonafide college or university in NEPA and take the tax breaks. The license and the people of NEPA would be better served by such a deal.

I'm sure the idea has been discussed. But the problem is that few colleges can afford the luxury of owning a money pit. Even if they get the license and facility for free, someone has to pay for staff and maintenance. The endowments have been descimated by the stock market crash. Universities are like the car companies, paying off former employees with full pensions and benefits. Around the country, many colleges are selling off their radio stations. So not many, especially in NEPA have spare money to support a dinosaur with a big appetite.

A similar idea would be to donate it to WVIA or similar public/community licensee. But these organizations are also short on cash. There's a chance they might use it for all the residual news/talk programming from NPR. But there won't be a return to former glory, if that's the goal.

True - we can never go back there again. The best we can do is to try to pick up some semblance of where we left off. Today's generation missed the best of times.

 

[jeffwoehrle]

...

A similar idea would be to donate it to WVIA or similar public/community licensee. But these organizations are also short on cash. ...

True. Many are short on cash because they operate facilities that are not viable commercially (no matter what the rules about where the money comes from). When the pot of gold is no longer filled by smitten benefactors, things get sticky.

When you think about it, Citadel's keeping WARM on the air was in the mold of the non-profits. A non-viable format on a sub-par signal with precious little revenue. If I'd be Citadel, I might be thinking that my ox has been gored about long enough for this albatross.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no particular fan of Citadel. That said, is Citadel (or any radio owner) supposed to subsidize unprofitable operations ad infinitum? Particularly when most radio owners are laying off staff due to advertising revenue downturns.

WARM had its chance. Longtime rival WILK seems to have found a niche that works...for now. It's sad that WARM never drew a proper bead on its place in the modern limelight.

 

[BaltimoreJack]

Citadel is no different than almost all the other "mega" corporations that sprung into action following Telecom '96. They went on a spending rampage and bought tons of things with very little thought on what they were buying. They were all in a race to see who could become the largest the quickest. Everyone of this board, and virtually all the boards within RI can tell their quota of horror stories or spin tales of "the good old days". At every group cluster in this country are stations that are "use to be's" that have important heritage from days gone by. But the problem is, and many of the posters to be found on RI fall into this catagory...the old days are gone. Have been gone and are never, ever, never coming back. These people cannot accept that. Curses and evil wishes against Citadel or the others won't bring back WARM or other great stations. The radio landscape changed forever in 1996, and some 13+ years later there are still way too many folks who keep thinking that if they wait long enough, gripe loud enough or pass the collection plate something is going to change and we will be immediately transported back to the great days when the number #1 hit will be coming right up after the latest news at '55. It's gone people, give it a rest. The Beatles will never reunite, Johhny Unitas will never again throw the ball for Baltimore, the milkman won't be at the door tomorrow morning, AND..
WARM ain't never gonna be #1 ever again. Please just let the old girl die in peace.

 

[Silkie]

WARM really did used to be a very nice station. They started losing it right around 2000-2001, near as I can recall. WARM had people who seem to have decided that they needed to revamp and change things around, which started them on a downward trend. No use trying to convince any station to do or not to do something, or that they are making a mistake when they lose or dis that which made it easier for them to make some money. More than one radio station has gone the way of WARM, which followed the lead of others over the cliff.

 

[Element9]

Big A, BaltimoreJack and other posters make good points regarding the demise of AM radio and WARM in particular. This is the worst economy in years. I'm not in the market. I haven't consistently heard how good or bad WARM is or was; I heard it sporadically while driving within signal range. I'm enough of a realist to know that a bell cannot be unrung. That Jim Kelly, Johnny U and the Milkman are now part of the (distant) past.

Still, I contend that many of these megalopolies thinned their own herds and caused the demise of potential money makers (such as WARM and WKBW) as a result of bone-headed, short-sighted decisions.

The gentleman who did the Polish show on WARM probably generated significant cash flow for the hours he was on the air. Why not consider ethic or faith based block programing for a signal like WARM? Such programming sould serve a segment of the audience not yet served and in many cases, it generate revenue that otherwise would not be flowing through the door.

Not so many years ago, a genuinely good programmer with whom I worked said, "AM radio isn't universally dead, but the people who run radio companies would like it to be dead and make decisions that hasten its death." To have a 5kW bottom of the band signal fade away simply is not right. This said, given Citadel's precarious condition, it's likely you and I have heard the last of WARM. I hope I'm wrong.

Yet, Polkas, Tarrantellas and La Fiesta might be the tonic to revive the signal.

 

[BaltimoreJack]

Mr. 9.......
You make an interesting point about polkas. There is a station in New Ulm, Minnesota..KNUJ (Junk spelled backwards) That called itself "The Polka Station Of The Nation" It was a big hit in it's home area. With polkas as popular as they are in NEPA I used to wonder why no one ever made a move to put 24/7 polkas on one of the sinking AMs or on a poorly used FM signal. But then it hit me. You would actually have to PROGRAM the station. You can't simply ring up ABC, Jones or Westar and get a bartered polka format. If you look at what tends to pass for programming on most any low-rated radio station these days, it amounts to some sort of satellite or pre-packaged hard drive format. Turn it on and walk away and let the thing chug. Many sales people within a cluster often don't even know about what's on an AM station because the management doesn't know what to do with it, only cares about their largest revenue producing FM, and they don't want to be bothered. While polkas would probably be a 12+ ratings winner in NEPA, it would most likely look like the numbers breakdown of WNAK when they were standards. Lots of overall numbers, but nothing in the 12-70 range. The 12+ numbers strength would all come from folks who are 70+. It's easier to do standards since there are lots of pre-packaged formats available. You would need someone REALLY knowledgeable about polka music like Carl Semchina, Bill Flynn, Jolly Joe or Big Moose to select the music and format it, then you'd have to pay a couple part-timers to lay all the music into a hard drive, and that would cost money, and none of the corporate guys are going to OK money for a project like that. I doubt that even the Lynett's would do that. To give an aging AM a shot in the arm and the chance at life, it will take a little work and dedication, and the guys who run the corps aren't going to go out on a limb for that.But your idea makes sense and would most likely make dollars if they took a chance at it!

 

[ThomasCarten]

There's a polka service out there, if you want to call it that. And Bill Flynn does. It's an internet site where he hangs his hat at certain hours of the day and/or week.

Hey, MOYL started at this loser station in Bridgeport when it didn't even have a name. Been around a long time now.

 

[BaltimoreJack]

There's a polka service out there, if you want to call it that. And Bill Flynn does. It's an internet site where he hangs his hat at certain hours of the day and/or week.

Hey, MOYL started at this loser station in Bridgeport when it didn't even have a name. Been around a long time now.

It's called Polka Heaven-24/7 and it's just an internet site. Polka guys can upload shows there but you can't just buy a package to put on the air.

 

[jeffwoehrle]

There are plenty of niche formats that could probably gain a smattering of listeners. The challenge would be selling enough sponsors on the idea that the smattering was significant and valuable.

Couple that with the crushing overhead that this station would impose, and you're looking at a tall mountain to climb.

To take an earlier number of $500,000 in repairs, it pays to remember that the interest on $500,000 amounts to $30 grand a year (assuming six percent). This would be overhead BEFORE electricity, labor, taxes, sales commissions (assuming...), program fees, telephone, rent, promotion expense, etc. Would Citadel be serving its stockholders by investing a half million of its capital for a (maybe) six percent return?

 

[DanStrassberg]

You know....WARM would be better off with 1 or 2 kilowatts non-directional with a 320 foot tower right in the valley say around Pittston. The night-time could be dropped to a level that would not interfere and not require any directional array.

Are you sure? Look at the patterns. The day and night patterns are very similar; the night one, of course, being the more restrictive at the minima. I suspect that there is no reason for the day pattern to be as restrictive as it is to the northeast and southwest. So maybe your 1- or 2-kW ND days would turn out to be a reasonable scenario. Nights could be something else, however. Off-hand, you might say that if WNAK can run 32W at night with CKAC (a Class A--of a sort) only a couple of hundred miles away, then surely, WARM ought to be able to get 32W ND at night--and you might be right. I think the stations in WARM's night minima are mainly WEZE and WMBS. Do they really need all of the protection WARM was providing? Dunno. Maybe not. Maybe the 10% skywave from 32W ND or thereabouts would drop out of the 25% RSS calculation. But if that's not the case, and the power has to be limited to the equivalent power at the minima of the licensed night pattern, you're talking about a mere one or two watts at night, which would not be enough to be useful--even on 590!