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WBYW...104.3 Lynn Haven/Panama City....The Bay.....is dark

I have a short attention span. I was thinking Tally was their only other station. Five station Florida group run by the former GM of CC SW GA. They obviously know what they are doing. Humm. What the hell are they doing? 2 mil for a class A in PC Beach? Must of been a cash purchase, hopefully no bank would finance that.

Why take a class A off the air? Did they sign on with borrowed equipment or something? How much does it cost to pay a 6kw light bill.
 
Hale Hale rock n roll.. he could put THE TICKET 104.3 on there, since 93.5 isn't even in PCB but near Apala... and I'm sure their signal is crap there.

-Rob
 
^ If that was done, we'd have *three* stations in FL on 104.3 doing sports talk....two of them called The Ticket. That'll be enough to send a DXer in another state to the funny farm!

cd
 
I miss you CCENG. I would have rather spent two million on gin and tonics. It would have been more productive. No apologies ever needed from you!!!! Keep shocking the monkey.

Rob has been listening to Dave Ramsey....there may be a future.

Quote from Tibbs: "It ain't damn possible to pay multiples on negative producing businesses. Don't care what the biz is. But there is always some blatant dumb@$$ that is willing to sign their life away and PAY for someone's disaster. How much do they want again?"
 
I know all about the "cost of doing business" but right now the only number I have to play with is 2mil because I don't know what the cost of the radio business is.

What was the sale price on the PC Beach cluster (Magic?) that included WPFM? Is any PCB station worth anywhere near 2 mil? Is 104.3 even worth 200k today?

I'm not interested in what Hale paid for the Mexico Beach Ticket. I assume there was more to that transaction than the $ amount.
 
Poledo - Powell paid right at $237,500 per station. Amazingly low. Hale paid, IIRC something like $135k. My pure guess on this is neither are minting (a dime) money. Once you get past CC and Magic, the bottom feeders can't be making much per spot. My recent posts have alluded to the average cost of a spot. The rates haven't increased in 25 years. As you know in biz, the first thing that matters is what you pay for something that can make or kill you. Even a quarter of a million bucks per stick isn't a deal if you are making nada. Debt service, loans, etc. are the killers,mep. In the markets w white sand.
 
The owners of 104.3 know the radio business. How did they wind up spending 2mil on a CP for a class A when a whole PCB cluster could be acquired for a similar price?
What am I not seeing?
 
The radio business is full of 'experts' and just look at all of the disasters. Even the big corps have made unreal deals that never made sense and then, in the name of competition, they all jumped on the bandwagon by buying at crazy prices. They hung themselves by paying inflated prices. These prices they inflicted upon themselves by themselves. Then they made cuts to cover these mistakes and these cuts that were moves that saved costs often also slowed down revenues. Another horrible set of moves that will show up even more in the next decade.

I was asked to give advice to an owner in trouble. His solution? Borrow more. Revenues are 1/3 of his expenses. People ain't getting paychecks, rent ain't being paid, honest businesses are going to never get paid for their services. There is no chance of ever paying back what he owes already and this Ivy Leaguer has smarts to try put more weight on a sunk ship.
 
PCB is a "glamor" market--it looks bigger than it really is--and there always seem to be otherwise bright people who think they're the ones who can cut through the ton-o-signals and make a go of it. The jury is still out on Powell, since if I recall correctly, the current ratings period will be their first full book--and they're real/successful broadcasters elsewhere (don't know enough about Horizon to make a call on their "expertise").

But the timeline of WBYW's existence would seem to indicate that they laid down their $2 million before the economy--and the advertising business, including the radio ad business--crashed. So they may have been relying on pre-recession radio math. Then again, us old-timers on this here board have been talking about Panama City's "over-radioed" (not sure, Charlie--but we use it as a word) status for many, many years. Way too much media--radio, TV, print, digital, cable, outdoor--and not enough humans and/or money to go around...
 
The biggest question I have about Horizon is are they an old fashion, southern, cash only business? If they are operating on credit then why the hell did they bother finishing out the build of 104.3? That was just throwing money away. They should have just let their creditors sell off the CP for whatever Tibbs was willing to offer.
 
I don't know anything about this Horizon company, Poledo. I know even less about how to create wealth in PC with a radio station. :).

What I do know is that the only way I could view owning this radio station would be to grab it just for the sentimental relevance. That would be the only way to justify it. The real expense is the long term cost of doing business against the dollah a holla market. As AMFMMoveBackTODABeach said,
I ain't real bright. Or pretty. Would just have to figure out how much it's worth losing each year to pay to play. Hmmm.
 
CP's were going for insane prices before the economy crash. For example one CP in a market went for 328k back in 2006. That same market had a CP offered in 2012 it went for 60k.

BTW a station in that market just sold for 250k.

I think several stations will be sold in 2013 at a loss. The good news is the prices will be in line with the actual value of the station in the market, and will be in the budget of small broadcasters.

You will also see the large broadcaster sell off medium and smaller markets that don't generate enough revenue for the bottom line.

Save your money. You might get a great deal in the next few years.
 
You hit the nail on the head there Mr. Vet.....I was thinking that but didn't know how to say it....hell, I'm just a friggin engineer......
 
^ Sounds like it could be the one station left that still played "Batdance".

And THAT went to #1. Go figure. :)

cd
 
This would make a great new home for Beach 95.1. It would also allow 95.1 to quit trying to be a PCB station and find a new market in Walton county.
104.3 would also make a nice simulcast for 106.3 the Seabreeze. 105.1 had high ratings as a smooth jazz station as I recall.
Click to expand...

Uh, Poledo, hate to break it to the haters of Beach 95.1, but since we moved to our new transmitting site in AUGUST, we are most definitely a PCB/PC radio station and we have a STRONG presence in Walton County, including all along Scenic 30A. We're not TRYING to be anything... we ARE a damned good radio station that has been hampered by a lousy signal. Not the case anymore. As for 104.3, those folks paid WAY too much to get that license, the same way that the people who put 95.1 on in 2005 paid WAY too much for it. There are some format possibilities that no one on this board wants to consider because they're not 'sexy'. And if, by some chance, Beach Radio, Inc ever did a deal with Horizon (a BIG if, BTW), I'm sure you'd jump in and start hating on it the same way you do on everything else.

Have a nice day!

TDO
(David Nolin - Operations Manager WBPC-FM/Beach 95.1)
 
I think I may have to bring a truckload of gin down to Bay County to calm TDO down.

Not sure, but I think the issue not so much Beach and the format, but rather how tough it is to run a stand alone in a small market like PC. Trust me, it only get marginally better in the FWB/Destin market.

FWIW, last time I was allowed in the market down there, before CCENG banned me, I was at Seaside and I was highly impressed with the Beach signal and I think I even complimented the format on here. Kissing up, Poledo. Mainly, I am just old and probably still a hippie Charlie. Hehe.
Jimi Hendrix Gin Fan....

FW(else)IW, my damn cell reception was so bad, that I couldn't talk or hear CCENG. Funny how you have to be 369 miles away to have better cell reception.
 
Sorry I seem so negative on your baby, David. I actually appreciate the fact that you are a locally owned and operated radio station in central time zone Florida. The perception that I'm "hatin'" on Beach 95.1 simply comes from the misconception that I believe Walton county could support a radio station covering, and more specifically targeting, DeFuniak Springs and 30A. Spillover coverage into Panama City seems like it would and should just be a bonus. I don't understand why Walton County isn't a better market than Pamama City, it's just wide open waiting to be taken just like WCSN has taken south Baldwin county here in south Alabama. The owners of WCSN could have easilly tried to target Pensacola but they took a gamble on Gulf Shores and hit the jackpot. I'm sure most folks in Walton county would love a local FM alternative to Mark Carter's smooth jazz outlet.
Besides that, it appears that over its short time on the air a whole lot of money has been spent on 95.1 to move the tower around and re-engineer the station to serve the unquestionably over-radioed town of Panama City. Will it be possible to ever recoup those costs? I just think it would have been easier to make money in Walton.
I'm not a in the radio business, I know I'm probably wrong. Or at least I'm probably wrong today but in 10 years south Walton should be pretty congested and Mark Carter is still going to be all alone.
 
poledo said:
The biggest question I have about Horizon is are they an old fashion, southern, cash only business? If they are operating on credit then why the hell did they bother finishing out the build of 104.3? That was just throwing money away. They should have just let their creditors sell off the CP for whatever Tibbs was willing to offer.
Click to expand...


Might as well throw my name in the hat. Someone knows how to contact me. I have $5.00.
 
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