What's up at KMCQ

[Steenman]

Much of this ground has been covered (and covered, and covered). I confirm I heard something like 18m too and it's a move in, partial market signal, in a bad economy, with other sticks (ie: Bustos empire) going at potential 'fire sale' prices. Jackson Del Weaver had a pretty good metric of the multiples this thing needs to pencil in a post months ago, and when you consider that something like 100m came out of this market from 'pre-recession' golden days (that may never come back or take years to do so) yes it's a serious challenge for these guys. Like selling a house your first buyer (non pun intended) is often your best buyer and so it's likely time to either lower the price or take the house off the market for awhile. An LMA makes the most sense buy yourself a couple of years to cover expenses then give whoever takes it on first right of refusal that kind of thing. That or stretch the terms to 'forever' to make the payments -or- perhaps there some out of box game changing metric- some idea that suddenly makes it all make sense. This is still a creative business (in spite of what you sour faces say these are some of the most exciting and challenging years in my career) and these guys have certainly proven they are creative thinkers and resilient so I wouldn't count anything out. Meantime, enjoy the oldies cause that's all you're gonna get and there is no way this thing is write off it's a cluster is what it is.

 

[scott salvatori]

"meantime, enjoy the oldies cause thats all your gonna get"

no doubt!...if your an oldies fan, it even has somewhat of a broad playlist.
104.5, kind of reminds me of XM/sirius oldies channels. you dont have to hear annoying commercials, like male supplement ads every ten minutes. nor, do you have to hear constant "in your face" jingles and boss voiced promos, and contests in between every song like most other "over produced" radio outlets.

just think seattle radio fans, if it werent for this auto pilot channel, there would be no top 40 oldies station in this market.

 

[Bill Betten]

"In the shadows of Mount Rainier, KMCQ, KMCQ, save it on your radio dial"

 

[bossbill]

Re: write offs. My point was that some people have the mistaken notion that somehow, expensing a cost is painless, and that a "write-off" is a technique for avoiding tax.

If I earn $100, I pay taxes on it. If I have an expense of $100 against it, I pay no taxes. Of course I also have no money, because I spent it. You can call that a tax write-off, if you want. But so somehow believe that this is done intentionally is a stretch.

 

[e-dawg]

With the economy is going at the moment. I wont be surprise if all the radio conglomerates are doing heavy tax-write offs this year.

 

[Jay Peninger]

With the economy is going at the moment. I wont be surprise if all the radio conglomerates are doing heavy tax-write offs this year.

Well it is a safe assumption that any corporation who is in business to make a profit has their accountants taking advantage of all the tax loopholes the law allows them, and they are going to do it regardless of the current economy it's just smart business.

 

[Bongwater]

Re: write offs. My point was that some people have the mistaken notion that somehow, expensing a cost is painless, and that a "write-off" is a technique for avoiding tax.

If I earn $100, I pay taxes on it. If I have an expense of $100 against it, I pay no taxes. Of course I also have no money, because I spent it. You can call that a tax write-off, if you want. But so somehow believe that this is done intentionally is a stretch.

My point is if you already allocated X-amount of money to taxes in the budget, which any sane business does (and it's a give or take, you never know in any given year) and if the amount stays relatively the same, then what isn't spent on taxes is refunded back to the investors.

It doesn't make money. And sometimes costs a little more (or less. Depends on where it's all going politically.) But it keeps the station going in the hopes of some potential windfall (or at least somewhat civil return) for the investors that may come when someone buys the station. You just have to spin it up good to the investors (and I can imagine it's not been easy for First Broadcasting for this long and in this economic climate.)

To me, it's insane (which, ironically, would make me "fiscally conservative" in the TRUEST sense. And politically, I'm a hardcore Liberal/Progressive). But for those who like to gamble on some great reward.....

 

[TVradioguru]

My point is if you already allocated X-amount of money to taxes in the budget, which any sane business does (and it's a give or take, you never know in any given year) and if the amount stays relatively the same, then what isn't spent on taxes is refunded back to the investors.

Nonsense! If I invest in the stockmarket, I'm an investor, correct? If the business I've invested in loses money in a given quarter or year do I see any return on my investment in the form of a dividend? Of course not. Likewise, if I willfully invest in a Private Equity fund, I don't see any return in the form of the business 'writing off' business losses. Like any investor if the business plan succeeds then you make x% return. If not then you risk losing a portion of, or your entire investment. Nobody, let alone investors, makes money off of tax deductions.

Nice attempt at a face saving back-peddle, but it didn't work.

 

[bossbill]

Go buy a business, run it for a few years, come back and tell me what you've learned about that mythical term "write-off". I cringe when people that have never been in business use it. Back to an earlier post, if I gross $100, have an expense of $100, of course I pay no taxes because I made no money, and I have no money left to pay tax with anyway. Please don't tell me I "budgeted for taxes" and therefore somehow have money left over if I don't make a profit.

 

[WDAE-FM101]

Bill is absolutely correct. From a personal standpoint, you can "write off" deductions to your church or other charity -- and you will save 25 -28 cents on taxes for each dollar you contribute (It still costs you 75 cents after all is said and done) Same thing with a business -- they only save on the 35% corporate tax rate - it still costs them 65 cents for every dollar they write off on a loss. As Andrew Tobias says, "you can't get rich by donating to the Red Cross"
Another point -- if you have no taxable income (e.g., a business that operates at a loss) then the write off has no value - since you don't owe tax anyway.

 

[JeffDavis]

First is having this same problem in Cincinnati. They moved WOXY-FM from far north suburban Oxford, Ohio to closer Mason, Ohio and the signal did improve, but it's been a Variety Hits Jukebox called MAX on 97.7 and simulcast on 99.5 in a far eastern suburb. They got the move done in June 2009, after station values had tanked. They also had plans to improve the 99.5 signal, but pulled the application. After trying to market the station at too high a price, they will finally start an LMA in a couple weeks for a Spanish format on 97.7, but 99.5 is actually being operated as a local station now. I believe the simulcast ended last year because there was too much signal overlap of the two stations.

 

[bossbill]

These move-ins are somewhat akin to the housing boom. People paid far too much for houses, and builders kept building because they could sell them. Now new unfinished houses are on the auction block.

First Broadcasting was one of many that found the big bucks being paid by the consolidators too attractive to pass up.

 

[TexasTom]

These move-ins are somewhat akin to the housing boom. People paid far too much for houses, and builders kept building because they could sell them. Now new unfinished houses are on the auction block.

First Broadcasting was one of many that found the big bucks being paid by the consolidators too attractive to pass up.

Great comparison. To take the housing comparison further, when the housing bust began, you had sellers that were unwilling to change their pricing to reflect the new market -- and ended up taking an even bigger hit as prices continued to drop.

I don't get the impression that First Broadcasting has figured this out. Or if they have, that they know what to do about it...which is to bite the bullet and just take the loss.