WJBR Sold

[Beejus]

From All Access:


NEXTMEDIA is selling AC WJBR/WILMINGTON, DE to BEASLEY for $42 million. BEASLEY started operating WJBR under an LMA on SUNDAY (10/1); it owns a cluster in nearby PHILADELPHIA that includes Country WXTU, Top 40-Rhythm WRDW (WIRED 96.5), Religion WTMR-A, and Business News WWDB-A.

 

[fred flintstone]

This really belongs on the Delaware board, where a thread is in progress.

 

[radiophiler]

Belongs on the Delaware board? Yes and no.

Inside Radio already speculates that, because of JBR's tower location and signal, this will be more than a Wilmington market station for Beasley.

This station could easily be made into a player in the Philly market.

 

[wprt949]

im glad beasley is buying it and leaving it alone
Or do they have other plans ???

 

[fred flintstone]

Both JBR and STW have failed - ever - to make a dent in the Philly market.
So has NJ101.5 (and New Jersey is three of eight counties in the Philadelphia Metro).
None of them have signals covering the entire market but they all reach most of it.
I suppose they could try a move-in but that seems like a long shot.

Now that Sunny is gone, I have been listing to JBR more and I do prefer them to B101. They could pick up some share from Sunny but they'd need to make a major investment in promotion in the Philly market.

My guess: The Beasleys are making a move on Wilmington. Clear Channel is selling off smaller market and poor performing radio properties. Their Delaware cluster stations are likely candidates. And Beasley now becomes a likely prospective buyer.

 

[eatspaste]

Both JBR and STW have failed - ever - to make a dent in the Philly market.
So has NJ101.5 (and New Jersey is three of eight counties in the Philadelphia Metro).

There's a reason for that. NJ 101.5 only targets those three counties and wants nothing to do with anything west of the river (even in the Trenton market, they go out of their way to exclude half their metro - not many stations do that). Both WSTW and WJBR have always been branded as "Wilmington" stations, just as 101.5 is a "New Jersey" station. 93.7 and 99.5 have beautiful signals, especially WSTW.

$1 says they'll pull a Nassau, change the city of lic. to something a little closer to Philly (West Chester, Chester, Drexel Hill or something), then move the stick a further into the metro. What's the only thing blocking a move in? 99.9/Allentown? Ha ha, and WHHS (now at 99.9) might have to deal with another move-in.

 

[fred flintstone]

$1 says they'll pull a Nassau, change the city of lic. to something a little closer to Philly (West Chester, Chester, Drexel Hill or something), then move the stick a further into the metro. What's the only thing blocking a move in? 99.9/Allentown? Ha ha, and WHHS (now at 99.9) might have to deal with another move-in.

$2 says any attempt to move the COL or transmitter out of Delaware will trigger a major political backlash with Biden, Carper and Castle pulling out all the stops. That's what blocks the move.

Nassau moved across a county line. They did try to not move out of state. That would have been a political hot potato for Jersey - as it is for Delaware. Dominant influence of out of state media is an issue in both states.

 

[radiophiler]

I'll keep my betting to Texas Hold 'Em poker where I have better odds of actually winning than predicting what any radio company will do.

However, I'll pose this possibility: No change in COL, no change in transmitter location. JBR can be heard in Doylestown. So what if they can't hear it in Quakertown? They can't hear 103.9 or 107.9 there either. From its current location, they just start a marketing campaign to bring this station into the Philly market.

Something to back up my prediction: Greater Media has made no move to try to do an LMA to get 97.5 on the air as a Philly station quickly. Beasley has an LMA effective immediately. They're trying to beat Greater Media to the punch as far as adding a new station to the Philly market.

 

[radioskeptic]

Forget about the wailing and gnashing of teeth from Diamond state politicos. The real problem is that WJBR is already short-spaced to Pacifica's WBAI -- a co-channel station! -- in New York.

Yes, I know WBEB is short-spaced to WCBS-FM, but the late Dave Kurtz got that license in 1963. The FCC would never allow that kind of thing today, would they? And if they did entertain the idea, there’d be an outcry from the major players.

Pacifica may not have much clout, but rest of the industry would be on their side against Beasley on this one.

"When they came for the independent left-wing pubcaster, I did not speak up because I was not an independent left-wing pubcaster..."

 

[Herb999]

Over 70dbu for center city with 99.5, just as good as 1039.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

A lot of stations "can be heard" far outside the areas they target. That doesn't mean they are heard, and it certainly doesn't mean the stations can be sold in those areas.

Often we as "radio people" forget how "normal people" only comprehend on average 10-15 stations in a market. That's total, counting both FM and AM. I know we're all familiar with the 100 or so signals we can pull in on a daily basis, but the average listener is not. And only the absolute strongest signals make it to that listener's 10-15 stations. If it's not "stopping on the seek" 19 times out of 20, thruout the market, it may as well not be there. If the eight dollar K-Mart clock radio isn't pulling the station in without difficulty, forget it. (That's where the term "clock radio signal" comes from...)

Yes, WJBR has a beautiful signal. Yes we "can hear it" all over the place. But it is not, nor has it ever been a competitive signal for the Philadelphia market. (I am a recovering radio geek and I have difficulty picking it up at home in King of Prussia; I'm lucky if it "stops on the seek" even half the time I try in the car.)

42 million dollars seems like a lot to pay for a standalone in Market #75, even one that bills as well as WJBR. Unless the Beasleys can cluster it up with at least one other Wilmington FM and an AM or two (and there aren't many Wilmington-proper signals in the first place), I would really agree some kind of a move-in to Philly will probably soon be on the table.