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WJER Website

B

BizDecision

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I've noticed that the WJER website has WJER AM 1450 in huge letters in the upper right corner. No mention of WJER 101.7 FM. Is this a sign that the FM is finally on the way out of Dover? How soon is this likely to be finalized? If so, I would look for WTUZ to be licking their chops come football season.
 
CC supposed to take over in the fall of this year.....AM1450 to stay in Dover (former owner possibly purchasing the AM, but I can't confirm that)....
 
Logic?

Oaktree, help me see the logic of this if there is any. Owner sells two stations to Clear Channel for 3.6-million dollars, enters in an LMA (and so is essentially giving $ back to run it if I have this correct) and then might buy back one of the stations he originally owned????? Are the big wigs at Clear Channel thinking, "Does this guy own anything else?"
 
You gotta stop by OMW more often. We've been all over this upside down and sideways, including the placement of the new WJER-AM 1450-only logo on their website...it's been there for some time.

http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2006/06/brief-wjer-folo.html

A search for WJER up at the top of OMW returns 10 items...

The latest is trying to figure out why the WJER-FM construction permit application for the North Canton move hasn't shown up yet. The 90 day deadline to file a CP after the NPRM was approved has now been reached. Based on previous experience with such things in the FCC database, it's not hard to believe that the CP application has already been filed, but just hasn't shown up online yet.

BTW, everything in the message now two messages above this one matches what we've heard at this end. It would appear that if Mr. Petricola doesn't purchase 1450 outright after 101.7 moves north, he'd still be able to at least temporarily run it in Dover under the existing reverse LMA with Clear Channel...
 
CC has got to be extremely happy with the way everything turned out; Reverse LMA=$$$ back to CC, and possibly another large chunck going back if the former owner decides to buy back AM1450. The only thing I can think is that this is the only thing he has left, and is trying to hold onto it for as long as he can.
My question is, how much profit can an extremely small AM station in the middle of nowhere make? You can't even pick up AM1450 on the south side of New Phila. once the sun goes down! You'd think CC would move the AM North and pack it with talk programming that makes big $$$$....


Oaktree, help me see the logic of this if there is any. Owner sells two stations to Clear Channel for 3.6-million dollars, enters in an LMA (and so is essentially giving $ back to run it if I have this correct) and then might buy back one of the stations he originally owned?? Are the big wigs at Clear Channel thinking, "Does this guy own anything else?"
 
oaktree68 said:
My question is, how much profit can an extremely small AM station in the middle of nowhere make? You can't even pick up AM1450 on the south side of New Phila. once the sun goes down! You'd think CC would move the AM North and pack it with talk programming that makes big $$$$....

Good question. I don't know if it'd even be possible (signal wise) to move 1450 north, and it sure isn't going to be allowed to happen with 101.7 also leaving Dover. That leaves Dover with no local service whatsoever (as far as COL goes, which is what the FCC keeps track of in this situation). 101.7 was allowed to change its COL in part because 1450 was still going to be in Dover. They aren't counting total stations in the market in these cases, like 99.9...they would not let Dover lose its "only local service" COL-wise, and 95.9 is licensed to New Philly.

Interesting idea, tho!
 
Are the big wigs at Clear Channel thinking, "Does this guy own anything else?"
[/quote]

It's no wonder why conventional broadcast radio is in such bad shape these days.
 

It's likely that WJER-AM will stay in Dover. As OMW pointed out, you can't leave a city of license without leaving behind a full-time facility. It might be possible to move the 1450 sticks a FEW miles to the north or northeast, but there are a couple of issues that would keep that frequency on a tight leash. First, it would still have to put a "city grade" signal over Dover.... tough to do on a "graveyard" channel with only 1kw at night. I'm assuming the old site was located when they only could run 250w at night on those channels, so there might be a little wiggle room, but not much. Another issue involves co and adjacent channels. Moving 1450 north would move it closer to the 1450 facilities in Sandusky and Erie which might be an issue. Going directional is probably not an option on that freqency and would negate any coverage gained to the north anyway. Moving 1450 to the north would also likely be an issue with WHBC/1480 and WHKK/1440. I'm sure WHBC would fight a Canton move-in with every engineering argument in the book.

Now why was a reverse LMA not a smart idea? CC maintained control of the property while the application to move 101.7 crawled through the FCC. By leasing it back to the orignal owners, it gets a guaranteed cashflow which may or may not be as much as it could get by operating it itself, but without the downside and the headaches. It might, indeed, sell the property back to the original owners. It might sell to someone else. It might continue to lease it back to Petricola. It might go in an operate it itself. Options are a good thing. Sooner or later, WNPQ is going to have to be in-play. Isn't Natoli pushing 110 years old or so?? Maybe Petricola takes that money he pocked in the sale and buys back 95.9 and/or 99.9. Maybe the Tusky Valley folks buy out 1450.

Finally, I would not be concerned that you have not seen an FCC filing. The FCC site often runs behind the times. In fact, it's still showing the rulemaking to move 101.7 to N. Canton as a pending app.
 
We reported a while back that the 101.7 CP was filed and granted. I have no idea why it hasn't shown up on CDBS, but that database has had issue after issue, and it HAS been behind on some stuff (at least the public access version).

As far as 1450 goes, isn't there an alternate site for the stick specified in the original sales agreement? That was in there with the assumption that Mr. Petricola et al. would eventually abandon the facility on Broadway.

With 1450 seeming to stay behind, at least for now, that becomes less vital. But there was talk of moving it to another stick not far away. I'll have to look into that...

Once again, CC has no use for 1450. Even if they could run it as a satellite feed, they'd still be unable to sell it with no presence in Dover/New Philly. My guess? Mr. Petricola hangs onto it for a while.

-OMW
 
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