While you guys are speculating that a current Philly commercial station owner might be doing a purchase or trade with Family Radio, there is one other potential player you may want to add to that list.
A brand new, but very well funded, radio broadcasting company, Merlin Media, has in the last few days taken over an FM in NYC, and two FMs in Chicago.
Merlin is being run by a lot of major league radio talent with legends and reputations going back 40-years or more. Among them Randy Michaels, and programmer Walt Sabo, who was responsible for the NJ-101.5 concept in this area, and also has consulted for Sirius/XM and major stations all over. The former GM from WINS in NYC, is there, as well as the well respected former PD of WYNY in New York in the 80s, Pete Salant.
The big money behind Merlin is coming from a major Chicago investment organization that manages billions of dollars, and is in the business of starting promising new companies.
The most plausible rumor is that Merlin is starting a news/talk operation targeted at women in their 30s and 40s. In NYC and Chicago they have hired top all news anchors from CBS stations. So, it may be a mix of all news, and talk topics like health, fitness, entertainment news, and other lifestyle features.
Early on, Merlin said it had plans to build a major organization, and it has certainly set its sights on buying stations in major markets like Philly. It can spread the cost of producing the features and news among a lot of stations. Major all news stations are among the top billing radio stations, and advertisers are very interested in Soccer mom types who control a tremendous amount of consumer spending. So news/talk aimed at younger women could bring in big bucks.
It would make sense that Merlin would move on the Philly market right away, and not wait for a station to be for sale. It probably wants to get as many major market stations up and running with the new format as soon as it can.
While Family Radio does own its stations outright, and had been running virtually debt free, there are some very reliable indications that it has been spending tens of millions of dollar a year more than it has been taking in for the last several years.
It may be in the kind of situation a homeowner would be in if he owned his house outright, but needed to take a home equity loan to buy food. In this case, instead of taking a loan, Family would sell off a station to raise cash to pay the bills for all its other operations. It's kind sad, because it is like eating your seed corn. And it may be an indication that Family Radio's financial solidity has been squandered. Too much faith, and not enough reality.
Both the NY and Chicago have been buzzing about Merlin, and it seems Philly may be among the next markets to be buzzing about it in the not too distant future. It is a strong possibility that Merlin wants to cast a spell on Philly women too.
