I just heard the rumor.....No money to run the 50kw blow torch
Who would have thought this would happen ?
What a shocker !
Fish
Who would have thought this would happen ?
What a shocker !
Fish
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WLS The Big 89 going dark
- Thread starter Radio Fish Heads
- Start date
I would think this to be more rumor than fact. Given their placement in the Chicago ARB's, I would be amazed that a company could not make money with that station.
On the other hand, Citadel hasn't exactly amazed me with their operating prowess yet.
Still and yet...whatever happens, it would have no effect whatsoever on broadcasting in these parts....
On the other hand, Citadel hasn't exactly amazed me with their operating prowess yet.
Still and yet...whatever happens, it would have no effect whatsoever on broadcasting in these parts....
Radio Fish Heads said:I just heard the rumor.....No money to run the 50kw blow torch
Who would have thought this would happen ?
What a shocker !
Fish
No money? What's that $18 million piled on the desk? Oh, that's the Big 89's annual revenue according to the Chicago Tribune in an April 2009 article. That's $1.5 million a month... $49,000+ every day of the year, weekends included.
Figure cash flow at around 60 percent--around $10.8 million in pure operating profit.
Get a life. Or at least figure out how to use Google.
D
daytontruth
Guest
60% cashflow in 2009? No way.
Oh in another post on here he claims Bill CuTTingham [sic] mentioned it on his radio progrum [ironic sic]! If he doesn't know who Cunningham is after him being on the radio since 1983, then he has no business on a radio blog.oaktree said:I believe the original poster believes in the Easter Bunny. What a dumb thing to post.
daytontruth said:60% cashflow in 2009? No way.
Okay... let's say that 2009 billing on WLS is off 25 percent, down to $13.5 million... and cash flow is only 40 percent, leaving a mere $5.4 million in pure operating profit. That's still a shitload of cold, hard cash. And more than enough to keep that old transmitter firing up on a daily basis.
But, FWIW, I run a six-station cluster and through the first 7 months of this year our profit margin is exactly the same--to the percentage point--as in 2008, even though sales are off by 8 percent. You've read about those cuts in staff and promotion and paperclip purchases? All of that shit is done to preserve the profit margin, and radio's expense side is very, very flexible. Even in market #3.
Citadel's radio stations are still extremely profitable. Their problem is debt, and more specifically, the terms of that debt.
I have no idea what Billy C. was talking about, and if history is prologue, he doesn't either.
They seem to have enough money to pay ibiquity to mush up their signal so it sounds like the 250-w one-lung
signal from a rural county seat two counties away on a winter day....so they must be doing OK.
I'm not worried they will go dark, but wonder how long they can let their awful hiss give WGN the upper hand.
WGN is a bit thick in the lower midrange, but is crisp and has no hiss AT ALL.
If WLS is going to shoot itself in the foot, audio-wise, on a daily basis, the chips will fall where they may.
signal from a rural county seat two counties away on a winter day....so they must be doing OK.
I'm not worried they will go dark, but wonder how long they can let their awful hiss give WGN the upper hand.
WGN is a bit thick in the lower midrange, but is crisp and has no hiss AT ALL.
If WLS is going to shoot itself in the foot, audio-wise, on a daily basis, the chips will fall where they may.
daytontruth said:60% cashflow in 2009? No way.
From what i have been seeing around the industry, a lot of the big guys are still posting an ROI of about 35%. It is the debt that is killing many of them. WLS is not suffering such problems.
The Citadel stations, particularly the former ABC Stations, are profitable and doing well in cash flow. The problem is, the debt that Citadel took on in 2007 is killing it (at $.06 a share.)
It has nothing to do with the stations, per se, it has to do with the ability of the company as a whole to pay its over-leveraged debt and interest to the banks. As a result, it is a bust on Wall Street and the investors /shareholders have lost the worth of the company because there is no "value" in its stock.
"Operational expense & profit" has nothing to do with how it performs in paying its debts, when the company originally overpaid the worth and value of what those investments (from investors, shareholders, banks, etc.) was.
The purchase was over-priced and over-valued. They are in jeopardy of bankruptcy as a company Chapter 11, not Chapter 7, in January if Citadel cannot perform its debt terms of having $150-million in cash on hand in its accounts.
As a result, Citadel is now seeking its lenders to swap debt-for-equity (ownership) of the company, to lower the debt service. However, this is causing problems with the FCC as to overlap of ownership terms between investments by the bigger lenders. Things will begin to heat up by mid-December. The banks are in a difficult position, as is Citadel.
Watch for some intriguing "work-arounds" in the financial world to keep the company afloat, at least until some -- but not all -- of the assets are sold. They won't have to sell all to make a difference, by any stretch of the imagination.
The lenders don't want to own radio stations, but they don't want to take a bloodbath with billions in losses, either.
It has nothing to do with the stations, per se, it has to do with the ability of the company as a whole to pay its over-leveraged debt and interest to the banks. As a result, it is a bust on Wall Street and the investors /shareholders have lost the worth of the company because there is no "value" in its stock.
"Operational expense & profit" has nothing to do with how it performs in paying its debts, when the company originally overpaid the worth and value of what those investments (from investors, shareholders, banks, etc.) was.
The purchase was over-priced and over-valued. They are in jeopardy of bankruptcy as a company Chapter 11, not Chapter 7, in January if Citadel cannot perform its debt terms of having $150-million in cash on hand in its accounts.
As a result, Citadel is now seeking its lenders to swap debt-for-equity (ownership) of the company, to lower the debt service. However, this is causing problems with the FCC as to overlap of ownership terms between investments by the bigger lenders. Things will begin to heat up by mid-December. The banks are in a difficult position, as is Citadel.
Watch for some intriguing "work-arounds" in the financial world to keep the company afloat, at least until some -- but not all -- of the assets are sold. They won't have to sell all to make a difference, by any stretch of the imagination.
The lenders don't want to own radio stations, but they don't want to take a bloodbath with billions in losses, either.
amfmxm said:Radio Fish Heads said:I just heard the rumor.....No money to run the 50kw blow torch
Who would have thought this would happen ?
What a shocker !
Fish
No money? What's that $18 million piled on the desk? Oh, that's the Big 89's annual revenue according to the Chicago Tribune in an April 2009 article. That's $1.5 million a month... $49,000+ every day of the year, weekends included.
Figure cash flow at around 60 percent--around $10.8 million in pure operating profit.
Get a life. Or at least figure out how to use Google.
Yes sounds like a lot of money but when you consider Shitadel is so far up its ass in debt there still losing money. Citadel= Stupidity and Greed
You know what would save the dump? A Boogie Check with John Records.
Unless he repeated it on his Sunday evening show, the comment he made was on his Afternoon radio program in Cincy.gr8oldies said:WLS drops Cunningham's show. Cunningham makes flip comment about WLS going dark. End of story.
Greedy Kilowatt said:You know what would save the dump? A Boogie Check with John Records.
Sorry...but no, that wouldn't happen. There is no music audience listening to AM anymore. And those who might listen to a resurrected WLS as an oldies station are probably too old to attract big ticket advertisers.
My heart would like to see "Musicradio 89/WLS" come back. And "77/WABC". And "The Big 8/CKLW". And "93/KHJ", too.
My head, though...deeply rooted in the realities of the radio business knows, sadly, better.
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