WOR BREAKING NEWS!!!

[RBRadioWaves]

From Jerry Del Colliano's Twitter and from the facebook page of Radioinsight.com

"Big mandatory staff meeting at WOR, New York tomorrow morning at 9:40. Employees fear a sale."

It's WOR's 90 year anniversary, and the station's future may be totally changed tomorrow morning.

 

[radioguy39nj]

If indeed WOR is to be sold, then to who? CC to create another KFI? Or perhaps Disney to simulcast 98.7? Maybe Univision so it can move WADO to a big AM stick.

Let the speculation being! Or it might be a lot of nothing! Stay tuned!

 

[TimeIsTight]

Let the speculation being!

IIRC, Clear Channel is maxed out on FMs, but could still own an AM in NYC.

With Cumulus making noises about putting its own content on WABC, and its sister big city talkers around the country, in a pre-emptive defensive move Clear Channel might want WOR so it can move its own talk shows there as their contracts with WABC expire.

So, in a year or two you'd get Huckabee on WABC, and Rush on WOR.

WOR's cume has been sinking like a stone. The Buckley's would be wise to get out, if they have the chance, before it's value shrinks further.

 

[TheBigA]

It's WOR's 90 year anniversary, and the station's future may be totally changed tomorrow morning.

Well the station has been sold several times in its 90 year history. Every time I drive by the old Bambergers building in downtown Newark, I think of WOR. Someone once told me there are still signs of the original studio in there. I'd love to know. I felt the most stable period was under RKO. Buckley really hasn't done anything creative with the station in years. They're selling off assets since Buckley himself died. So this wouldn't surprise me.

Clear Channel would love a place to park their talk programming, and they don't own any AMs in NYC, so this would work for them. Disney will not buy any facility that requires a tower and transmitter. They might LMA as they did with Emmis. But they won't buy it. Cumulus might buy it for CBS Sports, since CBS is at the limit. But the people spending all the money these days is EMF.

 

[RBRadioWaves]

It's WOR's 90 year anniversary, and the station's future may be totally changed tomorrow morning.

Well the station has been sold several times in its 90 year history. Every time I drive by the old Bambergers building in downtown Newark, I think of WOR. Someone once told me there are still signs of the original studio in there. I'd love to know. I felt the most stable period was under RKO. Buckley really hasn't done anything creative with the station in years. They're selling off assets since Buckley himself died. So this wouldn't surprise me.

Clear Channel would love a place to park their talk programming, and they don't own any AMs in NYC, so this would work for them. Disney will not buy any facility that requires a tower and transmitter. They might LMA as they did with Emmis. But they won't buy it. Cumulus might buy it for CBS Sports, since CBS is at the limit. But the people spending all the money these days is EMF.

- CC does seem likely to buy it, to enter the NY AM radio arena. They could continue as is, go Fox Sports, or flip it to a cheap format that they probably would spend little on (Spanish, Classic Country, comedy, etc.)

-Ah, Cumulus. They seem to be buying up property like it's going out of style. They also seem likely to buy the station.

-EMF seems to buy rimshot or suburban FM radio stations. The only reason why EMF would buy it is to get Klove a better signal in the NY metro, as WKLV does not reach into Staten Island.

 

[davideduardo]

- CC does seem likely to buy it, to enter the NY AM radio arena. They could continue as is, go Fox Sports, or flip it to a cheap format that they probably would spend little on (Spanish, Classic Country, comedy, etc.)

There is no Spanish language option, except maybe paid evangelical religion, for an AM.

The talk station, WADO, is half paid programs, and ESPN is putting Spanish sports on 1050. That alone will oversaturate the limited Spanish-speaking Hispanic interest in AM.

Classic country does not generally work except for a few very isolated cases in hard-core country markets. It works better on FM where it does work.

Comedy is an ephemeral solution for a mediocre facility that is all paid for... not for a new acquisition.

 

[TheBigA]

- CC does seem likely to buy it, to enter the NY AM radio arena. They could continue as is, go Fox Sports,

I haven't seen much of a commitment from CC to Fox Sports, at least not a financial commitment. What would be interesting would be a partnership in the station between an operator like CC and a content provider like Fox, with the latter providing some of the capital. While I think a partnership would be a great idea for ownership in a market like NYC, I'm not sure that CC and Fox would be the most likely partners.

Cumulus has been doing partnership deals that seem to work (at least right now), so they might bring a money partner to the table. I mentioned them buying this station for the CBS Sports Network because WFAN is only going to cherry-pick certain offerings. Even if they run a show, they probably won't clear all the commercial inventory. Cumulus will need more than that in Market #1 to make this viable. CBS can't be an owner, but I believe they could provide some non-operational financing, like a minority stake, using Cumulus as a trustee.

 

[Kent]

-EMF seems to buy rimshot or suburban FM radio stations. The only reason why EMF would buy it is to get Klove a better signal in the NY metro, as WKLV does not reach into Staten Island.

Although it has bought AM's as part of a larger deal, I'm not aware of any time when EMF has purchased a standalone AM.

 

[whdh1920]

cc could buy it and make it comedy radio like here in Boston!!!!

 

[charlestondxman]

This is interesting. Don't know what will happen.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

If it's to be an outright sale/purchase that's announced, what would the price be?

 

[TheBigA]

Ten percent of what it would have been five years ago.

 

[davideduardo]

If it's to be an outright sale/purchase that's announced, what would the price be?

It depends on how badly someone wants it.

Jerry del Colliano just tweeted that execs from CC will be at the meeting tomorrow. With ownership of Premiere, Clear can extract more value from this than anyone else at the moment.

It's billing around $15 million. It's a costly operation. AM prices tend to reflect the dying nature of the band.

I would guess at a cash flow around $3.5 million (and that may be high...), and at a premium of 10 x BCF, it would be worth $30 to $35 million. A more rational price would be 6 x cash flow, which includes the "AM discount" and that means around $22 million if my BCF estimate is in the ball park... which it may not be.

Let the guessing begin.

My guess would be $25 to $27 million.

 

[jmtillery]

Any radio property is worth as much as anyone is willing to pay for it; However, to be more realistic, my guess is somewhere in the general neighborhood of $15 million - $21 million, depending of its current positive broadcast cash-flow, and assuming the real estate at the transmiter site is included with the sale.

 

[TheBigA]

My guess would be $25 to $27 million.

At that price, it better also include the "WOR Network."

 

[davideduardo]

My guess would be $25 to $27 million.

At that price, it better also include the "WOR Network."

Premiere could probably "churn" those affiliates... there might even be some limited value there.

 

[davideduardo]

Any radio property is worth as much as anyone is willing to pay for it; However, to be more realistic, my guess is somewhere in the general neighborhood of $15 million - $21 million, depending of its current positive broadcast cash-flow, and assuming the real estate at the transmiter site is included with the sale.

With the likelihood that del Colliano has tweeted accurately about Clear being in tomorrow's meeting, what is the value to them?

As a general question, could Clear believe they could seize the opportunity presented by a non-local and disengaged WABC to create another KFI? Or would they just want a NY station to clear the Premiere shows?

The recent pulling of Rush from the CC AM talker shows that they apply rather sharp analytics to things. But could, perhaps, a major opportunity for a more local focus with a strong news image be a working model in NY? In that case, and with the price being whatever the buyer thinks it is worth, could this drive the transaction north of $25 million?

 

[WNTIRadio]

This is interesting for sure... If they pulled Rush/Levin/Hannity/Beck to WOR, that would leave WABC with the choice to either go second tier syndicated shows, which we can see didn't work all that well at WOR or shift to a more local focus. Sometimes the cheapest option isn't the one that will make you the most money.

Signal wise, for most of the metro, WOR is on par with WABC/WCBS/WFAN despite it's mild directionality. In some areas, due to the patter, the signal is better than the non-D stations. It sure does blow down the NJ Turnpike all the way to Philly.

 

[LA_Guy]

If it's to be an outright sale/purchase that's announced, what would the price be?

My guess would be $25 to $27 million.

How sad. Mel Karmizan offered Buckley over 100 million for it a while back and he turned it down.

WOR has a superior signal to most of the other 50s in NYC because of its frequency, location and the fact that it's lobe blows well over 100 kW into Manhattan. Having a fairly new transmitter site helps too (they moved a few years ago).

 

[TheBigA]

This is interesting for sure... If they pulled Rush/Levin/Hannity/Beck to WOR, that would leave WABC with the choice to either go second tier syndicated shows, which we can see didn't work all that well at WOR or shift to a more local focus.

Or use it as a launching board for the next generation of Rush, Hannity, and Beck. That seems to be what they aim to do. Create new national shows around celebrity hosts. They're starting with Geraldo and Huckabee. They just need a few more. Like those two, they'll start as local shows, and expand to national once they get comfortable. Remember: Cumulus owns the former ABC Radio Network, where Hannity got his start.