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WQBU 92.7 Being Sold to Family Radio

B

Barry

RadioInsight reports that Univision will receive 9 million dollars for the station, which they had purchased in 2004 for 60 million.
Though it did not get high ratings, I'm surprised that Univision is willing to part with it, for that relatively low sum. In addition to a Hispanic A/C music format, it also carried some live sports events.
With this sale, it seems unlikely that Family Radio will relaunch a 50,000 watt station on 1560 AM.

Another FM to a Religious Broadcaster
 
Barry said:
RadioInsight reports that Univision will receive 9 million dollars for the station, which they had purchased in 2004 for 60 million.
Though it did not get high ratings, I'm surprised that Univision is willing to part with it, for that relatively low sum. In addition to a Hispanic A/C music format, it also carried some live sports events.
With this sale, it seems unlikely that Family Radio will relaunch a 50,000 watt station on 1560 AM.

Another FM to a Religious Broadcaster
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IMO, Univision Radio is cutting it's losses and pulling out of NYC.
 
saradio1 said:
IMO, Univision Radio is cutting it's losses and pulling out of NYC.
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Not pulling out, just eliminating a station that has never produced adequate revenue due to its very limited signal.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Not pulling out, just eliminating a station that has never produced adequate revenue due to its very limited signal.
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Didn't it, along with its 2 boosters, have a decent signal in the areas where most of the local Hispanic people resided?
Were earnings so poor that Univision could consider 9 million dollars to be an attractive offer?
 
Another waste of signal. What will they do with the Spanish A/C format? Are they going to merge it with X96.3? 🤔
 
bizzle13 said:
Another waste of signal. What will they do with the Spanish A/C format? Are they going to merge it with X96.3? 🤔
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Technically, their competitor, WPAT. WXNY's urban format is designed after similar formats in Dominican Republic. That's the big, young, advertiser-friendly demo in NYC.

Honestly I think Univision would rather have WNBM. That has a limited signal, but it hits the Bronx and Washington Heights markets that Hispanic stations target.
 
Flow chart:
Heritage radio station -> Bought by religious broadcaster -> Runs it into the ground dead

Thanks Family Radio for killing one of the most storied Class A signals in the nation. Can only assume this will be the last stop for the legendary former WLIR too. Rot in hell.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Flow chart:
Heritage radio station -> Bought by religious broadcaster -> Runs it into the ground dead

Thanks Family Radio for killing one of the most storied Class A signals in the nation. Can only assume this will be the last stop for the legendary former WLIR too. Rot in hell.
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WLIR was sold because the format became unprofitable. The "real estate" (the frequency) became more valuable than the existing format, so someone bought it, tore down the decrepit old building and constructed a new one.

In radio, "heritage" in major markets is the position in the last ratings book. If the format does not recover with tweaking or promotion or both, then there is no remaining heritage of value and the format needs to be altered or changed.
 
Barry said:
Didn't it, along with its 2 boosters, have a decent signal in the areas where most of the local Hispanic people resided?
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No. Not at all.
Barry said:
Were earnings so poor that Univision could consider 9 million dollars to be an attractive offer?
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You are assuming it made any money at all. You should be asking how much money it was losing and what the prospects of having a signal that did not reach 80% of the market's Hispanics might be.

The boosters are ineffective. Those tiny signals do not penetrate the predominantly multi-family dwellings in the coverage area, and they serve parts of the market where most Hispanics commute in public transit, and don't listen in cars.
 
So, is the weak 92.7 signal a significantly better fit for Family Radio? it will also give FR limited coverage of the area. They do have 106.3 near Mt. Kisco, but that also has limited reach.
And assuming it's still for sale, would WNBM 103.9, which may reach more Hispanic households, be a better fit for Univision Radio?
 
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According to Radio Locator, WQBU puts a "local" signal over most of Manhattan. Or do the Radio Locator coverage maps show coverage areas larger than listeners' experiences would suggest? Or do the benchmark millivolts per meter figures used decades ago represent larger geographic areas than today's reception conditions allow, given much more electrical RF noise.
 
ajaynejr said:
According to Radio Locator, WQBU puts a "local" signal over most of Manhattan. Or do the Radio Locator coverage maps show coverage areas larger than listeners' experiences would suggest? Or do the benchmark millivolts per meter figures used decades ago represent larger geographic areas than today's reception conditions allow, given much more electrical RF noise.
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Manhattan is different from most markets reception-wise due to all the skyscrapers, and also as mentioned, the fact that most people don't use cars.
 
ajaynejr said:
According to Radio Locator, WQBU puts a "local" signal over most of Manhattan. Or do the Radio Locator coverage maps show coverage areas larger than listeners' experiences would suggest? Or do the benchmark millivolts per meter figures used decades ago represent larger geographic areas than today's reception conditions allow, given much more electrical RF noise.
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Radio-Locator's "local" contour is the outer limit of viable indoor reception - a car radio might pick up the station further out, but the red circle is where your station is a realistic option for the average listener. It doesn't take into account buildings, and it only makes very limited use of terrain data. There are all sorts of "holes" within the contour that aren't shown - the Radio-Locator maps are very vague.

Here's a Longley-Rice plot of WQBU from RabbitEars: https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=50838f929e144d188ee0c1b6063ebeb7&map=Y - you can see the difference!
 
WQBU 92.7 is apparently off the air tonight. The station is still streaming online.
Sister station WXNY 96.3 for the past few days has been rebroadcasting WADO 1280 AM on HD2, instead of WQBU.
Perhaps the sale to Family Radio is imminent.
 
Barry said:
WQBU 92.7 is apparently off the air tonight. The station is still streaming online.
Sister station WXNY 96.3 for the past few days has been rebroadcasting WADO 1280 AM on HD2, instead of WQBU.
Perhaps the sale to Family Radio is imminent.
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The sale closed earlier today.
 
Why would they pay that much money for a two thousand watt station. Was this a higher output when it was originally bought for 60 million? Wabc sold for around 12 million and it has a huge reach at 50 kw. Could someone explain to me why this station has such a high valuation?
 
Syfy said:
Why would they pay that much money for a two thousand watt station. Was this a higher output when it was originally bought for 60 million?
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No. It is a conforming Class A station.
Syfy said:
Wabc sold for around 12 million and it has a huge reach at 50 kw. Could someone explain to me why this station has such a high valuation?
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WABC is AM.

And WQBU was bought two decades ago, when station prices were 6 to 10 times higher than they are today.
 
Barry said:
WQBU 92.7 is apparently off the air tonight. The station is still streaming online.
Sister station WXNY 96.3 for the past few days has been rebroadcasting WADO 1280 AM on HD2, instead of WQBU.
Perhaps the sale to Family Radio is imminent.
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A streaming only service is now operating, without the frequency mentions.
 
92.7 returned to the air at midnight. It went straight into religious music.
For the moment, the programming is different than Family Radio's national feed. Perhaps they need a few days to set up satellite reception equipment.
They ID as WFME. That has been the call for their sister station on 106.3 FM. Anyone know what it is now?
 
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