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Entercom + CBS Radio - Impact on San Diego (KSOQ)

david

david

Leading Participant
Entercom owns Sunny 98.1, KSON 97.3 and FM 94/9... CBS owns 96.5 KYXY and Energy 103.7. That's 5 FMs with total full market coverage signals. Entercom also owns rimshot KSOQ 92.1 in North County, which I suspect will be the signal that gets spun off to comply with the 5 FMs cap per market rule.
 
dvdnjr91 said:
So watch EMF take the station and turn it into either Air1 or K- love.
Click to expand...


They already have Air1 on 96.1, and K-love on two signals. Both formats cover the 92.1 signal area well, so they won't have much to gain there.
 
Or 92.1 will go silent like they're doing to KDND 107.9 in Sacramento. Saves money. People can stream KSON online if they have trouble with the signal.
 
crainbebo said:
Or 92.1 will go silent like they're doing to KDND 107.9 in Sacramento. Saves money. People can stream KSON online if they have trouble with the signal.
Click to expand...

A property that last sold for $18 million is not going to be shut down, even at post recession values. It does not "save money" to write off something worth millions.

Entercom can sell the station or use it in a trade for other properties or they can rest it in a trust. They have already said that trades are the primary objective in the divestitures due to the tax treatment.

The turning in of the Sacramento license was done to, hopefully, settle the issues surrounding a contest that KDND ran in which a listener died and which cast a shadow on Entercom's fitness as a licensee. The consensus is that handing in the license will expedite the bigger deal with CBS because it removes a character qualification issue that might have held up the whole deal.

Unless a station 100% simulcasts on its web stream (and most do not) the ratings of the stream for KSON are not combined with the FM signal ratings. The licensee knows what percentage of listening goes to each signal, and thy will have to decide which of the signals they will sell or trade off.
 
If KSOQ gets spun off let's say too Cumulus just a long shot I'm guessing here. Well they buy more stations in this market.
 
dvdnjr91 said:
If KSOQ gets spun off let's say too Cumulus just a long shot I'm guessing here. Well they buy more stations in this market.
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I can't say for sure, of course, but I don't think Cumulus has the resources to buy any station in San Diego. They're at the brink of having to sell stations to stay afloat. As I understand it, they have a $2-billion dollar debt to service, and their common stock is trading well below the $1 level, $1 being the minimum to stay listed in NASDQ Global Markets. Recently, they had to do a reverse stock split in order to prevent delisting and to raise the share price to above $1 and now here they are again, trading well below $1. That corporation is not well.
 
Even if corporate debt were not an issue, why would Cumulus want a stand-alone Class A rimshot signal like KSOQ? Cumulus has no San Diego stations. Seems more likely KSOQ would go to Salem, which owns two AM's in S.D. that could benefit from even a small FM signal. Or possibly Crawford. It could simulcast AM 1240, which is less than 1kw and doesn't get to North County well.
 
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Willits said:
I can't say for sure, of course, but I don't think Cumulus has the resources to buy any station in San Diego. They're at the brink of having to sell stations to stay afloat. As I understand it, they have a $2-billion dollar debt to service, and their common stock is trading well below the $1 level, $1 being the minimum to stay listed in NASDQ Global Markets. Recently, they had to do a reverse stock split in order to prevent delisting and to raise the share price to above $1 and now here they are again, trading well below $1. That corporation is not well.
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At 32 cents a share, we could pool our resources and gain controlling interest of CMLS. But why? Debt at the end of 2016 amounted to 2.4b (a tenth of what I ♥ Debt has on their books). Debt interest last year was $136m. They can make the payments, but can't satisfy minimums at NASDAQ, which could trigger default by debt holders. Again, why would they want the Company? Mary Berner is no dummy, and there could be some swap scenarios in the CBS/Entercom deal that result in more revenue for CMLS. Then there's always more Ancient Modulation tower sites that could be sold.....
 
Entercom has already placed 92.1 KSOQ in the divestiture trust, so that means that Entercom will only spin off that station.

Other changes I think may happen once the merger completes include KYXY and Sunny merging formats on either 96.5 or 98.1 with the other flipping to a new format, and Energy possibly re-branding to AMP Radio to boost their ratings.
 
After some thoughts, I think that Energy 103.7 will probably shift into a more Rhythmic direction, allowing Entercom to compete against iHeartMedia's Jam'n 95.7.
 
The announcement of the deal by Entercom to spin off KSWD L.A., KSOQ Escondido and WGGI Berwick, PA to Educational Media Foundation:

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...com-spins-kswd-100-3-the-sound-los-angeles-ks

Currently K-Love is heard in the San Diego area on 102.1 KLVJ Encinitas + a translator (K257FV) on 99.3 FM San Diego (actually located near San Marcos, CA).
Air1 is currently heard on KSSX-HD2-95.7 + a translator on 98.5 FM (K253AD) Oceanside, CA along with KPRI-FM-100.1 Julian and KYDO-FM-96.1 Campo, CA.
 
pjc1961 said:
The announcement of the deal by Entercom to spin off KSWD L.A., KSOQ Escondido and WGGI Berwick, PA to Educational Media Foundation:

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...com-spins-kswd-100-3-the-sound-los-angeles-ks

Currently K-Love is heard in the San Diego area on 102.1 KLVJ Encinitas + a translator (K257FV) on 99.3 FM San Diego (actually located near San Marcos, CA).
Air1 is currently heard on KSSX-HD2-95.7 + a translator on 98.5 FM (K253AD) Oceanside, CA along with KPRI-FM-100.1 Julian and KYDO-FM-96.1 Campo, CA.
Click to expand...

Divesting KSOQ in San Diego was a logical choice for Entercom after all.
 
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