If Cumulus picks up The Sound in a swap, I doubt the filp would be to NASH....more likely "The Ticket" or even "The Ram" (or just Rams Radio). Most programming via CBS Sports Radio and live Westwood One events (football, March Madness)....all programmed by Cumulus! One or two local hosts, along with promoting Jim Rome back on LA Radio.
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Entercom Names Which of Possible Stations It Will Divest in L.A.
- Thread starter pjc1961
- Start date
We talked about that earlier in this thread with the idea that ESPN might buy one of the stations. My view is that all sports would get less audience than country. Especially without a lot of local play-by-play.
That reminds of the (not so) World Famous KMAX 107.1 :>)
But that station had no promotion, no play by play (at least that I can recall, and definitely none of the major properties in town) and no budget. It did have Big Joe McDonnell (and Doug K too?), but he can't carry an entire station. It was poorly financed and poorly executed and suffered the inevitable fate very quickly.
I was wondering Bonneville will likely buy back 100.3, along with the two frequencies they're selling in Seattle for the stations in Phoenix (92.3, 98.7 & 620), since the Bonneville cluster would be sale. Plus Hubbard will likely buy the 4 frequencies in SF for the properties in Cincinnati, which is the #30th largest market. Is it still possible?
Both Bonneville & CBS (soon Entercom) have but two FM's in Phoenix and may consider some horse trading. Not sure why Bonneville would want to buy back KSWD...they paid way too much the first go around, and found themselves with a one station cluster in el Lay. The FCC did them a favor when they forced a reduction in Entercom/Lincoln Financial stations in Denver.
T
The Harsh Reality
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In the days of yore, horse traders shot and killed those horses which turned up gimp. Perhaps we should pool our funds together and send a box of slugs to both companies for Christmas.
Yesterday I heard an announcement on KSWD about the station being put into a trust because of the CBS merger. It would appear then, that the Sound is the station that Entercom plans on spinning off, unless there is another angle to this that I am not seeing.
There is. Entercom and CBS are putting everything into the trust. Gives them flexibility to decide at the last minute which ones to spin. This could take six months or more, and the stations' positions in the ratings could change as could other factors.
Or, they might swap formats (intellectual property) and keep the best signals. The KSWD signal is arguably better than the KROQ signal, so they could even do some last minute moving.
Considering that Jack has hit the road in a couple markets recently, I'm thinking Jack will do the same in Los Angeles if Entercom decides to move The Sound to 93.1 FM and spin 100.3 FM, which would restore the classic rock format on 93.1 before it became Jack FM in 2005.
Considering that Jack bills nearly 40% more than The Sound, I think the decision is obvious.
Entercom can move the KSWD calls to 93.1, the KCBS-FM calls to 106.9 in San Francisco, the KFRC calls to 99.7 in San Francisco, and then the KMVQ calls to 100.3, allowing the new owners to safely discard the KMVQ calls, although I don't know what format would 100.3 flip to if it gets spun. And don't expect Entercom to spin 100.3 to EMF and flip it to K-Love, because Univision already has their own K-Love station on 107.5 FM.
Not gonna happen. The Sound is the weakest link. In signal, in format, in call letters, and in revenue.
Whew! All that call sign switching would be a lot of work. 97.3 FM in San Francisco used to be KCBS-FM, but CBS moved the calls to LA for a reason. I can't see the need to bring them back just so the announcer can say "KCBS AM & FM"once an hour. Besides, I kind of like the current TOH ID - "KCBS and HD1, KFRC and HD1, San Francisco..." or something like that. And 99.7 is now...uh..."99-7 Now," and I doubt one in a hundred listeners care if its KMVQ or KFRC. CBS probably would have changed to some call sign version of "Now" if they cared, but they've let the "Movin" call letters be. CBS's "Live 105" (for something like 30 years now) still has the KITS call sign left over from Hot Hits KITS in the early 80s. "Now's" target listeners would have no sense of history regarding The Big 610, or even the KFRC Oldies station at 99.7 until about 2007.
In Los Angeles and Dallas, EMF avoids programming its K-Love format, so as not to run into confusion or copyright issues. There are already K-Love stations in each market, KLVE 107.5 in LA and KLUV 98.7 in DFW. So EMF programs Air 1 in LA (92.7 KYLA/KYRA/KYZA) and in DFW (101.7 KYDA). I assume Air 1 does nearly as well as K-Love in the markets it has a good signal in, even though EMF seems to make K-Love its higher priority. I'm not much of a Christian Contemporary fan but I really don't hear much of a difference between the two services, even though I've read Air 1 is a bit more uptempo, while K-Love is more like Hot AC.
I would guess the trimulcast at 92.7 is enough for EMF's commitment to Los Angeles. So I doubt EMF is scouting for new FM stations in LA.
David makes a good point for Entercom keeping Jack. Better revenue, better signal, largely automated. But I also like the reasoning of moving KROQ to 100.3 and selling off 106.7, powered at only 5,600 watts, one of the poorest signals in the LA market, apart from the Class A stations in the suburbs. If Entercom did that, it could keep the sports on 100.3, even if it's now KROQ.
I would guess the trimulcast at 92.7 is enough for EMF's commitment to Los Angeles. So I doubt EMF is scouting for new FM stations in LA.
David makes a good point for Entercom keeping Jack. Better revenue, better signal, largely automated. But I also like the reasoning of moving KROQ to 100.3 and selling off 106.7, powered at only 5,600 watts, one of the poorest signals in the LA market, apart from the Class A stations in the suburbs. If Entercom did that, it could keep the sports on 100.3, even if it's now KROQ.
I understand Entercom's preference on keeping Jack. However, my point was that Jack FM was recently discontinued in Sacramento, Jacksonville, and Amarillo, so I thought this could mean a decline of Jack FM. I did read that Enterrcom would put either 93.1 or 100.3 in the trust, but no mention of 106.7. Maybe they will, but we don't know yet what will happen. I'm thinking Cumulus would be interested in acquiring another Los Angeles FM, so they could acquire the station Entercom is spinning and swap a couple of their stations to Entercom.
k9
I am also interested in acquiring whatever station is being spun off and since Cumulus and I have about the same free cash flow, I am guessing we both have the same chances of making it happen.
I am also interested in acquiring whatever station is being spun off and since Cumulus and I have about the same free cash flow, I am guessing we both have the same chances of making it happen.
The difference is Cumulus has something to trade.
One difference: the station is not "largely automated". If one listens, chances are they will hear rather spontaneous listener drops between songs. That's a characteristic of the station since it began, and it required fairly skilled production people in the studio all the time to take calls and edit them down into drops. Another characteristic of the system is that the drops never repeated.
So it wasn't cheap. What they may be doing in this pre-merger period is perhaps different.
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