He has a contract that was accepted, contingent on FCC approval. The only out is for the FCC to deny the transfer.
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KBLA-AM sale never consummated
- Thread starter Frequency1
- Start date
He has a contract that was accepted, contingent on FCC approval. The only out is for the FCC to deny the transfer.
It would seem that he has a legal "out" from his contract due to the delays, but most sale contracts include language about delays in approval and specify what will be done in those cases.
It may be that Travis still simply wants the station.
Personally, I think he could have gotten KABC for much less with a much better signal.
Would Cumulus entertain the idea of selling Kabc to tavis?
No. They would gladly sell to a qualified buyer with the necessary funds though.
You sir, win the internet for the day in the radio category.
I just don’t think it’s a smart business move but I’m not criticize someone for what they do with their own money. In my opinion, Tavis would be best suited to just do a show on YouTube. It’s much cheaper, you can say what you want, and you don’t have to spend $7 million-plus dollars on a signal that no one will go to - and that clearly doesn’t want him buying
The article BigA posted says Tavis wants to use KBLA as a launchpad for a network, so the whole thing is bigger than just what he thinks he can do with 1580.
Uh-huh. Sure.
No, it really says that:
Smiley is reportedly putting up $1.5 million for the purchase and corralled investors including rapper Ice Cube, political commentator Van Jones, political comedian Bill Maher, NBA player Mike Conley and Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood pastor Kenneth Ulmer. Smiley has said he wants to use KBLA as the launchpad for a Black talk radio network.
And meanwhile, the programming still runs on KBLA. I even hear it up here in Seattleland many nights.
I suppose the question is: Is anyone else listening? Or is the format working even with its target LA audience? Two African American AM, Seattle area radio stations (3 if you include the Portland affiliate) managed to survive the pandemic, and are still on the air. With no apparent ratings. But they survive. I wonder if a station like KBLA could figure a way to stay in business.
I suppose the question is: Is anyone else listening? Or is the format working even with its target LA audience? Two African American AM, Seattle area radio stations (3 if you include the Portland affiliate) managed to survive the pandemic, and are still on the air. With no apparent ratings. But they survive. I wonder if a station like KBLA could figure a way to stay in business.
Like iHeart's African-American service, there are some operations like this that bank on the business community supporting these programming efforts without using ratings as their primary buying criteria.
The issue is: "how long will altruism last before numeric analysis?" In the current environment, it appears that this may have a fairly long lifespan to demonstrate a willingness of some companies to support greater minority empowerment.
And given iHeart's tendency to cut what doesn't pay off, Tavis and his investors may be banking on being there when iHeart dumps or divests BIN.
So ironic how 1580's 50 kW night pattern is heard all the way up the West Coast, and at times all over the South Pacific. But on day pattern we can barely hear the station in the West SFV just 25m or so from their xmitter. Such bizaare patterns
Another little tidbit that some might find interesting, for quite some time now (possibly months) 1580 has been switching to night pattern about an hour early. In the Los Angeles "radio district" official Sunset in June and July is 8 PM Pacific Daylight Time. The station's Instrument of Authorization would say sunset time is 7 PM Pacific Standard Time (non-advanced). Makes me wonder if whoever it is operating the station thinks the station is supposed to be on Standard Time, or a timer operating the switch for the pattern change is perpetually on Standard Time. Oh well...
Well, it is on 1580. With 50 kw, it would cover less than half the area of 570 with 5 kw.
BIN, like sports talk radio, gets passionate advertisers. Waok in Atlanta may draw 0.1, but they stay alive due to over the top support from the black community in Atlanta
Maybe they borrowed KAZG's lamp timer !
This just in....Tavis Smiley launches syndicated show:
radioink.com
He doesn't appear to have a partner for ad sales or distribution.
Tavis Smiley Launches Show Into Syndication - Radio Ink
SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. has announced the syndication of its flagship program, Tavis Smiley, despite continued trouble around the host.
radioink.com
He doesn't appear to have a partner for ad sales or distribution.
This is a good move. WBOK does a lot of stuff on digital for their live shows in New Orleans. I’ve been a guest on that station before (although I was on to talk about the Saints)This just in....Tavis Smiley launches syndicated show:
Tavis Smiley Launches Show Into Syndication - Radio Ink
SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. has announced the syndication of its flagship program, Tavis Smiley, despite continued trouble around the host.
He doesn't appear to have a partner for ad sales or distribution.