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CBS RADIO merges with Entercom: DFW Impact

Kent said:
If La Grande does get blown up, I suspect Entercom will go with some derivative of rock. I don't see an urban derived format as very likely.
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One issue with 107.5 is that it has 17.5 kw vs the other Cedar Hill stations with 100 kw. It really does not offer a competitive signal in Collin, Denton and Wise counties, particularly as you get farther north. Any change in format has to take into account the coverage and the fact that the station is not doing badly right now.
 
miketheradioguy said:
I can name a couple CBS Radio stations that may change formats under the Entercom ownership, and I'll expect these stations to flip within 6 months of closing if not immediately. I'm ready for impact when it comes to the CBS Radio-Entercom merger, as there are radio stations in my area that are owned by CBS Radio and will be a part of Entercom when the merger closes.
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The first job for Entercom is to show the CBS shareholders, who will have 73% of Entercom's stock, that they can improve operating cash flow. Most of that will come from combined management, combined facilities in some markets, cost cutting and other "synergies".

The fear is that a no-growth first year would cause a rather dramatic drop in share price.

Format changes wipe out billing in most cases, and are the same as a new station start-up. In larger transactional markets, it can take a year to get back to where the station was before the format shift (obviously, a format tweak is different). That means millions in lost revenue. So I'd say that, unless a station is not making money, or it becomes obvious that having two same-format stations in the same market is not productive, there won't be any significant changes.

It would seem likely that tiny markets, like Victorville and Palm Springs, would be spun off. Some of those more recent acquisitions will not produce capital gains so they seem like no-brainers.
 
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I can think of a few potential casualties (La Grande 107.5 and Energy in San Diego seem particularly endangered to me), but most underperformers are in large markets where both own stations. I expect those will be spun, and someone else will have to make those decisions. I expect the biggest changes will be in management. As The Big A mentioned on another board, CBS tends to have a lot of managers, and Entercom seems likely to lower that headcount. I also expect some high payroll personalities to either be let go or refuse pay cuts and walk. We saw that the last time Entercom and CBS did a large deal. There were some surprises, too, like Brother Wease in Rochester and Tom Prestigiacomo in Memphis.

I'm having a hard time even remembering when Entercom last made a format change. The last I can remember are The End in Sacramento replacing Star 106.5, the launch of WKAF as an urban AC in Boston, and KIFM in San Diego to KXSN. There could be more, but Entercom has very few problems and should be well when it comes to digesting the CBS stations. CBS hasn't made many recent changes either; the only recent ones I can think of are Amp in Philly to WTDY-FM and KVIL to Amp. The CBS stations are also largely successful.
 
Kent said:
I can think of a few potential casualties (La Grande 107.5 and Energy in San Diego seem particularly endangered to me), but most underperformers are in large markets where both own stations. I expect those will be spun, and someone else will have to make those decisions.
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Let's take KMVK: it has a lesser signal, but is still billing in the range of stations like KEGL, KBFB, KDGE, and exceeds the billings of KJKK, KSOC and KRNB. Why would Entercom want to have one less signal in market #5? And why would they want to change the format on a Spanish language station in a market that is 30% Hispanic?

Energy looks more like a station that needs to be tweaked rather than one that needs to be changed. A format change in such a crowded market will take a year, at least, to recover from and cost valuable cash flow in the meantime. If there is a change, I would consider it more likely to be an adjustment and not a flip. Again, why would Entercom spin off a station in a top 20 market that they do not have to sell?
 
Just for the record, I was not trying to say KMVK or Energy would be spun. I specifically mentioned that most underperformers were in markets where both CBS and Entercom have stations, and I was intending to say the underperformers in those markets would probably just get spun. I was thinking La Grande and Energy were more likely candidates for flips, though I will say La Grande seems to be doing better than I had previously heard.

When I was referring to stations being spun, I was specifically thinking of San Francisco, where Entercom will have to spin off stations anyway. I doubt Entercom will be keeping the underperformers there. It'll just make them someone else's problem. DOJ concerns are minimal. The only reason Entercom would hold onto, say, a KITS would be if the revenue situation of a swap necessitated getting rid of a stronger station.

Boston comes to mind, too, though I keep hearing Entercom may be willing to keep some lower rated stations because it has more DOJ concerns there.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Let's take KMVK: it has a lesser signal, but is still billing in the range of stations like KEGL, KBFB, KDGE, and exceeds the billings of KJKK, KSOC and KRNB. Why would Entercom want to have one less signal in market #5? And why would they want to change the format on a Spanish language station in a market that is 30% Hispanic?

Energy looks more like a station that needs to be tweaked rather than one that needs to be changed. A format change in such a crowded market will take a year, at least, to recover from and cost valuable cash flow in the meantime. If there is a change, I would consider it more likely to be an adjustment and not a flip. Again, why would Entercom spin off a station in a top 20 market that they do not have to sell?
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Entercom doesn't need to divest any radio stations in Dallas-Fort Worth because it isn't an overlapping market, and Entercom is simply divesting 92.1 in San Diego which simulcasts 97.3 KSON in the northern portions of the market. Therefore, Entercom already knows what they're planning to divest, so there's no point in Entercom divesting stations in markets where it's unnecessary.
 
Kent said:
Boston comes to mind, too, though I keep hearing Entercom may be willing to keep some lower rated stations because it has more DOJ concerns there.
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Especially when it comes to the sports station, as Entercom will have to let go of one of them.
 
I just saw a facebook post that changes are coming to 103.7 hd2. Any thoughts b/c im fearing smooth jazz is going away
 
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djwannabe said:
I just saw a facebook post that changes are coming to 103.7 hd2. Any thoughts b/c im fearing smooth jazz is going away
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I guess that means the CBS Radio-Entercom merger could close next week since they're saying the changes will happen in 10 days, and it looks like Entercom is planning something new on KVIL-HD2.
 
miketheradioguy said:
I guess that means the CBS Radio-Entercom merger could close next week since they're saying the changes will happen in 10 days, and it looks like Entercom is planning something new on KVIL-HD2.
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Not likely. According to recent releases from Entercom, the deal will close about a month after being granted by the FCC and the DOJ.
 
Kent said:
Not likely. According to recent releases from Entercom, the deal will close about a month after being granted by the FCC and the DOJ.
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Quite frequently deals close on the last workday of the month of the final grants and approvals. This makes accounting much easier, as thousands of expense items do not have to be prorated if the closing is at any other time.

But, then again, this is such a big deal that we can say that "all bets are off".
 
Kent said:
Not likely. According to recent releases from Entercom, the deal will close about a month after being granted by the FCC and the DOJ.
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From what I saw on the Facebook post, The Oasis may be pointing out a potential format change happening on KVIL-HD2 next week. So I thought the FCC and the DOJ are approving the deal right now, and that the merger would close next week.
 
miketheradioguy said:
From what I saw on the Facebook post, The Oasis may be pointing out a potential format change happening on KVIL-HD2 next week. So I thought the FCC and the DOJ are approving the deal right now, and that the merger would close next week.
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I really doubt that David and Weezie are devoting even a millisecond of thought to HD-2 programming at this time or well into the future.
 
The announcement on Facebook by Smooth Jazz 103.7 HD-2 is interesting. They just tease "big changes coming in 10 days. Stay tuned"
https://www.facebook.com/oasis1037h...240772264238/1501694176518884/?type=3&theater

My take: if this was a format change where Smooth Jazz was going away, why announce it on a page for fans of the Smooth Jazz format?
I think they would be more likely to just ditch the Smooth Jazz in 10 days and kill the Facebook page or change it to a page about the new station.

This seems more like something they would do if they were going to move the format to an HD1 or an HD2 on another signal.
I don't know why they'd move it to another signal on HD2 after going to the trouble of upgrading it from 107.5 HD2 to 103.7 HD2.
It seems more like they're going to move it to a reglar FM or HD1 if you like. That could make sense because there are plenty of formats that are just not working out right now.
When the Oasis was on 107.5, it had decent numbers for a long time despite an inferior signal. More importantly, it had a VERY diverse audience. It was about 50% white, but 30% black and 15-20% hispanic. Maybe they think it's time to give it another go on a regular FM signal and see what happens.
 
tested said:
When the Oasis was on 107.5, it had decent numbers for a long time despite an inferior signal. More importantly, it had a VERY diverse audience. It was about 50% white, but 30% black and 15-20% hispanic. Maybe they think it's time to give it another go on a regular FM signal and see what happens.
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When smooth jazz died in every major market, it was due to two things.

First, the PPM hurt hard those stations with low cume but high TSL. The PPM showed that what people wrote in the diary was much more time than actual, frequently interrupted, listening. Smooth jazz is a low cume format.

Second, the format was already aging to the point that many stations had dropped the format before PPM. It got some numbers, but they were significantly over 55. In the transactional markets, there was no agency money for the format.

And in the diary markets, the aging caught up to the format, making it a hard sell even with local direct.

It sure is not going on a full signal in Dallas.
 
DavidEduardo said:


I really doubt that David and Weezie are devoting even a millisecond of thought to HD-2 programming at this time or well into the future.
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Perhaps they should.

Check the numbers that came out for Houston today. KUHF-HD2 scored a 0.5 P6+, same as last month. This is without a translator rebroadcasting it.

It's outperforming most AMs, and several of the rimshot FMs in the market.
 
I agree with David that it's highly unlikely that the Oasis is going to a full power FM. If it does go to a full power stick, it's probably going to be a non-comm. I can't think of any non-comms that seem likely to change formats, though.

Seems more likely that the format will end up on a translator or two or will move to yet another HD2.
 
I'm under 30 and I like smooth jazz sometimes. I guess I'm strange, LOL but my guess is a translator is in the works, if they don't change the format.
 
2Speakers said:
Perhaps they should.

Check the numbers that came out for Houston today. KUHF-HD2 scored a 0.5 P6+, same as last month. This is without a translator rebroadcasting it.

It's outperforming most AMs, and several of the rimshot FMs in the market.
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KUHF-HD2 gets a tiny bit of listening... but likely enough to get some donations from the classical and fine arts crowd. And that "disenfranchised" group is generally affluent, older and of a generation given to supporting the arts.

But the numbers are not anywhere near the level needed to sustain a commercial station. They are well below 30th in ratings, and in 25-54 they are around 35th. No agency buys 35 deep.

The interesting thing is that they show up in individual PPM weeks, but appear to have never shown up more than one week in a row. Sounds like a household with several meters that listens a lot when they do listen, but not every week. In the last 8 weeks, they have gotten a 0.0 in 4 of the weeks. In April and March, they got nothing and then before that they showed up in one week in February.

No commercial broadcaster is going to "staff up" and operate a station for such a meager result. For the moment, HD2 and HD3 channels are great for formats that are complimentary to a group's local cluster until such time as they can be used or rented out to someone with a translator doing niche programming.

Entercom has hundreds of issues of higher importance than wondering what they can do to make money with an HD channel.
 
DavidEduardo said:


KUHF-HD2 gets a tiny bit of listening... but likely enough to get some donations from the classical and fine arts crowd. And that "disenfranchised" group is generally affluent, older and of a generation given to supporting the arts.

But the numbers are not anywhere near the level needed to sustain a commercial station. They are well below 30th in ratings, and in 25-54 they are around 35th. No agency buys 35 deep.

The interesting thing is that they show up in individual PPM weeks, but appear to have never shown up more than one week in a row. Sounds like a household with several meters that listens a lot when they do listen, but not every week. In the last 8 weeks, they have gotten a 0.0 in 4 of the weeks. In April and March, they got nothing and then before that they showed up in one week in February.

No commercial broadcaster is going to "staff up" and operate a station for such a meager result. For the moment, HD2 and HD3 channels are great for formats that are complimentary to a group's local cluster until such time as they can be used or rented out to someone with a translator doing niche programming.

Entercom has hundreds of issues of higher importance than wondering what they can do to make money with an HD channel.
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True, but with any kind of showing, an HD2 could be a valuable part of their "added value" game. Agencies always demand "added value" these days.
 
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