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Salem starting to trim stations?

M

Mediafrog+

Walk of Fame Participant
Saw that Salem is selling WSPZ in Washington, D.C. Various reports have said the company is trimming non-strategic assets.

While I don’t think KKHT or KNTH are going anywhere, I have to wonder about KTEK. But who would buy an AM daytimer here when the market has plenty of basket cases.

WSPZ sold for only $750,000, and that is for a 35kw daytime signal that would appear to be pretty solid in the immediate D.C. metro area. The 5kw night signal misses a lot of the market.

KTEK does have a translator, but it is basically a Brazoria County signal, nothing further.

With Salem and Urban One in the mood to dump stations, the impending sale of the Cox Radio group, speculation about Cumulus and KRBE, EMF on the prowl as well as the ongoing Liberman bankruptcy, we might be in for some interesting times here.
 
Yes. The CEO of Salem, Ed Atsinger, made the declaration during the company's earnings call earlier this month that the company would look to sell "less strategic" assets if they could get a good price. Salem in 2018 also agreed to sell their Louisville cluster and a station in Boston, a station in Miami, and a cluster in Omaha.

I'm not sure what a good price would be for KTEK. I see basically no revenue potential there.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Yes. The CEO of Salem, Ed Atsinger, made the declaration during the company's earnings call earlier this month that the company would look to sell "less strategic" assets if they could get a good price. Salem in 2018 also agreed to sell their Louisville cluster and a station in Boston, a station in Miami, and a cluster in Omaha.

I'm not sure what a good price would be for KTEK. I see basically no revenue potential there.
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I'll cash in my 401k........I'll give them 25k for KTEK. I'll then file experimental authority to go all digital. Retiring is overrated anyway...
 
I doubt anything in the Houston market will go. They seem to be in a pretty good place with their stations in Houston. Sure KTEK has few options but it seems Salem chose wisely on their plan to generate billing off of KTEK. Given the prices being paid for stations these days, selling now might not be 'good timing'. A good price? Given what a realistic income potential would be, perhaps in the $500,000 to $800,000 range if no capital improvements are required. The question becomes how long it takes to locate that buyer.
 
This was a sale months in the making. WSPZ had been on AM 570 until Nov of 2017 when Salem took over from Red Zebra Broadcasting (Media arm of The Washington Redskins). Salem moved "The Answer" Conservative Talk format to 570, and changed the Call Letters to WWRC. Up till now, WSPZ-AM 1260 had been simulcasting Salem's FM Christian Talk in DC as a place holder, until it was sold.
 
b-turner said:
Given the prices being paid for stations these days, selling now might not be 'good timing'.
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Salem owns a lot of bad AM facilities. If they are going to sell them, there's no time like the present. The odds those facilities grow in profitability or book value seem very slim to me.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Salem owns a lot of bad AM facilities. If they are going to sell them, there's no time like the present.
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Mornings and evenings, KTEK is bombarded by 50 KW KVTT in Dallas - so the future dividends are limited. KTEK would have to increase its current 2.5 KW daytime power to be serviceable. Of course, real estate infomercials (and Asian music on weekends) pay a lot of bills.
May I pay respects to your post-script lines:
"Its music what makes a radio station, and at Live FM, we play the last music around. After receiving that copy, I quit the VO industry."
Thanks for that gem - grammar is a Lost Art.
 
First off, I would say Salem is a "Christian" chain in name only, otherwise there wouldn't be beer parties at manager's houses and that's a FACT. In one of their other previous losing quarterly conference calls, instead of saying a couple of their big shots were unavailable to participate in the call, they had these guys phone in from their cruise ship vacations. How's THAT for respect for the stock holders...another quarterly loss conference call and the big shots are away on a cruise but call in via satelite phone at company expense! Am I ever impressed. They are selling some of their real estate in selected markets and their self publishing house, pronounced "Zoo-Lon" has been bleeding money for multiple quarter. Since rates are determined by listenership, perhaps they should re-evaluate the things which turn listeners away like these fund raising programs they run and the sleazy PI spots where they repeat the phone number four and five times. Boy is that ever good radio! I know, I don't know what I'm talking about, right?
 
All Christian denominations don't prohibit alcohol.

DOGDOG said:
First off, I would say Salem is a "Christian" chain in name only, otherwise there wouldn't be beer parties at manager's houses and that's a FACT. In one of their other previous losing quarterly conference calls, instead of saying a couple of their big shots were unavailable to participate in the call, they had these guys phone in from their cruise ship vacations. How's THAT for respect for the stock holders...another quarterly loss conference call and the big shots are away on a cruise but call in via satelite phone at company expense! Am I ever impressed. They are selling some of their real estate in selected markets and their self publishing house, pronounced "Zoo-Lon" has been bleeding money for multiple quarter. Since rates are determined by listenership, perhaps they should re-evaluate the things which turn listeners away like these fund raising programs they run and the sleazy PI spots where they repeat the phone number four and five times. Boy is that ever good radio! I know, I don't know what I'm talking about, right?
Click to expand...
 
gr8oldies said:
All Christian denominations don't prohibit alcohol.

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The largest one (Roman Catholicism) certainly doesn't, nor do the majority of Protestant sects. I'm not even sure a blanket prohibition is in Southern Baptist dogma, but the denomination does have its share of teetotalers. It could be that only minor fundamentalist churches and the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons, although they don't want to be called that anymore) expressly forbid alcohol consumption.

Now, are all of Salem's executives Southern Baptists or do they come from all over the conservative Protestant spectrum?
 
If I were to hazard a guess, the execs likely attend a variety of non-denominational protestant churches, mega- or otherwise. Last I knew the SBC had a blanket prohibition (though the claim is the individual churches are autonomous). In the United Methodist Church, no alcohol was allowed on church grounds or functions, and I think it may be officially prohibited in the Book of Discipline but people who attend do drink if they so desire.

Yes, the drunkest I ever got was at a Catholic festival. The folks in my hometown brought that love of beer over from Germany with them. Folks there didn't have any qualms about minors drinking---even young minors.



CTListener said:
The largest one (Roman Catholicism) certainly doesn't, nor do the majority of Protestant sects. I'm not even sure a blanket prohibition is in Southern Baptist dogma, but the denomination does have its share of teetotalers. It could be that only minor fundamentalist churches and the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons, although they don't want to be called that anymore) expressly forbid alcohol consumption.

Now, are all of Salem's executives Southern Baptists or do they come from all over the conservative Protestant spectrum?
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I'd the Salem folks are simply broadcasters that utilized the niche of Christian radio to position themselves. I've worked a Christian radio station where only 2 of the 8 attended church regularly. It was simply a format.
 
Selling KTEK

Mediafrog+ said:
Saw that Salem is selling WSPZ in Washington, D.C. Various reports have said the company is trimming non-strategic assets.

While I don’t think KKHT or KNTH are going anywhere, I have to wonder about KTEK. But who would buy an AM daytimer here when the market has plenty of basket cases.

WSPZ sold for only $750,000, and that is for a 35kw daytime signal that would appear to be pretty solid in the immediate D.C. metro area. The 5kw night signal misses a lot of the market.

KTEK does have a translator, but it is basically a Brazoria County signal, nothing further.

With Salem and Urban One in the mood to dump stations, the impending sale of the Cox Radio group, speculation about Cumulus and KRBE, EMF on the prowl as well as the ongoing Liberman bankruptcy, we might be in for some interesting times here.
Click to expand...

Am told KTEK for sale $4-5 million. Doubt will get anywhere close to that.
 
ChuckTiller said:
You were told wrong. Salem has no plans to sell the Houston cluster. I was privy to the conversation.
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Of course station staffs, including top management, often find out about sales along with everyone else. Top level corporate honchos withhold information all the time, it's just part of business. And once again, KKHT and KNTH aren't going anywhere. The KTEK fate will depend on whether it is bringing in sufficient revenue with its brokered time programming model.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Of course station staffs, including top management, often find out about sales along with everyone else. Top level corporate honchos withhold information all the time, it's just part of business. And once again, KKHT and KNTH aren't going anywhere. The KTEK fate will depend on whether it is bringing in sufficient revenue with its brokered time programming model.
Click to expand...

KTEK does very well with the time brokered programming. It virtually has no staff.
 
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