WEEU To Be Shut Down Following Reading Eagle Sale

Pending approval by the US Bankruptcy Court, MediaNews Group will acquire most of the assets of the Reading Eagle Company for $5 million.

Not included in the sale will be the license of News/Talk 830 WEEU Reading PA. Upon closing of the sale by July 31 the station will be taken off the air while the remnants of the Reading Eagle Company attempt to sell the station’s license. The Reading Eagle reports that the buyer of the station will be able to use WEEU’s current transmitter site for up to five years or until MediaNews Group sells them.

WEEU carries a mix of local and syndicated talk shows and serves as the Reading affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles and Penn State University sports. The station operates with 20kW day/6kW night from a five tower array adjacent to Interstate 78 in Shartlesville PA.

tommy3477 said:

Pending approval by the US Bankruptcy Court, MediaNews Group will acquire most of the assets of the Reading Eagle Company for $5 million.

Not included in the sale will be the license of News/Talk 830 WEEU Reading PA. Upon closing of the sale by July 31 the station will be taken off the air while the remnants of the Reading Eagle Company attempt to sell the station’s license. The Reading Eagle reports that the buyer of the station will be able to use WEEU’s current transmitter site for up to five years or until MediaNews Group sells them.

WEEU carries a mix of local and syndicated talk shows and serves as the Reading affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles and Penn State University sports. The station operates with 20kW day/6kW night from a five tower array adjacent to Interstate 78 in Shartlesville PA.

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https://www.readingeagle.com/news/a...ds-5-million-for-reading-eagle-company-assets

ixnay

No real surprise. When it became reasonably clear who would end up with the paper, it was fairly obvious WEEU wouldn’t be part of the equation.

There is some talk about this as well on the NYRMB, Abraham. From what I'd seen in past Arbitrons -- the ones that displayed ALL the 12+ numbers -- WEEU was a solid #2 in the market. I mean, like 7's and 8's. Only IHeart's Y-102 was ahead of them. I can't fathom the possibility of a full-service station with a signal like theirs having fallen off so rapidly. I know that the station didn't subscribe in recent years (or if they ever subscribed at all!) because they were never listed, in either of the two annual Reading books.

I find their programming wonderful. I'd phone in every so often to a local talk show (and regale the host with my usual 'long-time caller; first-time listener' spiel). They are also the second loudest AM station here in the day, behind only the local WPPA 1360. I'm certainly no talk-radio fan, but WEEU offers something unique .... sports, local talk, syndicated talk, news, and music from time to time.

If they go, they'll be missed. Yet, stations with six (not 5, as Radio-Locator says) towers to care for might present too iffy a problem for some group to balance.

I meant it more from the perspective that the new owner just doesn’t do radio. Then again I don’t know if there was a comparable situation in their history of acquisitions. But it’s reasonable to assume they weren’t going to keep it. Someone may pick it up if there’s a good value proposition. It may be a tough sell, but perhaps there is a path forward.

Steve Green NEPA said:

There is some talk about this as well on the NYRMB, Abraham. From what I'd seen in past Arbitrons -- the ones that displayed ALL the 12+ numbers -- WEEU was a solid #2 in the market. I mean, like 7's and 8's. Only IHeart's Y-102 was ahead of them. I can't fathom the possibility of a full-service station with a signal like theirs having fallen off so rapidly. I know that the station didn't subscribe in recent years (or if they ever subscribed at all!) because they were never listed, in either of the two annual Reading books.

I find their programming wonderful. I'd phone in every so often to a local talk show (and regale the host with my usual 'long-time caller; first-time listener' spiel). They are also the second loudest AM station here in the day, behind only the local WPPA 1360. I'm certainly no talk-radio fan, but WEEU offers something unique .... sports, local talk, syndicated talk, news, and music from time to time.

If they go, they'll be missed. Yet, stations with six (not 5, as Radio-Locator says) towers to care for might present too iffy a problem for some group to balance.

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so youre going to doubt fcc records too? fccinfo.com only shows 5 towers as well. Also, google street view shows only 5 towers too

and as for the decline, its not falling off so rapidly.. its that they spent money, as scott fybush said.. they took some risks and spent too much money, liek renovating a building or whatever it was some time ago (i cant find that facebook post now)

SomeRadioGuy said:

so youre going to doubt fcc records too? fccinfo.com only shows 5 towers as well. Also, google street view shows only 5 towers too

and as for the decline, its not falling off so rapidly.. its that they spent money, as scott fybush said.. they took some risks and spent too much money, liek renovating a building or whatever it was some time ago (i cant find that facebook post now)

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WEEU has a total of six towers. Pull up a google aerial and you will see all six. They only use 5 at night and 2 during the day but the sixth tower was added when the station increased from 5KW days to 20 kW days. Seems a little excessive if you had five towers already you couldn't have made two existing ones work for the daytime pattern but they had the money to do it perfectly and did.

If you review the bankruptcy papers filed in court, public record if you have Pacer.gov account, there are a few numbers you can extrapolate. It generates $37,500 per week in revenue and has expenses of $14,000 per week with a net cash flow of $23,500 per week. If you pro-rate that out for the year...$1,950,000 in revenue and $728,000 in expenses with a net cash flow of $1,222,000 before payroll. The payroll for WEEU was not broken out separately. What makes the station unique with the local hosts is also what costs a great deal so I am guessing WEEU at best broken even?

The company buying are worse than bottom fishermen. They will sell off the real estate and get back as much of the $5 million as possible. WEEU would be fine without their downtown building. Probably more space than they need any way but if the tower site goes, then it's goodbye to one of the last medium market community radio stations in America.

Let the record state, the family was stupid to build the new printing facility when they did. It was already very evident if you asked any one who knew anything about the newspaper business, that radical changes and running without debt, were the only way to survive in the newspaper business and yet they went and blew millions. The same thing happened in Fredericksburg, VA. A third or 4th generation grandson decides to build a new printing press for an industry whose only chance of survival was to make difficult cost cuts, not owe any money, and employ sales people who could sell ice to an eskimo.