WTEM 980 SOLD for $4.2 million to Urban One!

That is a massive price in today’s market where 980 can’t even be heard after dark in some of the fringe DC suburbs.

My guess is, for that price it has to come with a long-term contract for being the flagship “originating” station of the Redskins Radio Network...even though most will end up listening to the game on 105.9 and switch to 106.7 for pre/post game coverage with this setup.

Now that Urban One owns 980, my money is going on all-sports on 104.1 in the next few months. They may not be able to do Redskins play-by-play until 2019 due to the contract with WMAL, but it’s a fairly good bet. Gospel music commercially is a difficult format to grow or at least not have declining revenues these days. Sports, when done right, can be a huge cash cow...

For those who remember about 10-15 years ago, 104.1 was supposed to be the home of Daniel Snyder’s “Game” format. He made the mistake of letting the public know the selling price before it closed...Radio One offered more than Snyder would and took the station. Snyder was forced to put the format on two distant rimshot FMs and 980 for the immediate metro area.

Good luck to 104...ahem...980 the Game and Urban One! Oh, and Hail To The Redskins!

seattlesarchiebunker said:

That is a massive price in today’s market where 980 can’t even be heard after dark in some of the fringe DC suburbs.

My guess is, for that price it has to come with a long-term contract for being the flagship “originating” station of the Redskins Radio Network...even though most will end up listening to the game on 105.9 and switch to 106.7 for pre/post game coverage with this setup.

Now that Urban One owns 980, my money is going on all-sports on 104.1 in the next few months. They may not be able to do Redskins play-by-play until 2019 due to the contract with WMAL, but it’s a fairly good bet. Gospel music commercially is a difficult format to grow or at least not have declining revenues these days. Sports, when done right, can be a huge cash cow...

For those who remember about 10-15 years ago, 104.1 was supposed to be the home of Daniel Snyder’s “Game” format. He made the mistake of letting the public know the selling price before it closed...Radio One offered more than Snyder would and took the station. Snyder was forced to put the format on two distant rimshot FMs and 980 for the immediate metro area.

Good luck to 104...ahem...980 the Game and Urban One! Oh, and Hail To The Redskins!

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You think African-American-owned Urban One might have second thoughts about associating with the Redskins and their controversial nickname? Or is it generally not a problem in the team's home market, even among fans of color?

As a longtime ‘Skins fan and a longtime former resident of the area, nobody from DC gives a hoot about the nickname. Black, white, Hispanic, or even native! The Washington Post interviewed some of the local Indian tribal leaders when this whole thing kicked up around 2013-14 again...most do not find the nickname offensive and most were indeed fans of the Redskins.

As for Urban One treading lightly on being associated with the Redskins...doubtful. Maybe one or two voices of dissent in the boardroom, but also realize Urban/Radio One has been based in suburban DC for decades. Most of the corporate folks there who like NFL and have been around here awhile are probably Redskins fans.

I’d dare say it is a non-issue in the DC black community. I mean heck, until he passed away, Chief Zee (black guy who claimed no native blood) was the team’s unofficial mascot!

The whole “Redskins political correctness” argument is mostly limited to SJWs of all colors...but mostly white folks who don’t even care about football, DC, or sports for that matter. The losers in this will be the state of Maryland who put new stadium funding contingent on a name change..while Dan Snyder slowly moves everything over to Virginia and laughs all the way to the bank

seattlesarchiebunker said:

The whole “Redskins political correctness” argument is mostly limited to SJWs of all colors

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Yikes! You're not blaming this on the Jews, are you? SJWs is Single Jewish Women, right?

CTListener said:

Yikes! You're not blaming this on the Jews, are you? SJWs is Single Jewish Women, right?

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In internet parlance, "SJW" stands for "Social Justice Warrior".

almaniac27 said:

In internet parlance, "SJW" stands for "Social Justice Warrior".

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Ah, OK. More in the category of "snowflake" or "libtard" than an outright racist/ethnic/religious slur in the vocabulary of the right. Got it.

That is a massive price in today’s market where 980 can’t even be heard after dark in some of the fringe DC suburbs.

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Are you kidding??? $4.2 million is by no means a "massive price." If anything, it is a shockingly cheap price (when one considers pro forma cash flow) and a clear sign of Red Zebra's desperation to exit the radio business.

Of course, the station's greatest listenership (by a mile) occurs during Redskins broadcasts. On 980, do the 'Skins get to sell most/all of the advertising units? If so, that could partially explain the seemingly cheap selling price.

MarkW said:

Are you kidding??? $4.2 million is by no means a "massive price."

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According to Tom Taylor, the price is 2-1/2 times revenue, which is $1.7 million. The question is can an outside company make as much with the brand as the owner of that brand? I don't know the answer to that. But I'm sure the things that they can sell are itemized in the contract. As Washington signals go, this one's not bad. It's 50K daytime, down to 5K at night, smack dab in the middle of the dial. This had been the former WRC-AM from the old NBC Radio days.

They get a nice tower site that recently added the antenna of WMAL-AM, so there's some rent money coming in there. But yes, AM signals in some places have been selling for less than $100K. So any price in the multiple millions is pretty good. And Liggins just pocketed $14 million from an FM in Detroit. So he's got some spare change.

Problem is, in the 1970s-80s, WRC-AM was a good full market signal in DC and it’s suburbs before all the sprawl...since about 1985 or so the metro area has doubled in size and 5kW doesn’t even come close to covering the metro at night. Especially considering the increase in interference on the AM dial now. Heck, he was forced to put an affiliate in his own market because his night signal is hamstrung. These days, saying you have one of the best AM signals in DC is like saying you have the best Hyundai built in the 80’s...I mean, you can make it work, but its gonna take a whole lot of extra time money and effort. But considering they’re landlords to the primary news/talk station in town, it could be far worse.

Really, the big loser out of this is Deadskins owner Dan Snyder. He bought about a half dozen stations at the peak of the radio market “bubble”. None of them were particularly good signals save for the Richmond AM he purchased. He was forced to take a big haircut on every last signal and probably learned the hard way that sports team owners don’t necessarily make good radio station owners.

$4.2 million seems like a massive selling price for any AM in 2018, especially not one weighed down by what is likely an expensive contract with the Redskins. $1.7 million in revenue doesn't go real far if a third of that goes directly to Dan Snyder.

seattlesarchiebunker said:

Problem is, in the 1970s-80s, WRC-AM was a good full market signal in DC and it’s suburbs before all the sprawl...since about 1985 or so the metro area has doubled in size and 5kW doesn’t even come close to covering the metro at night.

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Of course Urban One owns a bunch of stations in the area. If they want, they could do an FM simulcast with 104.1.

Daniel Snyder must sell the Washington Football Club

According to Tom Taylor, the price is 2-1/2 times revenue, which is $1.7 million.

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I read it was 2.5x EBITDA.

"EBITDA" and "Revenue" are two very different things!

There's no way in heck that station bills only $1.7 million annually.

I've seen AM stations with similar facilities, non-mainstream formats, and much lower ratings go for almost as much money in recent years (basically, those stations were sold for stick value).

I am guessing WTEM ranks near the bottom of the top 10 in Men 25-54. Those are far from impressive numbers for an All Sports station, but nonetheless should be facilitative of several million dollars of annual revenue in a market the size of Washington, D.C.

That revenue estimate seems too high, especially with direct competitor 106.7 drawing stronger ratings and likely being supported by a stronger sales organization.

WTEM never recovered from the programming kerfuffle of a couple years ago, it seems.

Isn't 106.7 The Fan usually around fifth or sixth place in demo?

My guess is 980's true revenue figure (excluding barter) is probably closer to $5 million or $6 million annually and likely trending downward. I must say, it's rather remarkable that no one was willing to pay more than Urban One for the station. There must be a lot of restrictions included in the Asset Purchase Agreement for the benefit of the Redskins organization.

TheBigA said:

According to Tom Taylor, the price is 2-1/2 times revenue, which is $1.7 million. The question is can an outside company make as much with the brand as the owner of that brand? I don't know the answer to that. But I'm sure the things that they can sell are itemized in the contract. As Washington signals go, this one's not bad. It's 50K daytime, down to 5K at night, smack dab in the middle of the dial. This had been the former WRC-AM from the old NBC Radio days.

They get a nice tower site that recently added the antenna of WMAL-AM, so there's some rent money coming in there. But yes, AM signals in some places have been selling for less than $100K. So any price in the multiple millions is pretty good. And Liggins just pocketed $14 million from an FM in Detroit. So he's got some spare change.

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The WTEM/980 tower site did not add the antenna of WMAL-AM. The antenna of WMAL was added to the WWRC/570 tower site.

RoddyFreeman said:

The WTEM/980 tower site did not add the antenna of WMAL-AM. The antenna of WMAL was added to the WWRC/570 tower site.

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Correct...at one time 570 was owned by Red Lion, and at one time 980 call letters were WWRC, which led to my confusion.

That includes the station's share of play by play revenue.

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Ahhh...that makes sense. Thanks for the info. I suspect that revenue stream will disappear going forward, as I presume the Redskins will be selling most if not all of the avails. It's the only way the $4.2 million selling price makes sense.