WITH SANDUSKY SALE TO HUBBARD, WILL BONNEVILLE EXIT SEATTLE?

[AQH]

All idle speculation.

The vast majority of the content on this board is idle speculation.

 

[searadiofreak]

True, but you have to admit that major change is in the air (waves)...

 

[fordranger797]

Hey I have a question for you guys...

Were most of the radio and televisions in the Seattle area (as well as most other places) privately owned back in the "olden days"? For example, KING-TV and KING-FM, were they they just owned by a single local company established as "KING"?

It seems logical to me that back 20, or 30 years ago most stations would have been privately owned and fully local.

 

[bossbill]

Well, there used to be ownership caps. One owner could own 7 AMs, 7 FMs, 5 TV, no more than one of each in a given market. But many of the owners were large companies that had other lines of business. One example locally would be Fisher Blend.

 

[marconis gallbladder]

I've read that Hubbard isn't looking to buy any stations the rest of this year and that they are not looking to buy any AM's going forward and don't want news stations.

Don't trust what you read from Jerry DelColliano. His bloated predictions have this habit of never coming true.

 

[dunno]

Preety good chance one of these scenarios will play out. Most likely Hubbard buys Bonneville.
Hardly anyone wants AM's anymore. OK, maybe Salem. Coming months will be very interesting with Hubbard, Sinclair, and Gannet coming to town.

 

[AQH]

True, but you have to admit that major change is in the air (waves)...

Without question changes are coming. But will they be noticed? Most of the people on this board want wholesale, "blow up the station" changes. Most don't realize the cost of making those kinds of changes, it's not just buying a new library and new stationery.

In order for a group, Hubbard or whoever, it has to make sense for both the buyer and the seller. It wouldn't make sense for any company to come in and make big changes to either Movin or Warm. Sure, some minor changes might be made to the programming, but those are the kind that aren't caught on by 99% of the people on this board (unless they play Kokomo). There are a lot of changes that regularly happen to a station's programming without blowing everything up, but they're rarely mentioned here. What has been done with Danny Bonaduce at KZOK is a great example.

Some tangible changes could happen to Click, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it (very unlikely Jazz will come back).

Just my two cents.

 

[Kent]

The thing I don't understand is Entercom had a full 8 station cluster here 10 years or so ago. In addition to the current cluster they had KHHO, KBSG, KTTH, and KIRO. Why did they get rid of all those stations?

Entercom wanted Bonneville's San Francisco stations. They traded stations they had just acquired in Cincinnati plus KHHO, KBSG, KTTH and KIRO for them.

 

[T-K]

Entercom wanted Bonneville's San Francisco stations. They traded stations they had just acquired in Cincinnati plus KHHO, KBSG, KTTH and KIRO for them.

Entercom unloaded 850 in Tacoma (which was then KMTT) to a local group back in 1996, months before acquiring KBSG from Viacom, and 710 and 770 from Bonneville. It was never part of any Entercom cluster, except as part of the original combo with 103.7.

 

[ZooMan7777]

True, but you have to admit that major change is in the air (waves)...

Without question changes are coming. But will they be noticed? Most of the people on this board want wholesale, "blow up the station" changes. Most don't realize the cost of making those kinds of changes, it's not just buying a new library and new stationery.

In order for a group, Hubbard or whoever, it has to make sense for both the buyer and the seller. It wouldn't make sense for any company to come in and make big changes to either Movin or Warm. Sure, some minor changes might be made to the programming, but those are the kind that aren't caught on by 99% of the people on this board (unless they play Kokomo). There are a lot of changes that regularly happen to a station's programming without blowing everything up, but they're rarely mentioned here. What has been done with Danny Bonaduce at KZOK is a great example.

Some tangible changes could happen to Click

I actually agree on a few parts.

1. Warm is going to be tweaked to stay competitive. Make it sound hotter instead of sounding like a radio station trapped in 1992. The problem is, is Handley willing to go with the change or go with a new PD that wants to win. They have the talent and the same demographics, it just needs a good shot in the arm though to compete with KPLZ. I'd love to see a good heritage Adult Contemporary war again.

2. Click is flipping, not a question of "if" but a question of "when" and "what to" From my observation, the station flipped to Click prematurely without a shred of real market research.

 

[AQH]

True, but you have to admit that major change is in the air (waves)...

Without question changes are coming. But will they be noticed? Most of the people on this board want wholesale, "blow up the station" changes. Most don't realize the cost of making those kinds of changes, it's not just buying a new library and new stationery.

In order for a group, Hubbard or whoever, it has to make sense for both the buyer and the seller. It wouldn't make sense for any company to come in and make big changes to either Movin or Warm. Sure, some minor changes might be made to the programming, but those are the kind that aren't caught on by 99% of the people on this board (unless they play Kokomo). There are a lot of changes that regularly happen to a station's programming without blowing everything up, but they're rarely mentioned here. What has been done with Danny Bonaduce at KZOK is a great example.

Some tangible changes could happen to Click

I actually agree on a few parts.

1. Warm is going to be tweaked to stay competitive. Make it sound hotter instead of sounding like a radio station trapped in 1992. The problem is, is Handley willing to go with the change or go with a new PD that wants to win. They have the talent and the same demographics, it just needs a good shot in the arm though to compete with KPLZ. I'd love to see a good heritage Adult Contemporary war again.

2. Click is flipping, not a question of "if" but a question of "when" and "what to" From my observation, the station flipped to Click prematurely without a shred of real market research.

True Warm needs updating, but tweaks won't be enough to beat KPLZ. They would need more, a lot more.