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Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron, and SW Ontario
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MWmetalhead
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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:21 am

RadioInsight reports knowledge of the following rumor:
Rumor Of The Moment: Is iHeartMedia part of a three company station swap about to take place in a Top 20 market?
Note usage of the term "Top 20" market as opposed to ""Top 10" market. That means this rumor likely pertains to markets #11 - 20.

The market in play could be one of the following:
#11: Miami-Fort Lauderdale FL 09-04-19 PPM 4,070,400
#12: Seattle-Tacoma WA 09-04-19 PPM 3,863,400
#13: Detroit MI 09-04-19 PPM 3,813,700
#14: Phoenix AZ 09-04-19 PPM 3,662,700
#15: Minneapolis-St. Paul MN 09-04-19 PPM 2,957,900
#16: Puerto Rico 08-13-19 4S 2,922,100
#17: San Diego CA 09-04-19 PPM 2,853,400
#18: Denver-Boulder CO 09-04-19 PPM 2,720,200
#19: Tampa-St. Petersburg FL 09-04-19 PPM 2,704,100
#20: Nassau-Suffolk NY

I think we can rule out Nassau-Suffolk (which is nothing more than an embedded submarket of NYC and Puerto Rico.

I also don't know why on earth iFart would want to make any changes in Tampa, Phoenix or San Diego, which are three strongly performing markets for the company where little if any room for improvement exists.

Weird things have been occurring in the Denver market recently, both involving iHM stations and those owned by other companies. Also, iHeartMedia has a couple underperforming properties in both Miami and Seattle-Tacoma. All three of the aforementioned markets are dynamic and are intensely competitive. So, if a three-way deal is going to be made, Denver, Miami and Seattle-Tacoma are the three markets most likely to see such a deal transpire.

But what about Detroit? Cannot it be ruled out? No, it cannot! What's interesting about Detroit is this - it is one of only two markets from the above list where CUMULUS owns assets. (The other is Minneapolis - St. Paul.)

Might iHM want to get its hands on 96.3 WDVD and 760 WJR? Possibly. Granted, between WKQI and WNIC, iHM already commands an impressive share of female targeted ad spend, and an acquisition of WJR would be more about a national strategy involving assets like Rush Limbaugh than any sort of local strategy.

Might Beasley want to acquire those same two stations? Sure.

I think it's less likely Beasley would be in breach of a revenue concentration cap than iHM if it were to acquire WJR and WDVD, and irrespective of revenue concentration concerns, iHM would need to flip one of its existing stations anyway in order to squeeze-in WDVD under revenue concentration thresholds.

So, how's this for a scenario?
- iHM picks up WDVD and WJR;
- iHM then flips either 97.9 FM or 106.7 FM to Beasley.

Hell, remove Beasley from the equation and replace them with Entercom. If iHM were to flip either 97.9 FM or 106.7 FM to Entercom, it would be very interesting to see what would transpire!

How about this - iHM sends 97.9 FM to Entercom, retains WJLB's intellectual property and moves it to 106.7 FM, and then Entercom will have command of all local FM spectrum from 97.1 MHz all the way to 99.5 MHz! Think about that for a second - not one, not two, not three, but four (!!!) full power FM signals in a row smack dab in the middle of the dial would be controlled by Entercom.

Entercom could then keep the Wheelz classic rock format around - which would nicely complement 97.1 The Ticket - or flip 97.9 MHz to a WWJ simulcast. Under this scenario, iHM would have no white male oriented FM stations left in Detroit, so they wouldn't care. iHM would be happy, because they would have three very strongly performing stations among Caucasian women in their control - WKQI, WDVD, and WNIC. They would remain a strong Urban radio player, since WMXD and WJLB (albeit at a new home) would remain in their hands.

Here is yet another scenario to ponder - Entercom buys 96.3 WDVD, iHM buys 760 WJR, and no trading of stations between those two companies (or any other pair of companies in the Detroit market) occurs.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:29 am

Here is a Minneapolis-St. Paul scenario:
-iHM purchases 93X and 92 KQRS from Cumulus
-iHM divests some combination of Kool 108, 100.3 KFAN and Cities 97 (pick two) to the Pohlad Family, or alternatively, to either Entercom or Hubbard.



MrTaterSalad
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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MrTaterSalad » Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:36 pm

If Entercom acquired 106.7 would it be a dumb move for them to put Wheelz on 98.7 and the Breeze on 106.7?



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by fuzzpower » Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:28 pm

MrTaterSalad wrote:
Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:36 pm
If Entercom acquired 106.7 would it be a dumb move for them to put Wheelz on 98.7 and the Breeze on 106.7?

Both stations haven’t been around too long. Other than Wheels being back on 98.7, there’s not much of a benefit.

iFart buying WJR would be mostly for Limbaugh. I am sure they don’t want another Indianapolis situation, where his show airs on sports WNDE.

MW has some very interesting scenarios.



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:55 pm

Well, if the rumor has any validity, my guess is we'll be seeing some action in either Seattle, Denver, Miami, Detroit or Minneapolis before year's end.

I agree that there would be no benefit to moving WLLZ back to 98.7 at The Breeze's expense. Mass confusion would ensue. Having 98.7 The Breeze close to WNIC on the dial makes a lot of sense. Soft AC is a natural successor to the Smooth Jazz format that made its home at 98.7 FM for so many years. Also, 98.7 has somewhat better signal penetration in southern Oakland County (where plenty of in-the-office listening occurs) than 106.7.



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by Mega Hertz » Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:19 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:55 pm
Well, if the rumor has any validity, my guess is we'll be seeing some action in either Seattle, Denver, Miami, Detroit or Minneapolis before year's end.

I agree that there would be no benefit to moving WLLZ back to 98.7 at The Breeze's expense. Mass confusion would ensue. Having 98.7 The Breeze close to WNIC on the dial makes a lot of sense. Soft AC is a natural successor to the Smooth Jazz format that made its home at 98.7 FM for so many years. Also, 98.7 has somewhat better signal penetration in southern Oakland County (where plenty of in-the-office listening occurs) than 106.7.
Yeah, don't fuck with it. I like em both.


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SBaxley
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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by SBaxley » Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:35 pm

Here is something to think about...In Chicago, Good Karma Brands , a media outfit in Wisconsin [owner of WTMJ AM]just signed a Long Time Local Marketing Agreement with ESPN Radio,Inc. [a unit of Walt Disney inc.] to basically take over the operations of WMVP am 1000..
Could something like that take place with say I heart Media or even Red Apple group signing the same type of deal with Cumulus to take over ops of WJR/WDRQ..etc.. ??



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by Myron Falwell » Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:58 pm

SBaxley wrote:
Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:35 pm
Here is something to think about...In Chicago, Good Karma Brands , a media outfit in Wisconsin [owner of WTMJ AM]just signed a Long Time Local Marketing Agreement with ESPN Radio,Inc. [a unit of Walt Disney inc.] to basically take over the operations of WMVP am 1000..
Could something like that take place with say I heart Media or even Red Apple group signing the same type of deal with Cumulus to take over ops of WJR/WDRQ..etc.. ??
John Catsimatidis (DBA Red Apple) bought 77 WABC because no one else wanted it. His bread and butter is a grocery store chain in NYC, WABC is now a plaything that he can throw money into without worrying about the numbers. He's indicated that the plan is to purchase additional stations, but I thought it was more in the NYC market and not elsewhere. Kinda like how Merualo Media assembled a rather significant four-station cluster in LA that allows them to compete with iHeart and Entercom, something Cumulus and Emmis just couldn't do.

Craig Karmazin's Good Karma is not really an option, his specialty is ESPN-affiliated sports talk. He teamed up with TV broadcast chain Morgan Murphy in order to buy WTMJ/WKTI, and WMVP merely exists to clear ESPN in a market that WSCR dominates in that format, he has the keys at what I'd presume are rather favorable rates.

Now... trading for individual stations within Cumulus Detroit is very much an option; WNSH and WMAS/WHLL in Springfield MA were equivalent to Entercom's Indy cluster (that's one of several massive asset trades Entercom has pulled off in recent years, they traded with iHeart in order to close the CBS merger and traded with Beasley last year in order to buy standalone WBEB in Philly). It's almost impossible to swap out the cluster to one owner, especially with Radio One bowing out.

As for iHeart's format shuffling in Denver, it was mainly done to bolster KOA. They've had the flagship rights to the Broncos and Rockies for a very long time, and political talk was starting to age the demos. Plus the sister station that picked up Rush/Hannity/etc was previously the third sports talker in the market with no marquee local play-by-play. Yeah, it could be the forebearer of something, but that was also a unique situation.


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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:36 pm

i think the moves they made at KOA will backfire.



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by Myron Falwell » Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:53 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:36 pm
i think the moves they made at KOA will backfire.
They own the spoken word format with KOA, KHOW and KDFD "Freedom 760." Plus there was a full month to migrate any KOA listeners over to KDFD, keeping them in the iHeart family.

KFI dropped Rush a few years ago and it's not made that much a difference either way. Still the top-rated commercial talk station and a decent biller, albeit nowhere close to what they billed 15-20 years ago, while Rush's replacement station (KEIB) has imperceptible ratings.


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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:13 am

Turning KOA - a heritage news/talker - into a murky 50/50 mix of news/talk and sports is the problem.

Look at WSBT in South Bend and see how well that's worked. (Answer - not very.)

Sports listeners aren't going to leave 104.3 KKFN in favor of "Grandpa's" favorite radio station. What this move primarily will do is fragment KOA's existing audience between two stations while bringing in only a small amount of new listenership.

KFI remained true to its brand and for years has been a Southern California focused talk station first & foremost.



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Re: The Future of 107.5fm WGPR

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:46 am

Radio-Insight is reporting iHeartMedia is about to announce the three company station swap in a top 20 market that I referenced earlier in this thread.

A couple days ago, R-I tweeted the following:
"We hear employees at one of the stations involved in this deal were informed today. Public announcement should be fairly soon."

Might the station be 760 WJR? Only way iHM would need to unload or trade stations is if (a) WDVD comes along with WJR or (b) an acquisition of WJR would place iHM over station ownership caps in Toledo, in which case any divested station(s) would likely be in Toledo, unless dumping 1130 WDFN would somehow help the cause.

I do think it is more likely the market in question is Denver, Seattle, or Miami.

I think Detroit, Minneapolis, Washington, Boston and San Francisco are other markets that cannot be ruled out. (I didn't mention the latter three markets in my earlier post on this topic because I think the transaction is more likely to involve stations in markets 11 - 20 as opposed to a top 10 market.)



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by fuzzpower » Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:26 pm

Could Baligian’s brokered show being dumped from WDFN perhaps be in part due to a station dump? Maybe I am reading too much into that.



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Oct 26, 2019 7:22 am

Mystery solved!

The market in play is SAN DIEGO.

I was so focused on Cumulus that I had completely forgotten that TEGNA, who is in the TV business and not the radio business, acquired KFMB AM-FM-TV as part of a deal that closed maybe a year ago.

TEGNA is looking to unload AM 760 and FM 100.7. Word on the street is iHeart wants both stations. They will likely dump 95.7 FM, which has the weakest cash flow among their existing FM stations, to remain within market caps. Given the fact both stations currently feature formats that compete directly with existing iHeart properties (KOGO and KMYI-FM, respectively)...this makes perfect sense.

My guess is FM 100.7 will pivot back to Variety Hits, flip to Soft AC, or adopt the all 80's format that iHeart uses in San Francisco.

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/201 ... fmb-radio/#

Edit - I was mistaken about 100.7's current format. It actually still is a Variety Hits station.



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Re: Source: Cumulus Detroit is for sale...

Post by In the biz » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:50 pm

Would love to see someone like Dan Gilbert buy WJR and make it a real Detroit station!



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