Goodradio.TV leaves Ironton behind!

kentuckymedia · Post by **kentuckymedia** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:23 pm

Its official, Goodman is spinning off WIRO-AM, WZZW-AM, WBKS-FM into a trust until the stations are sold to a private individual. Of course Connoisseur could go after these stations, but I have an odd feeling that its going to be a company who recently exited West Virginia showing major interest atleast in the Ironton facilities.

thoughts?

Lester · Post by **Lester** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:29 pm

Pick me! I want them! PICK ME!

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:00 pm

What recently exiting group are you talking about?

Hoosier Daddy · Post by **Hoosier Daddy** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:31 pm

Mr. Patrick and Company would be my guess ...

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:44 pm

Larry Patrick maight take a chance on some stations that had a chance, but not this group. Jist my opinion.

wlpatrick · Post by **wlpatrick** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:48 pm

You have to be kidding. I am a partial owner of GoodRadio.TV and would have an attribution problem taking the Ironton stations. And, why would an owner ever sell a group of stations, even if they are weak ones, to an in-market competitor? Please, take some notes and pay attention here.

Hoosier Daddy · Post by **Hoosier Daddy** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:13 pm

wlpatrick wrote:You have to be kidding. I am a partial owner of GoodRadio.TV and would have an attribution problem taking the Ironton stations. And, why would an owner ever sell a group of stations, even if they are weak ones, to an in-market competitor? Please, take some notes and pay attention here.

You (as the former 990/101.5/93.1 owner) were the only "company that recently exited West Virginia" that I could think of. And even if you have partial ownership in one broadcast interest, you could own another station (or stations) under a different company name, right? Have different formats from different owner groups. Isn't that fairly common these days?

In any case, your word is good here. Let the speculation continue on who might purchase The Big I stations and WNST-FM.

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:15 pm

I think WBKW-FM is the former WIRO-FM as WAMX -FM is the former WNST-FM.

Hoosier Daddy · Post by **Hoosier Daddy** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:20 pm

genlock wrote:I think WBKW-FM is the former WIRO-FM as WAMX -FM is the former WNST-FM.

WBKS (Kiss 107) was WITO as far back as I can remember. I don't think it was ever WIRO-FM, but I may be mistaken. WIRO and WITO were collectively called "Big I Radio" back in the day. 106.3 had a number of callsigns over the years but the original was indeed WNST-FM.

wlpatrick · Post by **wlpatrick** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:21 pm

No, you cannot own stations under different company names in the same market that would put you over the ownership caps in an effort to circumvent the FCC ownership regulations. You have to show the FCC on the ownership forms not only the name of the company but who the significant shareholders are. If your name were attributable under one company, you could not have an ownership interest in another company with stations in the same market.

Someone here is barking up the wrong tree. I never wanted the Ironton stations but will work to find them a good home. Dean Goodman and I have been friends and co-workers for over 23 years. We are pleased to be buying the CC stations in Huntington, Parkersburg and Wheeling. We like WV.

Thanks.

kentuckymedia · Post by **kentuckymedia** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:30 pm

They owned a sole FM in Morgantown market. I know they have been sniffing around to see what they can get.

WL...whats going to happen to all the Ohio stations? I heard that WCKY is losing its call letters.

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:50 pm

I was thinking of Mortensen. Sort of adding to the WWHY family of little AM's

Tom Taggart · Post by **Tom Taggart** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:10 pm

Doubt that the trustee of the trust holding the licenses could deliberately avoid selling these stations to an in-market competitor; if that was the best offer. Nor could the trustee simply warehouse the stations to improve the competitive position of the company acquiring the main cluster.

And, as a practical matter, it would be difficult for a stand-alone AM/FM pair to compete effectively in a market dominated by several larger clusters. Especially a Class A/Class C-AM. Hence, the stations would be worth more to an existing group owner in the market than they would be to an outside investor.

True, the "best offer" could be one from a minority buyer (believe there are still some tax credits or other incentives available). But then we see Radio One exiting the Dayton market so who would be interested --and financially able to enter the Huntington market?

GlenBrannon1 · Post by **GlenBrannon1** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:26 am

Let say a mom and pop bought the Ironton stations. Brought them back to Ironton, kept the overhead low, and marketed the stations like Ken Auble did, as "Ironton", I think you would be surprised.

I think merchants and the locals would buy time and support it. Like an "anti-corporate" statement.

The trick is not to start as a run, start slow and build it.

Hoosier Daddy · Post by **Hoosier Daddy** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:35 am

GlenBrannon1 wrote:Let say a mom and pop bought the Ironton stations. Brought them back to Ironton, kept the overhead low, and marketed the stations like Ken Auble did, as "Ironton", I think you would be surprised.

I think merchants and the locals would buy time and support it. Like an "anti-corporate" statement.

The trick is not to start as a run, start slow and build it.

I agree in theory and for sentimental reasons. But Ironton's business climate is 40% of what it was 25 years ago ... heck, the population of Ironton dropped from almost 19,000 in 1980 to about 11,000 in 2000. The downtown business row on South 3rd Street is an empty shell.

If you were to undertake such a project, I think it would be helpful to co-market an online newspaper or magazine of some type, and possibly offer audio streaming if you could afford it. As for formats, you'd have to go with wide appeal stuff. Probably Hot AC on the FM, and maybe Oldies/News/Talk on the AM.

Another alternative would be to make the Big I stations part of Ohio University's broadcast technology department, and use the stations as a "living laboratory" for sales, air talent and engineering types to hone their craft.

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:49 am

How many jobs are left in broadcasting?
I agree on the mom and pop thing, but the debt service would be so high as to make it impossible. If sold to a religous group other than Mortensen, then the sales battle would be primarily with WEMM.
As for WZZW(Milton), maybe another cog in the wokt chain? Or with weaker stations in Charleston? Don't know. AM is dead.

Arp2 · Post by **Arp2** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:30 am

Hoosier Daddy wrote:Another alternative would be to make the Big I stations part of Ohio University's broadcast technology department, and use the stations as a "living laboratory" for sales, air talent and engineering types to hone their craft.

Something like that or to another already in-market....I don't see how these could do anything on their own.

Were it I, I might be looking around for who might benefit from shutting them down.....

Lester · Post by **Lester** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:05 am

Hoosier Daddy wrote:I agree in theory and for sentimental reasons. But Ironton's business climate is 40% of what it was 25 years ago ... heck, the population of Ironton dropped from almost 19,000 in 1980 to about 11,000 in 2000. The downtown business row on South 3rd Street is an empty shell.

Only 40%? I would have never guessed it was that low. Ironically, the last 3 times I've had to go to Ironton was to burying a family member. 3rd street makes we want to cry... I used to RULE that J.C. Penney's. We'd sneak into the toy department "out of season". And lunch at Kresge's was the best. (For you young whippersnappers, Kresge's was later shortened to just a K... followed by a "Mart".)

Hoosier Daddy wrote:If you were to undertake such a project, I think it would be helpful to co-market an online newspaper or magazine of some type, and possibly offer audio streaming if you could afford it. As for formats, you'd have to go with wide appeal stuff. Probably Hot AC on the FM, and maybe Oldies/News/Talk on the AM.

Now you're thinking. That sales force would have to be a'travel'n though. You're going to have to bring in advertisers that want a piece of the action from folks in a dying (or dead) town.

Hoosier Daddy wrote:Another alternative would be to make the Big I stations part of Ohio University's broadcast technology department, and use the stations as a "living laboratory" for sales, air talent and engineering types to hone their craft.

Screw them. You could use them as a pool for up and coming talent though... and hope that broadcasting degrees have started turning out kids that actually have something to broadcast.

Hoosier Daddy · Post by **Hoosier Daddy** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:56 am

Arp2 wrote:Were it I, I might be looking around for who might benefit from shutting them down.....

Well ... 1230 in Columbus and Cincinnati, but I don't think either station could do much with power increases. 1230 Cincinnati has a relatively pitiful signal, but 1230 Columbus packs a hell of a punch for a graveyard station. Killing Ironton's 1230 might make Columbus more listenable in places like Pike and Jackson counties, but that's probably of interest only to radio geeks and DX buffs.

107.1 is a different story. Pulling Kiss 107 off the air might help Columbus's Wink FM (formerly 107.1 The Big Wazoo), as well as removing some 1st adjacent issues for Charleston's WKAZ to move westward and throw a better signal into Huntington. I don't know all the other players on 107.1 and all the affected adjacents.

Dr. Whiplash · Post by **Dr. Whiplash** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:21 pm

Mississippi
WUSW-FM/Hattiesburg (Laurel-Hattiesburg)
FREQUENCY: 103.7 MHz
POWER: 100kw at 1,063 feet
FORMAT: Rock

North Dakota
KBMR-AM/Bismarck, KRRZ-AM/Minot
FREQUENCY: 1130 kHz; 1390 kHz
POWER: 10kw day/24 watts night; 5kw day/1kw night
FORMAT: Country; Oldies

Ohio
WIRO-AM & WBKS-FM/Ironton (Huntington-Ashland), WBUK-FM/Ottawa (Lima)
FREQUENCY: 1230 kHz; 107.1 MHz; 106.3 MHz
POWER: 1kw; 3kw at 449 feet; 1kw at 489 feet
FORMAT: News/Talk; Urban; Oldies

Wisconsin
WISM-FM/Altoona and WQRB-FM/Bloomer (Eau Claire)
FREQUENCY: 98.1 MHz; 95.1 MHz
POWER: 10kw at 174 feet; 9kw at 545 feet
FORMAT: AC; Country

West Virginia
WZZW-AM/Milton (Huntington-Ashland)
FREQUENCY: 1600 kHz
POWER: 5kw day/26 watts night
FORMAT: News/Talk

PRICE: $20.5 million
TERMS: Asset sale for cash
BUYER: Davidson Media Group LLC, headed by President Peter Davidson. Phone: 212-813-6775
It owns 42 other stations. This represents its entry into the market.
SELLER: Rose City Radio Corp., headed by VP Troy Scheer. Phone: 503-797-9798
COMMENT: Rose City Radio Corp.'s WSNR-AM/Jersey City, N.J., and WWZN-AM/Boston, Mass., to Davidson Media Group's Blackstrap Broadcasting for $20.5 million, consisting of an escrow deposit of $1 million and the balance in cash at closing