Posted on 08/21/2006 8:34:18 AM PDT by raccoonradio
ENTERCOM has purchased CBS RADIO's MEMPHIS, ROCHESTER, AUSTIN, and CINCINNATI clusters for $262 million. The buyer will take over all of the stations except for the ROCHESTER stations in a time brokerage agreement starting in OCTOBER (the company will have to divest two ROCHESTER stations to remain within FCC ownership limits).
In AUSTIN, ENTERCOM gets AC KKMJ (MAJIC 95.5), Modern AC KAMX (MIX 94.7), Top 40/Rhythmic KXBT (THE BEAT 104.3), and Talk KJCE-A. In CINCINNATI, the stations being sold are Country WUBE (B-105), Hot AC WKRQ (Q-102), Oldies WGRR, and Alternative WAQZ (NEW ROCK 97.3). In MEMPHIS, ENTERCOM adds Hot AC WMC-F (FM 100), Alternative WMFS (93X), and Classic Country WMC-A, and in ROCHESTER, CBS is selling AC WRMM (WARM 101.3), Classic Rock WCMF, Top 40 WPXY, and Alternative WZNE (THE ZONE).
ENTERCOM is also purchasing RADIO ONE Urban AC WILD-F/BOSTON and will flip it effective 5:30p (ET) TUESDAY (after a stunt) to simulcast new sister Rock WAAF to provide that station with a better signal in much of the BOSTON market.
ENTERCOM Pres./CEO DAVID FIELD said, "We are very pleased to announce this expansion of our station portfolio. The combination of the CBS and ENTERCOM radio stations in MEMPHIS and ROCHESTER will create terrific opportunities for our listeners, customers, employees, and shareholders. In addition, we are delighted to enter the AUSTIN and CINCINNATI markets with such a great lineup of brands. We look forward to working with the new members of the ENTERCOM team to serve these communities.
"This transaction represents a continuation of our strategy of rewarding shareholders through dividends, share buybacks, and disciplined and selective acquisitions that create shareholder value. We believe the CBS acquisition will be accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow per share. With respect to WAAF, we could not be prouder of the quality of this station and the results achieved over the years despite signal limitations in large portions of the market. The WILD acquisition will dramatically enhance our signal coverage and enable WAAF to boost its performance significantly." Citadel Wants To Renegotiate ABC Deal
Sharpton I presume and not Rev. Al Green (R&B, Gospel, Soul singer).
Yes, the Rev. Al of Tawana fame :) The OTHER Rev. Al still preaches at a church in Memphis, I believe.
Will there be riots in certain parts of town? I don't know,
but fans of R&B (well, TODAY's R&B, not the stuff we grew up with like Aretha, Wilson Pickett, James Brown--though some of that may have been played on WILD-FM once in awhile; what is called "old school") were glad to see a station so near Boston run some R&B (97.7)--and the signal did well...especially when they moved the antenna to Great Blue Hill. But now...goodbye "urban
adult contemporary", hello Pearl Jam.
When I can't find anything good to watch on my DISH Network satellite, I FReep and listen to the Sirius music stations.
and I like blues (and some soul). I do a long time blues radio show up in the Boston area. Look for "Podcasts" at http://www.wmwmsalem.com
and find "Juke Joint with Bob Nelson". That's me :)
Ah! Cool. I will bookmark that and take a look at it this evening. :)
>>Beantown's only R&B station to go rock)
Oops, I forgot about "JAM'n 94.5"...
So much for the black talk network WILD's _AM_ side had been running--Rev Al Sharpton, etc. Has been taken off in favor
of gospel, and maybe they will be sold too
from today's Herald:
The FM dial got a lot more limited for Boston’s hip-hop fans yesterday as Entercom Communications said it’s buying 97.7 WILD-FM and bumping its urban music format in favor of a simulcast of rock station WAAF starting today.
Entercom agreed to purchase 97.7 for $30 million from Radio One Inc., which also runs WILD 1090-AM. The deal will extend the reach of WAAF (107.3-FM), which is located about 35 miles west of the city and has a fairly weak signal in downtown Boston.
“It’s like putting ’AAF on a super amplifier,” said Julie Kahn, vice president and market manager for Entercom Boston.
The move will end hip-hop’s reign on the station and leave local competitor WJMN-FM (Jam’n 94.5) the sole station on the FM dial for rap music. That had members of the Hub’s urban music scene voicing their displeasure.
“Its terrible,” said rapper Ed Anderson, who goes by the pseudonym Edo G. “I mean, we don’t have black radio in Boston as it is, now we really don’t have black radio in Boston.”
Though the purchase isn’t expected to close until later this year, Entercom expects to begin broadcasting WAAF on 97.7 today. Late night, the station broadcast a robotic-sounding countdown. No DJS, commercials or music were played.
The deal will result in a significant number of layoffs among 97.7’s staff, said Zemira Z. Jones, vice president of operations at Radio One. Approximately 20 to 25 people work at WILD, he added.
In addition, WILD’s AM sister station 1090 will adjust its format. Radio One will move the Tom Joyner morning show from 97.7 FM to AM-1090. News talk programming will be discontinued on WILD 1090 and replaced with contemporary inspirational and gospel music, Jones said.
Also cut will be the Jimmy Myers (talk) show, said Tony Bennis, former producer of the show, adding “despite the fact that it was exceeding and doing really important things in Boston.”
Jones said WILD-FM has been an “underperforming station. “Our goal is to operate in a top performing way,” he said
Entercom’s purchase of 97.7 comes on top of a $262 million deal with CBS Corp. for 15 FM stations in Austin, Cincinnati, Memphis and Rochester, NY.
Entercom recently completed a deal with the Boston Red Sox to retain broadcasting rights of the club’s games. The Sox were highly interested in expanding the team’s network on additional FM stations, which could mean some games will end up on one of the stations Entercom is buying.
“It’s not a plan today, but don’t rule anything out,” Kahn said.
Everything these days is streaming. I subscribe to satellite radio but even that is 95% streaming these days.
Sirius/XM has a good gig going. Over 100 stations of commercial free content in just about every possible genre of music. DJs with decent personalities and a lot of "countdown" shows like on the 70s, 80s, Prime Country and Highway stations. Lots of concerts played in their entirety from decades ago even. I usually stream that stuff ON DEMAND.
Can't remember the last time I tuned in a terrestrial radio station. Pretty much dead.
There’s still some life on the terrestrial dial but yes a lot of people do listen to sstreams.There are lots of options.
I myself also have XM plus HD radio and listen to some shows on streaming, mostly because I’m in a place where the regular
signal won’t come on.
Depends where you are.
I admittedly have been a DJ on a college station since 81 (WMWM Salem MA).Unpaid but I play a variety of stuff like folk, oldies, blues, comedy, acoustic etc and we have artists come down to play live.
A hobby but I have fun.Yes a lot of action is online including my station but there’s some activity on terrestrial, still
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