Cumulus files divest plan-

[Nashsound]

In Nashville - classic hits WRQQ, Belle Meade at 97.1 and CHR WNFN, Millersville (106.7).
to be placed into a trust run by Scott Knoblauch

From Radio-info.com

[Tibbs2]

Why divest when you can divert, and legally do so? I am surprised they didn't place WQQK into this, based upon signal...but, when that's the only station in your Top 10, I guess it makes sense to throw the cursed signals into further lethargic oblivion....97.1 and 106.7.

[DToTheJ]

Does this mean I106.7 will no longer be airing Cumulus' "Bert Show" out of Atlanta?

[Tibbs2]

Bert may not be on 106.7, if he's/she's/it's on say i-95.5! It's a "trust", it's all just a shell game, uh, why hide anything?  Heck, there's an even bigger trust like deal in AL that's accepted as legal,. Besides, Cumulus should just keep 7 all the stations since half the signals are off everyday, anyway.* Certainly the F$C$C can't argue with that logic, given the tax incentives they'll approve for the eventual bail out and sell to Steiner Liff for scrap metal. And polyester.


* I wonder aloud if my "half the signals are off idea" would be voided when WTN has two newscasts and two spots all running at the same time at the top almost every hour. Does that technically mean that they have 11 stations going in the eyes of the F$C$C? Wait, two stations aren't probably working generally, anyway. No violation.

(This post is close to breaking my vow for Lent to not trash any radio corporations starting with a "C", but I think it's pretty much factual.)

[Kent]

Why divest when you can divert, and legally do so? I am surprised they didn't place WQQK into this, based upon signal...but, when that's the only station in your Top 10, I guess it makes sense to throw the cursed signals into further lethargic oblivion....97.1 and 106.7.

Just because the stations are in a divestiture trust doesn't mean all of them will actually be divested or that divestiture is the only option.  While this won't be the case in Nashville, I strongly suspect Cumulus will keep KMJK Kansas City in the trust for as long as possible with the hope that the station the market lost will be added back in a later market revision or another one will replace it.  If something like that happens, they'll pick it right back up.  In other words, some stations most likely will be divested while a few others probably won't.

Also, keep in mind that Cumulus could still end up doing something like moving WQQK to 97.1 and divesting 92.1 with WRQQ's intellectual property.  Doing something like that will be a little tougher because 97.1's being put into the trust, but it's by no means impossible.  Clear Channel switched formats on two stations in Little Rock, one of which was in the Aloha Trust, and Citadel moved one station into the Last Bastion Trust while taking another one out in the same market. 

[encarta95]

Bert may not be on 106.7, if he's/she's/it's on say i-95.5!

95.5's got to be figuring into this whole thing somehow. No company is going to run two stations that are direct competitors.

[Tibbs2]

Agreed! Encarta. But, we've been discussing that in a weird, warped sense, it almost makes cents for Crumz to keep both W KDF and SM95 the same, because they ain't gonna spend a nickle on promoting or compet, compte...uh, taking on another format that they'd have to fight it out with. It's like spend nada to get the same ratings as will happen with a flip, so why flip. But, seriously, gotta give credit to the guy who thought up the scenario that they might be moving i down to 95.5. They really might pull off an instant 4.0. As for the comment on the trust, I can just say that I trust the trusts formats will never compete with Crumz formats, they'll go hand in hand and probably be off the air together and I wonder from what bank account in Atlanta that the paychecks will be from. It's seven of one, one shy of a half-dozen of the same other...

[ericjbard]

Look at Bonneville/Hubbard in Cincy.  They owned both Country stations to keep majority of the market share and it works.  Having two competing FM Country stations under the same roof is a really smart idea!

[LouPickney]

Did Cumulus have the option of putting 92.1 into the trust instead of 97.1?  I know that WQQK has a long history as 92Q, but wouldn't the inconvenience of moving it to the 97.1 signal outweigh keeping a signal (92.1) that doesn't have city-grade coverage over Franklin or Smyrna and other Nashville suburb areas?  Even 106.7 has a stronger signal, at least according to the maps on radio-locator.com.

As for two country stations, it's not impossible to see that happening, but having both on 100kw signals would seem to be a bit unlikely.  Wouldn't it make sense to move one of the country formats to a weaker signal and use it as a flanker vs. WSIX?  Also, if Cumulus really wants to take the CHR battle to Clear Channel, doing so on a 100kw station would likely be more effective than what they are doing now with the limited signal of 106.7.

It will be interesting to me to see who gets in the bidding for the stations, presuming that they ever are sold off from the trust; that can be a long process and rules can change in the interim.  Clear Channel just sold a C2 FM signal in Little Rock from its Aloha Trust for a cool $2 million earlier this week.  Bank loans are very difficult to get in this current economic climate, and while a company like South Central makes sense if they have the cash reserves to pull it off, I'm curious what the final sale price will be.

[encarta95]

As for two country stations, it's not impossible to see that happening, but having both on 100kw signals would seem to be a bit unlikely.  Wouldn't it make sense to move one of the country formats to a weaker signal and use it as a flanker vs. WSIX?  Also, if Cumulus really wants to take the CHR battle to Clear Channel, doing so on a 100kw station would likely be more effective than what they are doing now with the limited signal of 106.7.

Two country stations could work, if they each offered something distinct. In Austin, Clear Channel runs two heritage country stations. KASE plays mainstream country, while KVET is focused on Texas country. In Kansas City, KFKF plays mainstream country, while KBEQ is much more of a young/new country station. Right now, WSM-FM and WKDF just seem far too similar. Ideally, under consolidated ownership they need to compliment, not compete, with each other.

There are also bad precedents when it comes to situations like this. In 2000, Bonneville purchased a cluster in St. Louis that included two popular country stations. The company's first move was to eliminate one of the country stations and debut a smooth jazz format. Surely, Bonneville expected to have the country audience consolidated onto one signal. They did... but only for a few days. Clear Channel flipped an FM to country later that week.