CBS makes a decision

[electroboy73]

The station has its critics, but its life span as a music station is nearly over as Dave FM will force changes at both 680 and 790 when it flips to Sports in Sept following in the footsteps of CBS sports FM's in Boston, Detroit, Dallas, and most recently Tampa.
Seeing Cumulus has the new sports net, will be interesting if 92 9 becomes an ESPN affiliate.
Art

BORRRRINNG!!

[secondchoice]

Couldn't the Dickey family buy 100.5 for WCNN-FM? 

Yes and No.  I guess the Dickey's could pony up some cash, but The Dickey stations and Cumulus both count for market cap due to being Lew being president of Cumulus, and being the third largest share holder. 

http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/CMLS/tab/8

How would a fair price be determined?  If such a deal was cooked up, I would bet there would be a shareholder lawsuit if the price was anything less than insanely high, which I doubt the Dickey's would do.  So legally a deal could be done but I doubt any such deal will happen unless LF sells 94.1 & 790 AM then there will have to be some kind of sale but not to the Dickey's but either a Volt trust or some else keeps the Dickey's and Cumulus under market cap. 

[jabba17]

A few things...

Aren't Cumulus and CBS supposed to be cooperating on sportstalk?  Putting CBS Sports on 100.5 (which would be an upgrade from 680/93.7, albeit not as much as 92.9 would be) might be a win-win for both.  CBS still has a (what once was and still close enough) full 100k FM to play with, Cumulus can keep TRG, and WFOM or WIFN gets an upgrade (to 680/93.7) to have two strong-signal sportstalkers in the city.

Alternatively, could Cumulus/Dickey put "guy talk" on 680/93.7, some sports programming/out of market games but something more akin to The 9-5-0 out of Houston?  Cigar Dave and stuff like that?  Keep Rude or swap Rude and TRG.  Since 790 isn't going to go away (yet), this might prevent a sportstalk glut.

How about this idea for a flip: 92.9 Dave FM does the old "station goes retro" (e.g., Star 94 from about 20 years ago when they did it) April Fools trick next spring...and stays with the Classic Hits format after 4/1.

[jabba17]

Couldn't the Dickey family buy 100.5 for WCNN-FM? 

Yes and No.  I guess the Dickey's could pony up some cash, but The Dickey stations and Cumulus both count for market cap due to being Lew being president of Cumulus, and being the third largest share holder. 

http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/CMLS/tab/8

How would a fair price be determined?  If such a deal was cooked up, I would bet there would be a shareholder lawsuit if the price was anything less than insanely high, which I doubt the Dickey's would do.  So legally a deal could be done but I doubt any such deal will happen unless LF sells 94.1 & 790 AM then there will have to be some kind of sale but not to the Dickey's but either a Volt trust or some else keeps the Dickey's and Cumulus under market cap. 

The 8/5 cap wouldn't come into play if Dickey and Cumulus swap stations among themselves, since the net number of stations wouldn't change.  Dickey already has to count the Cumulus ATL stations and vice-versa for purposes of the 8/5 cap. 

There's probably no benefit in selling the station outright, if for no other reasons than to not have to deal with accusations that the transaction wasn't at arms' length.  It wouldn't be that hard to do an equitable, arms' length revenue split or LMA instead. 

[BarryATL]

What if Dickey Broadcasting did an LMA of 100.5?  That would solve the shareholder issue with Cumulus.

[carolinaradio]

Thanks for the insight.  I agree that if both 92.9 and 100.5 went sports, that wouldn't exactly be cooperation.  

Whatever the future holds for 92.9, I question whether it is Dave or not.  Unless I missed something, the PD has been gone for a few weeks and there has been no indication that they are replacing him.  I'm thinking they have something else planned for 92.9 and don't want to bother hiring an AAA PD.  Who is programming the station?  Somebody is doing something as the station tweaked the music right after he left (which is probably going to hurt them in July, because they were doing better with the older lean last month)...if they have plans for another format, they may be waiting to bring in a PD for whatever that may be.  

If 92.9 went classic hits, I repeatedly see WOGL, WCBS, KRTH, etc. mentioned as examples for a sound, I've done it too.  However, I think it'd be wiser to look to the south - Orlando - where CBS owns WOCL, SunnyFM.  Orlando is younger than those cities, much like Atlanta, and that station puts a ton of emphasis on uptempo, harder rock, new wave, and 70s/80s than, say, CBS-FM.  Not as many 60s played.  Energy, tempo are key....they would put AGH or River to sleep.  They go deeper in the 80s stuff than, say, CBS-FM.  And it's doing well (6.1 June PPM).  THAT is the classic hits sound Atlanta needs.  WOCL struggled for the first couple of years they were on air, but CBS stayed the course, adopted the current sound, and after a lot of work the station is thriving.  I think WiLD's lean blocks out an AMP-style CHR.

[secondchoice]

What if Dickey Broadcasting did an LMA of 100.5?  That would solve the shareholder issue with Cumulus.

What would be a fair amount?

[buddysomeday]

Thanks for the insight.  I agree that if both 92.9 and 100.5 went sports, that wouldn't exactly be cooperation.  

Whatever the future holds for 92.9, I question whether it is Dave or not.  Unless I missed something, the PD has been gone for a few weeks and there has been no indication that they are replacing him.  I'm thinking they have something else planned for 92.9 and don't want to bother hiring an AAA PD.  Who is programming the station?  Somebody is doing something as the station tweaked the music right after he left (which is probably going to hurt them in July, because they were doing better with the older lean last month)...if they have plans for another format, they may be waiting to bring in a PD for whatever that may be.  

If 92.9 went classic hits, I repeatedly see WOGL, WCBS, KRTH, etc. mentioned as examples for a sound, I've done it too.  However, I think it'd be wiser to look to the south - Orlando - where CBS owns WOCL, SunnyFM.  Orlando is younger than those cities, much like Atlanta, and that station puts a ton of emphasis on uptempo, harder rock, new wave, and 70s/80s than, say, CBS-FM.  Not as many 60s played.  Energy, tempo are key....they would put AGH or River to sleep.  They go deeper in the 80s stuff than, say, CBS-FM.  And it's doing well (6.1 June PPM).  THAT is the classic hits sound Atlanta needs.  WOCL struggled for the first couple of years they were on air, but CBS stayed the course, adopted the current sound, and after a lot of work the station is thriving.  I think WiLD's lean blocks out an AMP-style CHR.

They have hired a PD look for an announcement this week, like Tampa they will abandon music for spoken word. And like Tampa it will be sports talk. Book it Dano!

[BRENT]

How much worse can the radio dial get??

[chrocket87]

How much worse can the radio dial get??

Well, if you ask a person that likes sports talk, especially CBS's sports brand, which will be heavily local like in Detroit and Boston, they must think the FM dial is getting pretty good. Let me guess, if oldies was in Atlanta, you'd be calling this the best radio market around?