Weekend Potpourri

Just some random followup, or other new items:

CP APPROVED: It's a formality, of course, but the construction permit for WJER-FM/101.7's move to North Canton has been approved. According to the FCC online database, the agency gave its official stamp of approval on the application on Friday.

We assumed that the timing would be such, since Clear Channel will be actually lighting up the station sometime after the current operator abandons programming 101.7 on December 26th. The construction permit for Cumulus rock WRQK/106.9's new stick on the forthcoming tower at 22nd and Whipple NW was approved in 2004.

The new incarnation of 101.7 FM will, of course, take new call letters and presumably a new format. We have not heard any official word about that new format, but rumors incoming to OMW would seem to suggest that country would be the leading candidate for it...followed closely by some sort of AC format to pair with sister hot AC outlet WKDD/98.1...

WHIZ-FM AND WCVZ: Apparently following up on our earlier report of speculation on WHIZ-FM/102.5 Zanesville's interest in crosstown WCVZ/92.7 South Zanesville "92.7 The River", that interest was real.

The Zanesville Times Recorder reports that the WHIZ Media Group did make an offer for the Christian Voice of Central Ohio-owned CCM station, which was not accepted. The new station would have been the presumptive replacement for 102.5, which holds a construction permit to move to a new site serving the Columbus radio market near the town of Baltimore.

While WHIZ officials continue to insist that they're just "exploring" the possibility of the relocation of 102.5, we are a bit more skeptical. If you were expecting a possible $7-10 million payday for a new Columbus FM station, would YOU pass it up? And clearly, WHIZ itself does not intend on operating a Columbus market station. The phrase "fish out of water" would come to mind.

Our best guess - if WHIZ can't get 92.7 in their stable, they'll go after the only other commercial FM that serves Zanesville...rimshot WYBZ/107.3 Crooksville. It's not as good a signal in the Y-Bridge City as WCVZ, but it'd still work for them...

ANOTHER WKNR FOLLOWUP: This time, to our ongoing coverage of the sale of sports talk WKNR/850 to Good Karma Broadcasting.

Would you like a look at some of the financial figures Good Karma Broadcasting boss Craig Karmazin saw before he agreed to purchase the station from Salem?

Here, take a look. (Thanks to an alert OMW reader for finding this one!)

The income figures were included in an 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Here's the relevant info from the filing:

On December 4, 2006, Salem Communications Corporation ("Salem") issued a press release regarding its agreement to sell radio station WKNR Sports Talk 850AM ("WKNR-AM") to Good Karma Broadcasting, L.L.C. for $7 million.

In addition to the terms of the sale as described in the press release, net broadcasting revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2006 for WKNR-AM was $1.8 million and station operating income for the nine months ended September 30, 2006 for this station was $0.3 million.

For the year ended December 31, 2005, WKNR-AM generated net broadcasting revenue of $2.6 million and station operating income of $0.5 million. WKNR-AM was acquired on August 24, 2000, as part as an eight station acquisition. The allocated purchase price was $4.7 million.

Anyone trying to compare figures - notice that the 2006 numbers are through September 30th, and the 2005 numbers are for the entire year.

And the other comparison here?

Salem is saying it spent $4.7 million to buy the station now known as WKNR (then WRMR) as a part of its other purchases, which in this case includes the station now known as WFHM/95.5. Assuming that's correct, they actually made a profit on the sale to Good Karma. (We'll invite folks with much better grasp on financials than we do, to take this apart.)

Not that Mr. Karmazin didn't get a good deal, though.

Salem had, if you believe the rumblings, been asking upwards of $14 million for the 850 signal originally. At some point, they "cut their losses", and if the figures above are to be believed, actually made a little coin...

WWOW SOLD: And our colleague and long-time friend Scott Fybush at NorthEast Radio Watch passes this news of a local radio sale along. It's not as big as the WKNR sale, but it's a radio station sale nonetheless...

Conneaut oldies outlet WWOW/1360 has been sold for $200,000. Owner Developing Radio is flipping it to another local concern, Gates Mills-based Cause Plus Marketing, which is headed by John Marra Jr. (Anyone know who this is?) Pittsburgh-based media broker Ray Rosenblum handled the sale.

The outlet in extreme Northeast Ohio has been running ABC Radio's "True Oldies Channel", the 24/7 satellite feed headed up by long-time broadcaster Scott Shannon, outside of morning drive. Before that format change a year and a half ago, it was a news/talk outlet...