A veteran radio manager in town told me Thursday that "KTRB is 'toast now."
And indeed, who would argue. After a remarkably incompetent set of negotiations went south with the A's, the bank receiver, Comerica, now finds itself without its chief content provider, running about a quarter of its 50,000 watts and potentially a multitude of lawsuits with vendors and past sponsors.
Oh, yeah, and did I mention, again, without the A's?
Now the station is in a real no-man's land, in a position of severe weakness with a few incidental, accidental programs and and a flailing sports network that will no doubt disappear into the darkness. Someone, some company will probably scoop up the 860 AM frequency, which is now virtually worthless.
The poker game is over and the A's didn't blink.
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The A's didnt blink,but that's because what kind of team waits until the day before the season opener to find a radio station? It reeks of cheapness and the A's own hardball cost them a chance to own a whole 50,000 watt sports station. I guess the idea of investing money to build something is not what the A's do.
ReplyDeleteAs far as KTRB..like the City of Oakland,Coloseum, and the injured players, and the fans with given away all stars,and who knows what else-whatever the A's group touches,they ruin.
Any chance Mickey Luckoff, former KGO head, will buy it?
ReplyDeleteGood for the A's management not to kowtow to KTRB's (Comerica) unreasonable demands.
ReplyDeleteI only hope that an AM station comes up for sale in four years and the A's are able to jump at the opportunity.
Nothing beats a strong AM signal at night (or daytime for that matter).
@anon 1- what kind of d*ck move is it for the receiver to terminate the A's broadcast one week before the season opener?
ReplyDeleteNot the A's fault that Comerica overplayed its hand when trying to extort more cash from its highest (only) bidder.
@ 2:51
ReplyDelete.
How did "the A's group" ruin the Coliseum? Err, that's all on Al Davis and the City/County Government.
That whole first post was a dick move. Sounds like someone who doesn't know the full story.
ReplyDeletecould it be the start of a foundation for an entercomm FM sports talk with both A's & Sharks on the same stick next year?
ReplyDeletethe whole Wolf/Fisher ownership is a disgrace. no one can deny that!
ReplyDeletehow does anyone know that Comerica was "greedy" or "overplayed their hand"??? do we have any radio mgmnt experts here that can fairly appraise the value of KTRB at this point? because myself i don't know but its not every day that a station with a 50,000 watt signal is available at likely a cheap price...i'm a Giants (and Raiders) fan up here in Sacto but i wouldn't mind seeing the A's do well and buying KTRB and turning it into a KNBR type flagship for the A's would have been a big step in the right direction instead of bouncing all over the dial for every two bit station around...
ReplyDeletei'd like to hear the $$$$ numbers on this failed deal because i think the A's made a huge mistake...
The A's offered 10 Million dollars,& were turned down. In comparison two San Jose FM stations with strong signals very recently sold in the 9 million dollar range. With two transmitter sites and no electricity at the night site the costs involved for leasing of the land & fueling the night site are twenty five thirty thousands dollars per month.
ReplyDelete10 million dollars!...that what the A's paid to rent for a gimpy armed Ben Sheets for what? 3-4 months of service? then he retired. And,as I recall Susan Slusser even AFTER Sheets retired said "It was well worth only a 10 million dollar risk" I beleive Susan when she says that kind of money to Beane,Wolff and the A's is chump change. Hey,isn't that what Wolff recently said about renovating his Arizona practice feilds for THIRTY million dollars "It's chump change".? I think he did.
ReplyDeleteYou are under the assumption that having the A's on a station improves its value.
ReplyDeleteThe empty seats and decks in their ballpark illustrate the public's interest in that franchise. It just isn't there.
1:25 goes by the tail wagging the dog theory.
ReplyDeleteIf Wolff,had used moneyball for something other than buying losing-and plenty of it,the fans would come.
If the A's had a flagship,THAT would increase the teams value and interest in fans.
The drop on A's attendance matches Wolff and the Fisher familys buying the team and their "influence" of a losing aura. Like last place finishes.
They wouldnt pay 10 mill for KTRB,but they did pay 13 mill for Sheets and Duke-both broken down and good for nothing.
Right?
what did Comerica want then, $15 mil? still doesn't seem like a heck of a lot, if you plan on staying in the area, spread that over 10-20 years or so and then apparently cost to run before staff is in the $350,000 to $500,000 a year range, so maybe cost them $1 mil a year to run with 3 or 4 Dido types and some cheap ESPN or FOX Sports programming when they not talking A's baseball. To me thats a no-brainer purchase, the value of having a 50,000 watt day and night station instead of going year to year with flunkee limited range FM stations, good lord. What's the value of KNBR?
ReplyDeleteIs there a demand for A's games on the radio?
ReplyDeleteHey genius any CFO who would advise spend 2-3 X the stations worth should be fired. The first price is for the radio station. The next 2.5 million goes into putting PG&E up to the transmitter site. Meanwhile AM radio stations, except for the very biggest and most successful are losing not gaining value. Some of you need to quit acting like a fan boy, and think of the broadcasting arm as a business. After all if it didn't work out they can't trade the station to The Astros. Do any of you knuckle heads realize their are no other buyers?
ReplyDeleteWhat will Ken Dito do? Another Schwabacher-Frey TV commercial?
ReplyDelete