KSFO, the conservative radio fortress at 560 AM on the dial is, according to those in the know, for sale. I mean, like, really, really, for sale.
Of course, everything is potentially for sale. Well, maybe not these guys.
We've been down this road before but people in the business say Cumulus (which owns the radio station) is seriously scouting potential suitors.
For one, KSFO has barely four fulltime staffers (including on-air and off) and a great signal adding to its mass profitability. It could probably fetch well over $10-15 million dollars in the nation's 4th-largest radio market. Furthermore, the revenue generated from the sale could allow Cumulus to acquire some up-front money that could conceivably pay off some small debt. In real terms, the money is but a speck in corporate accounting but it is real money nonetheless.
As usual, we will make inquirers and try to clean up the dust.
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OK, time out. You can sell your car really cheap if you strip out the wheels, seats and engine, but unless the buyer is buying it for parts or scrap, they're going to have to add those pieces back in before it will go anywhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen you write that KSFO has barely four fulltime staffers, that doesn't mean it can run as a standalone with a headcount of only four. They share most of the back office functions with KGO, KNBR, KTCT, KFOG/KFFG and KSAN, the other Cumulus stations in SF. And except for the morning show mess, everything comes off the bird. So unless the buyer is another chain with similarly consolidated sales and back office functions that can squeeze KSFO into the existing staff's workflow, *and* all that syndicated programming is coming with the sale, that buyer is going to need more headcount and more programing to actually run the station.
And add even more staff if it's a chain like CBS that typically runs their stations right. (Yeah, I know, magical thinking.)
I heard KRON's old building sold for 20 million.
ReplyDeleteYou keep talking about radio stations and their horrible management which might be true. But the fact is people are just not listening to local stations much any more. I get in my car and listen to either my Amazon Prime songs or Pandora. I might listen to a game here and if there is a breaking story I'll listen to the news, even then if it's a national story I'll listen on Sirius XM. Otherwise I listen to my music. I have not listened to sportstalk rambling for many years. Young people are growing up with this new technology. The future of radio is very grim. I'm not sure why any advertiser spends their money where no one is listening.
ReplyDeleteI have Sirius and all the apps in my cars, but I still enjoy the good radio that is still out there, we just don't have it in the Bay Area any more. I sometimes listen through my Audi Wifi to KCRW down in Los Angeles, or BBC radio 4 or LBC talk radio in London which is very entertaining. Radio may be dead in the Bay Area, but it is dead because they got rid of the talent and formats that made it worth listening to.
DeleteKSFO won't bring tons of cash as a stand-alone transmitter sale. What would somebody do with it?
ReplyDeleteIt's AM, the numbers suck, I have to buy programming, staff, studios, marketing and Mordida.
If it's so great why is it not listed on the brokerage sites?
Pretty much all big market AM's are for sale. Now show me a station for sale in a mid-small south/southwestern market that has population growth and a nice business climate and I will bite big-time.
If you wanna see how to make local radio really work, study KCDZ-FM in Moreno valley/29 Palms CA.
It's family run, has a great news dept, motivated employees and is for-profit community radio.
They run all platforms with ease.
If I was looking at KSFO it would be loball all the ws.
Cheaper to keep it and use it as a value added bundle.
Stations like KCDZ aren't burdened by having to sell ratings in a metropolitan area.
DeleteI agree with 2:47 that as it currently exists, KSFO is not exactly a plum offering. More like a distressed fixer-upper; the format hasn't been tweaked meaningfully since well before Ken Berry was shown the door; Cumulus and Citadel before them have kept the station on life support ever since, and look how far the attrition has progressed: local programming is pretty much a wasteland (Sussman, Bearman, and Tanem are the only local talent left; Katie can't stand alone and doesn't count as talent - she's basically decoration and amusement for Sussman). Syndicated programming, with the possible exception of Savage, is a wasteland of gimme's and hand-me-downs (Hannity doesn't excite anyone any more, and I guess Limbaugh has his minions of ditto-heds, but the rest of 'em barely count. In fact some of the dreck we carry; do we pay for that or do they effing pay US to carry it? I don't know. But they should. I digress.
ReplyDeleteSo KSFO is about as attractive on the marketplace as a 1976 Chevy Chevette, and not a well preserved one: It's been run into the ground; staff and morale and talent and resources and imagination are all at 20-year lows. So you're not buying it for the culture, unless you have a thing for cranky old republicans with nowhere else to go. It's AM radio, and the signal is "pretty good" but it ain't a blow-torch like KGO; so it's not like people are lining up to find the frequency. No; you're buying legacy call letters, and a channel with a shot at attracting an older, bay-area audience. You'd better bring your own facilities, programming ideas (or if you're looking for syndicated content, Cumulus might have a deal for you...), and some very clever promotional chops by which you can make people aware of, and attracted to find and follow, your AM radio signal.
That last one bears repeating: what ever happened to promotion of radio stations? NONE of our stations at the Cumulus cluster even have bumper stickers any more. No wait I know; Cumulus thinks that the audience is nothing but rabid button-pushers; we've discussed that and I digress. Again. Oh well.
The perfect buyer for KSFO has lots of $$ to throw at a long term project. They have some fresh and unique programming ideas; look to some of the smaller-community stations (KSRO in Santa Rosa does a nice job) to actually engage with the community (as opposed to throw them overboard for paid vitamin ads). They may have some ideas for how to get people to seek out a radio station; it used to be contests, million-dollar cold calls, etc. but that ship has sailed -- nobody's doing any promotion at all, so if you can come up with something good, there should be virtually no competition for attention.
I wish 'em luck. And god speed!
KCDZ seems to be following the same ideas as KOZT on the Mendocino Coast. A bunch of ex-Bay Area radio types, community based, high quality. Resulted in a Marconi Award a few years back. Listen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on KOZT. It looks very similar to KHUM up in Humboldt county. KHUM has a great eclectic music selection, and its fun to listen to that small community vibe from 250 miles away.
DeleteHow are small town stations able to pull this off? Is it lack of competition being the only"local" station? Or is it maybe that they're not heavily in debt? One thing for sure is I like the idea of a mixture of music, talk and news. Or maybe someone like CBS buys it, runs an oldies music format without DJs except for news and traffic from KCBS. Zero staff needed. And then you add personalities when the ratings pick up. However, with at least a dozen GOP candidates lining up to run against Hillary, KSFO will likely stay with conservative talk. It's after 2016 where the problems will arise.
Delete“How are small town stations able to pull this off? Is it lack of competition being the only"local" station?”
DeleteThe short answer is yes. There are a limited number of LOCAL news outlets in a small town; perhaps there’s a local newspaper but that could be it. There is an assumption that everyone in town listens to the station – often that’s true but sometimes it’s not. Certainly people who want to know what’s going on in their town do listen. Without ratings, of course, no one knows for sure how many people listen, but local businesses will support the local radio station because they like to help one another.
Radio in a small town is quite a different animal than radio in a larger, rated market.
Have you heard the radio spot from Girl Scouts that has a mother singing an explanation of Spatial Black Holes to her daughter. She 'sings' to the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The idea is sweet, even clever, but the performance sounds tedious, contrived and seems to last forever. I find myself saying "Damn!! Is she EVER going to finish mumbling her way through that song?"
ReplyDeleteKSFO is worthless in a sale. The only gain is the possibility of buying another news outlet, which would be ruinous for SF radio, if it's not already destroyed by people like this.
ReplyDeleteKSFO's programming is mostly Right-wing junk, and the inventory is open. What would go on air next? What's the gain? Sussman has at best a 2.3 share, which would be the best place to begin to make a change.
All told, I'm sure it is for sale but I'm equally sure no one wants it.
I can think of a few reasonable uses for the 560 facility. One would be for Bloomberg to buy it and move their programing off the subpar 960 facility (and the 103.7 HD2 simulcast -- I wonder if anyone's listening to that...). For them it would be a significant signal upgrade and might get them an actual audience. Another logical buyer might be KQED, to use it to either fill in reception holes caused by the Bay Area terrain or to air some of the many public radio programs that don't get carried on KQED-FM (or KALW).
DeleteOr here's an off-the-wall idea: let iBiquity buy it and change it to the nation's first, experimental, all-digital AM signal. Not a hybrid like the current HD Radio, the AM version of which is an unmitigated flop, but driving the full 5000 watts as pure digital. If their system is so good, here's a chance to put their money where their mouth is and prove it to everyone.
It's sad to see what KSFO has become and who owns them these days. Back in the 1960s and 70s, they were owned by one of the great regional radio companies of America: Golden West Broadcasting. This company was owned by 'The Singing Cowboy,' Gene Autry, and featured such stations as KVI in Seattle and KTLA in LA. Of course, KSFO was the crown jewel back in those days, with names like Sherwood, Carter B. Smith, Dan Sorkin, Aaron Edwards, Mike Powell, and of course they carried the Giants and 49ers and had Hall of Fame broadcasters Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons. Even their studios were palatial, located in the Fairmont Hotel at the top of Nob Hill. That was back in the day when radio was still quite a force, and the profession hadn't been deregulated. Now huge mega-companies own thousands of stations each, and local programming has been minimalized in favor of 'hate-talk' crap like Limbaugh and Hannity. I'm glad some of the aforementioned names have passed on because I think they would cringe in disgust when they saw what has happened to KSFO, a place that used to be known at 'The World's Greatest Radio Station.' Now they've got idiots like Brian Sussman in the morning! Yech!
ReplyDeleteBravo! Bravo! Bravo! How true. KSFO was the class of radio years ago. So were KNBR, the old KGO and KFRC among others. Deregulation ruined everything. Now it’s all homogenous. Five radio stations are located on one floor. You might as well have robots running everything. Today’s radio people don’t get it. All they want to do is save or make a buck. You can make bucks by entertaining people, not by feeding them dreck.
DeleteThis is Michael Zwerling's shot at the big time! He can finally bring to the masses the congenial genius of Watsonville Charles Freedman as well as the beautiful southern bell Georgia! Buy KSFO and bring KSCO to SF mr. Zwerling! It's your time baby! Also bring back Lieberman live!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sounds like a winning formula. Put on some mimes as well.
DeleteI'll give them ten bucks for it.
ReplyDeleteWe forget in the April 2015 PPM ratings from Nielsen ... KSFO is soundly beating KGO by nearly a full point ... 2.4 to KGO''s 1.6. 5000 watts versus 50,000 watts.
ReplyDeleteDon't undermine the "value" of KSFO. You might be surprised. $12-million is a good bet. If the numbers go up, maybe $15-million.
KSFO is not the dog some think it is. Programming wise, even syndicated, it has better numbers than KGO has had for a year. Get rid of Sussman, and KSFO would be even better in morning numbers.
Them's the facts. You may not "like" it, but for the first time, something with Cumulus is working, albeit in the bottom of the pack, than what KGO is doing. KGO's the one to sell, frankly ... with a clean house of that programming.
Cumulus Plan: Sell KSFO and move it's programming and call letters to 810. Only Cumulus would do such a stupid thing. I'm betting they will.
ReplyDelete@9:51, I suspect you're right about the programming: Sell KSFO, and shift most of the programming (the part that isn't purely fill) over to KGO.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't think even Cumulus is dumb enough to rub out a rare and storied 3-letter callsign like KGO. Instant name recognition on the entire west coast. KSFO's calls are storied, too; they'll help to bolster the value of the station for sale, and it's gonna need it as I wrote earlier. But there isn't much to be gained by moving the call sign to 810.
The 20'teens just called: "What's a call letter"?
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