CBS Radio will divest about 50 mid-size radio stations and Portland could be on the list!

http://www.cbscorporation.com/assets/documents/2Q2008EarningsRelease.pdf

You're probably right. Their Portland stations are among their 50 smallest market stations.

Perhaps this explains the Non-Jammin' Jammin' station!

Can anyone speculate which Portland stations will get sold off? Will the new owners flip the stations' formats?

If the key word is "underperforming" then they may all be safe. Jammin' hasn't been on the new format long enough to know, one way or the other. If the word is "selective", they could all go!

I bet the entire cluster is sold. If CBS sells every station in their 11 smallest markets, that's exactly 50 stations. That includes Portland. Personally, I enjoy a few of CBS's Portland stations and I'd hate to see them sold to someone who may further drive them into the ground.

I certainly hope that Cumulus doesn't come into Portland!

Will Rick Emerson survive a sale of AM 970?

I understand Cumulus, aka Cume-Less, has extensive problems of their own! They've even got stations that that are regularly off the air due to tech problems. It's like we're in a depression!

is las vegas on the auction block too. anyone know.

There's a thread on Radio-Info that says currently, nobody knows the list of stations.
Starting to feel for the folks at 1st, 3rd, and Jefferson (unless they secretly know they won't be affected).

I completely forgot about 970. That could easily be among the first to go. Is Las Vegas a medium market yet?

Man, I knew I should've started to save my pennies! Oh well, I'd only have about 1,000 anyhow.
According to the R&R Websites' main ratings page, Las Vegas is Market #33, between Kansas City and Orlando. Portland is #23.
Of course, this is radio, and probably just about anything can happen.

Las Vegas apparently grew. I don't believe it used to be anywhere near the top 50.

Las Vegas, like Phoenix has been a high-rate growth market for several years. Also like Phoenix, Las Vegas has been hit HARD by the bubble bursting on housing values...

the cbs radio stations on the sellin block is kupl,kink.kufo,and klth.

Everything under market 15

KUPL, KINK, KUFO and KLTH aren't necessarily the statons being sold. That's just industry speculation right now. And why would they hold on to 107.5? That's been their biggest failure in Portland.

If they wanted to dump low-rated stations, wouldn't KCMD (970) be the first to go? I like that station, but it is not a ratings superstar.

allaccess.com is reporting the cbs radio stations up for sell is kupl,kink,kufo,klth,

No, they're only speculating that.

Hey, I hear CBS is broke and they're selling everything for pennies on the dollar. In fact, some stations are buy one, get one free!!!!

It might only be a rumor though

A couple of cool/not-so-cool quotes from Jerry Del Colliano's Inside Music Media...

"It's never a good thing for a troubled industry when companies want to unload assets -- especially your number two operator."

"Radio is a declining business with little to no prospect of regaining its growth sector status. Playing by Wall Street rules has nailed the coffin shut. Now you'll be seeing operators trying to climb out."

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2008/07/by-jerry-del-colliano-cbs-is-sellin g-50.html

jerry del coliano said it all. the share price of the radio stocks is in the tank. IF they would NOW focus on quality, rebuild the business with people with skills. they can rebuild. otherwise it's time for a new profession.

A majority of CBS's stations will probably be sold off. I talked with a couple of people I know who work for CBS Minneapolis, and it seems as though part of their station cluster is going to be sold off as well. So, as I like to say, if Minneapolis is getting picked on, Portland is sure to be picked on.

And now for the buzz around PDX:

- I have heard that Rose City Radio may pick up one more station, possibly either KCMD or KXJM.

- Entercom and CC-PDX (from what I understand) can not pick up another station unless they drop one, so they are out of luck. Entercom COULD sell one to Bustos or somewhere else...but I seriously doubt that'd be the case.

- Pamplin may try to ask for KLTH as a side property. Yes, that sounds crazy, but don't think for a moment that they are out of the running.

- No news as of yet on KUPL, KINK, or KUFO, as of right now.

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Take all the info I put up above the line with a grain of salt. Most of this is second hand info, and may or may not be true. I guarantee nothing, and will not be responsible for the accuracy of the previous statements.

Playing by Wall Street rules has nailed the coffin shut. Now you'll be seeing operators trying to climb out."

Which makes it so odd that Bain was willing to cough up so much cash for CC. Dumber still was keeping the CC top dawgs on board... Since they are from the era of Carl "I-can and I-did", "T Boone Pickem and stripem", "Greed is good", and "slash for the cash", My guess is that CC will also be marketing more stations as well. Maybe too, one goal is to get El Rushboob on 4000 stations to spread that 400 mill out a bit.

I still think the success stories in radio will be in the stations that cut the gimmicks and concetrate on local interest. The lean mean cluster model has such a big nut to crack to keep the stock holders happy and keep the doors open, that they can't concentrate on a community basis. they screwed themselves with the move-out/move-in frenzy. Joe one stick might not be able to make it in a Metro, but with underserved local areas, you might see a return to smaller towns with business bases in the future of radio. Too many sticks in the cities. Now the question is will the buyers be picking up clusters or individual stations, and at what price? Actual value, or the bloated price?

Those ownership limits are confusing, but I'm sure CC, which owns 2 AM's and 3 FM's, has room for more. Not so at Entercom, which has 2 AM's and 5 FM's. I agree that Dr. Bob shouldn't be counted out, and Paul Allen could pay cash for the whole cluster and take his change in small forwards. Interesting realignment coming up.

It's a two-fold strategy: Take some stations off the books to appear to be pro-active to Wall Street, while using the sale proceeds to buy back CBS shares...which they'd like to think are undervalued and might also influence Wall Street's support.

The reason specific stations have not been named by CBS is "..it is a fluid process." In other words, who's in a position to buy? Let's go fishing and find out. (All Access' speculation list overlooked Jammin', so their list of 50 becomes 51...and they likely overlooked others.)

All the consolidators are in the same fix. They haven't been able to make tonnage work, so they may all have to follow CC's lead, as CBS is now doing and divest properties.

One could hope broadcast entrepreneurs of the past, who appreciate the medium and what makes it unique would be buyers.

Mom and Pop operators with the guts to have live operators 24/7, and know how to exploit that advantage could have an impact. However, advertising dollars for traditional media are waning, so this strategy would have to be married to the future to be successful.

"you might see a return to smaller towns with business bases in the future of radio. Too many sticks in the cities"

Are you predicting that the "move-ins" trend to the larger cities might change to "move-outs" ? ... That would be interesting.

Entercom has 3 AMs. KKSN 1390 is part of the total count. Interestingly, Longview is not included, despite being about the same distance away as Salem. It's also interesting that Rose City may end up with either a $3 million or $60 million property, just an estimate.

Interestingly, Longview is not included...
I thought Entercom Longview was sold several years ago to BiCoastal.

I meant it wasn't considered part of the metro area and therefore not part of the count.

I am kinda hopin' CBS will hose Jammin' before next May....in particular, that they flip it to some other format. I have a bet with a couple of my co-workers for dinner at McCormick & Shmicks riding on those two particular contingencies!

that never happen

Jammins ratings did go up Motozak2. They have invested a lot of money in the station, or should I say Pk's paycheck, If they do flip the station it would be after May, thats not enough time. So Far its looking good for Jammin, but lets kust wait and see.

@Robin - I've been hoping for some of those wise entrepeneurs to come forth...But at whatever the asking price might be today, if they're *really* wise, I'm afraid they'll stay out... Simply can't afford it!

Still, it's an intriguing idea...

Portland: Country KUPL, AAA KINK, Active
Rock KUFO and Classic Hits KLTH. Current list of CBS stations on the block for PDX. For Las Vegas:
Top 40/R KLUC, Talk KXNT-AM, Hot AC
KMXB, Alternative KXTE and Adult Hits KKJJ.
This came from a publication out of Minneapolis "The Conclave Tattler"

thanks oldnewsdude--now i know why i have hit a brick wall when i applied for a job there. bet there is a hiring freeze on.

The sad part about the stations that are on the chopping blcok- Kufo, Kink, KUPL are some of the last stations that actually have a LIVE air staff on all of the major dayparts. Im assuming if stations like KUFO and Kink get sold off, the talent will be fired and replaced with nothing but voice tracking.
What about management at these stations. GM, marketing director. I assume they will get the boot if the stations are sold off.

Normally, when a station is sold, the buyer is purchasing more than just a frequency. They are paying for the intellectual property. In the case of KUFO, KINK and KUPL, a new owner would want to hang on to as much of the staff as possible to keep the value of the station. Very few prospective buyers will pay the high price of a successful radio station and then let it go to seed. They'll want the success to continue so they can reap in the rewards and get the value out of their investment. Each operator is different. If anything, a new operator would put all the CBS properties into one facility and find ways to save money by consolidating the support staff.

It will be a newcomer to the market.

Anyone speculating on the chances:
1. The buyer of some/all the CBS Portland stations sold will be sold to a privately-owned company?
2. The buyer of some/all of said stations is a Spanish-language-only operator (meaning formats and airstaff are toast)?
3. The buyer of some/all of said stations is a religious-format-only operator (same caveat as #2)?

Sold to a privately-owned company? I'd say yes. I think sold to "companies" is more like it. But I don't think anyone is going to make that many Spanish-language stations in this market.

I at least like to pretend that all this disaster news in radio is just the dark before the light!

I think that oucome #1 is the most likely of the three. Unless the station in question is KCMD, I think that outcomes #2 or #3 are highly unlikely simply because the "intellectual property" tied to the successful formats and identities that the CBS FM stations have are going to make those stations too expensive. In other words, is trying to take on El Rey worth ~$60 million? Or is the opportunity to try to lure the people who buy airtime on KPDQ (AM and FM) and KKPZ away to a new FM Christian station worth ~$60 million?

I'm sure that all of the CBS FM's will keep their successful formats, after the sale is finalized.

Sales, plural...it'll likely be parted out...but, I agree...the formats will be mostly the same, though not with fully intact staffing. Just like any sale.

I'm sure that Clear Channel (Portland) would love to add KUPL to their cluster!

OR, any of the above! That's what makes getting sold so exciting!

Yes, I recommend the experience to anyone. It creates the opportunity to meet new managers, makes parking slots and cubical spaces available, introduces you to more challenging medical plans, and presents the chance to pursue new employment horizons, as you hop aboard the burgeoning bandwagon of Americans unconstrained by work.

I love your optimism, Eastwood!

Dennis Constantine is proably crapping his pants right now since his beloved Kink will be on the chopping block.

I hear they've already started chop chop chopping at KOOL in Phoenix

The reason I thought of the 'buy the station, change the format' scenarios is it seems these are the formats getting all the discussion these days. Do I personally like formats that support illegal immigration or turning the country into a theocracy? No, but from what I keep hearing, they can get the money to start operations and continue operations.

The other thing is I remember hearing about a few years ago was a well-known rock station in Hawaii being sold to a religious broadcaster, and the format immediately switched to a Christian talk format. I don't know the details on that, though.

Something else interesting on R&R's site is a comment that Saga might be interested in some of CBS's stations. From the gist of the article, sounds like one of those 'it would be great if...' type of discussions.

>>rock station in Hawaii being sold to a religious broadcaster

Sounds like Salem's M.O. They've bought several heritage rock or top 40 stations, flipped them to wall-to-wall preaching while keeping the heritage call letters. WAVA, WMCA, WWDJ, (K)KOL, KCBQ, KRLA, and KLIF immediately come to mind, although many of those had already abandoned rock prior to Salem's buy-out.

Yes, Salem bought Hawaii's heritage rocker; 97.5 KPOI, and flipped it to Conservative Talk in August, 2004. At this time, 105.9 picked up the legendary KPOI calls for it's Classic Rock format, which was formerly known as "The Big Kahuna" KAHA. (Salem changed 97.5 to Country in September, 2007)

Thanks 'xpert, that's the exact situation I was thinking of.