Friday, December 4, 2015

KPCW, PARK CITY, UTAH, GAINS A FREE SALT LAKE CITY FM FREQUENCY


KPCW and commercial broadcaster Broadway Media announced this week that Broadway is donating free-of-charge its 107.9 FM signal to KPCW. The donation is part of a complex plan by Broadway to improve the coverage of their station located at 92.3.

Larry Warren

As part of the deal, KPCW will change its Park City frequency from 91.9 to 91.7, allowing the 92.3 upgrade. According to Larry Warren, President and GM of KPCW, Broadway will cover all the costs of KPCW’s frequency change to 91.7, including the construction of new transmission facilities at a higher power level. Broadway will gain full market coverage with 92.3.  Broadway currently owns and operates seven stations in Salt Lake City.

Bob Richer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Community Wireless, Inc., which owns KPCW, said it is the largest donation in KPCW’s 35-year station history. According to Richer there are no strings attached: “We are free to either program it ourselves or sell it to a third party to raise money for an endowment. We now have the costs of our signal upgrade covered by Broadway, eliminating our need to launch a capital campaign.”

The transaction, which requires FCC approval, will be completed in late winter 2016.

 

COVERAGE MAP FOR 107.9 FM


KPCW currently does not put a strong signal into the SLC metro.  If KPCW decides to keep 107.9 FM, it could simulcast KPCW’s programming into SLC. The market has plenty of noncoms already including KUER (NPR News), KBYU (Classical), KRCL (Triple A), KCPW (News, but not NPR), and KKLV (“K-Love” CCM).


Thursday, December 3, 2015

WAJC: DREAM IS OVER


A friend of mine who is media broker once told me:

Nobody ever lost money investing in the FM spectrum.

Today we will see an exception to that notion.  It is a cautionary story about what happens when hype exceeds reality.  In July we reported on a noncom FM station near the Twin Cities being advertised for sale for $750,000.  Previously the station had been listed for $1 million.  Recently it sold in November for $52,000 to Maranatha Assembly of God Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota.

Below is the story of WAJC-FM, built on the boast it was a Twin Cities metro signal. But, it covered only a small slice of the market. The founders of WALC were Kevin and Jill Martin Rische. Jill’s father, Dr. Walter Martin, backed the station and likely experienced a significant financial loss. Martin is a long-time radio preacher known as The Original Bible Answer Man

According to published reports, WAJC had been rebroadcasting Northwestern College’s student station via KTIS’s HD4 signal. WAJC is apparently off the air pending FCC approval of the sale. The new owner has not revealed future plans for WAJC.

Here is the original post:
___________________________________________________________________
July 8, 2015

Today we’ve got a true radio story. If you’ve ever worked in management at a noncom or commercial station you’ve seen people dream big and then fall on their ass.
One of the most frequent radio dreams is to start your own station.  The freedom seems so inviting and the opportunities so great. I lived this dream in 1982 when I signed on KSKY-FM in the Black Hills. So, I can relate to the people in this short story because I've been there.

MEET WAJC-FM
In mid-June I saw this ad in a newsletter I get from a broker of broadcast stations:
I eat call letters for breakfast but I had never heard of this station. So I investigated.

FULL POWER NON-COMMERCIIAL FM IIN
MIINNEAPOLIIS-ST. PAUL RADIIO MARKET

WAJC-FM is a full-power Non-Commercial FM serving Minneapolis-St. Paul, the 16th largest radio market in the nation. The station broadcasts on 88.1MHz, and delivers programming to Dakota, Ramsey, and Washington counties, plus the growing suburbs south of the Twin Cities. Price: $750,000.

WAJC FM 88.1 is licensed to Newport, Minnesota – a far-flung southern exurb of St. Paul.  WAJC’s Construction Permit was granted in 2010 and they signed on in 2013.  The owner of WAJC is Religious Information Network, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Now WAJC is for sale.  The asking price is $750,000.



Take a look at WAJC’s coverage 
map:

This is NOT a Minneapolis-St. Paul metro radio station. This is a station that runs on hype and the tank is empty.











THE TRUE WAJC STORY

Jill Martin Rische is the oldest daughter of Dr. Walter Martin. Dr. Martin is a long-time radio preacher known as The Original Bible Answer Man

Jill married Kevin Rische – they met at church. Dr. Martin brought Kevin Rische into the family business: Preaching For Dollars On the Radio.  Kevin was put in charge of digitizing Dr. Martin’s 40-some years of broadcasting.



Dr. Martin’s program The Original Bible Answer Man and other shows made a lot of money.  They were (and still are) time-brokered broadcasts on commercial religious stations. Dr. Martin gained notoriety with true believers with his late 1960s book The K

Dr. Martin was getting older and apparently had cash on hand.

 LET’S START OUR OWN STATION!

Someone convinced someone to apply for a new FM allocation for Newport, Minnesota.  Religious Information Network was one of several applicants.  They won the license in a mutually-exclusive (“MX”) contest at the FCC in 2010.

Kevin and Jill planned the station and started building.  Here is Kevin Rische at the WAJC tower location:







MEET THE REMNANT


The Remnant – WAJC’s air name – signed on in 2013. According to it’s website [link] The Remnant airs Contemporary Christian Music (“CCM”) and all Dr. Walter Martin’s programs.


In 2013 the happy talk ended and things got real.

WHEN THE WHIP COMES DOWN

According IRS 990 tax fillings, The Remnant’s revenue has been between $20,000 and $40,000 every year since they signed on.  Expenses exceed revenue every year, sometimes by thousands of dollars.

It seems so clear now what went wrong:

• WAJC doesn’t cover enough of the Twin Cities to be a viable metro station.

• Northwestern College Broadcasting (KTIS) owns the religious noncom market in the Twin Cities.  KTIS draws around 400,000 listeners a week. Salem Broadcasting scoops up the rest.

• Kevin and Jill ran WJAC into the ground.  But they successfully traded air time for a free station vehicle. They lost the vehicle in the sale.

• Dr. Walter Martin – The Original Bible Answer Man believes God answers all prayers. Unfortunately, some times God says “NO.”

1 comment:

  1. Description: https://img1.blogblog.com/img/anon36.png
KVSC in St Cloud is also on 88.1 and it precludes any chance of WAJC being terribly listenable in the actual Twin Cities. Unfortunately, WAJC does a fine job destroying KVSC's fringe coverage of that same area...which wasn't trivial.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

NOVEMBER TRIPLE A SHARE TRENDS


I’ve got a cold today and feel like sh*t, so I am not doing much writing. Here without comment are the most recent Nielsen Audio PPM Average Quarter Hour (AQH) share trends for noncom and selected commercial Triple A stations in the top 30 markets.

MARKET
STATION
SEPTEMBER 2015
AQH%
OCTOBER 2015 AQH%
NOVEMBER 2015 AQH%
New York
WFUV
0.5
0.5
0.4
Los Angeles
KCRW
1.8
1.9
1.8
Chicago
WXRT*
2.6
2.5
2.6
San Francisco
KFOG*
2.1
2.1
2.2
Dallas
KKXT
1.3
1.1
1.1
Philadelphia
WXPN
1.3
1.4
1.3
Boston
WXRV*
3.1
2.9
2.2
Boston
WERS
0.6
0.6
0.6
Boston
WUMB
0.2
0.1
0.1
Detroit
CIDR*
1.4
1.4
1.7
Seattle
KEXP
1.1
1.1
0.8
Phoenix
KDKB*
3.1
2.5
2.5
Minneapolis
KCMP
3.0
2.6
2.5
Minneapolis
KTWN*
2.1
1.8
1.3
San Diego
XTRA*
2.1
2.3
2.6
Denver
KBCO*
6.1
4.9
4.8
Denver
KTCL*
5.8
4.9
4.8
Denver
KUNC
0.2
0.4
0.5
Denver
KVOQ
0.2
0.1
0.2
Tampa
WMNF
0.6
0.5
0.5
Long Island
WFUV
1.2
1.2
0.9
Baltimore
WTMD
0.6
0.4
0.6
Portland
KINK*
3.8
3.5
3.7
Charlotte
WSGE
0.5
0.3
0.3
Pittsburgh
WYEP
1.0
1.0
1.0
Salt Lake City
KRCL
0.4
0.4
0.5
Cincinnati
WNKU
0.6
0.4
0.4
* Indicates commercial station

DATA © NIELSON AUDIO
Provided by RRC, Inc. & StationRatings.com for use by subscribers only
© Radio Research Consortium, Inc. // www.RRConline.org // RRC@RRConline.org
Format designations are the sole responsibility of Ken Mills Agency, LLC. Contact us publicradio@hotmail.com.