CANCELLED DEAL WITH LATINO BROADCASTERS CAUSES FLACK IN PROVIDENCE

Torey Malatia

Sometimes the best of good intentions aren't enough to satisfy critics. Torey Malatia, CEO of Rhode Island Public Radio (RIPR), is learning this again after cancelling a deal to sell WRNI-AM to Latino Public Radio (LPR). LPR is a local organization that has been operating WRNI while preparing to purchase it.

Malatia told Providence news site GoLocalProv [link] RIPR wanted to sell WRNI to LPR but LPR couldn’t raise the money:

“If we had our wishes, they would now own 1290.  But they decided not only they did not want to buy 1290 [and] they wanted to stop renting 1290 from us for their broadcasts.” 

“They were welcome to buy the station from us.  They were welcome to rent it as long as they liked.  We did not evict them—we treated them as a trusted and valuable lease-holder. But they and only they decided to stop broadcasting.”

RIPR agreed to sell WRNI to LPR in November 2016.  (For additional background, please see our post of 11/21/16 here.) The association between the two organizations began in the early 2000s when RIPR leased WRNI to LPR.  After years of losing money while renting WRNI, Malatia agreed to sell the station to LPR.

RIPR gave LPR six months to purchase the station. LPR was told then that If they couldn’t raise the money, WRNI will be sold to another party. WRNI’s appraised value is $500,000. After six months, RIPR kept the offer open. 

At meeting between members of the LPR Board of Directors and Malatia in December 2017, it was made clear that LPR would not be able to complete the purchase. RIPR then pulled the plug.

Last Friday (3/23) Malatia said in a press release:

“We regret that the budget realities at Latino Public Radio meant we couldn’t complete the station sale as both parties had hoped...we’re grateful, though, that they intend to continue reaching their audience online.”

Moving forward, RIPR is simulcasting their News/Talk format on WRNI (now WRPA) until another buyer is found.

“TELL IT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL”

Reynaldo Almonte

The fact that RIPR lost patience and ended the deal didn’t sit well with one staffer of LPR. 

Reynaldo Almonte blamed RIPR for LPR’s failure to complete the transaction.

Almonte told GoLocalProv that he will be meeting with Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin's to block the sale of WRNI. (Of course, the state Attorney General lacks the standing to be involved.)

Malatia told GoLocalProv that Almonte’s criticism is not based in reality:

“I find it remarkable that he is incapable of accepting that his board has made decisions about his company—ones that he disagrees with as a staffer—but decisions that his own board have delivered.”

NIELSEN RATINGS: RIPR DOUBLES ITS WEEKLY LISTENERS IN FEBRUARY PPM

Meanwhile things seem to be going well at RIPR. 

We were more than a little surprised to their 49% jump in estimated weekly listeners when February 2018 data is compared with February 2017 as shown in the chart on the left.

Spark News reached Torey Malatia for the story behind the rapid increase in weekly listeners:

In July 2017 we acquired the signal for WUMD 89.1 FM. It is now our primary station.  Then we found out 89.1 did not have an encoder for the PPM system. Nielsen was late sending the gear.  Now [the signal] is encoded and we are pleased with the results.

Malatia also said that RIPR’s quest to become a more intense local service is gaining steam. RIPR is in the middle of a $6 million campaign to launch more local journalism. So far RIPR has raised $3.1 million.

Also in New England PPM markets, three of the Boston stations lost a bit of their estimated weekly listeners. 

The race between WBUR and WGBH remains as tight as ever.

Friends in Beantown tell me that Emerson’s WERS is sounding terrific these days. They are playing fewer singer/songwriter tracks and more Alt Rock favorites like Moon Taxi, The Killers and Muse.

We don’t often report the Nielsen numbers for Hartford because there are only two subscribing noncom stations. However, no trip through New England is complete without a stop at J’s Crabshack for Bay Scallops.