http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b12951
If you follow radio station prices at all, that is….
KBEC 1360 AM – a 480 watt station in Waxahachie, TX is selling for $1.25 million. Waxahachie is a suburb of Dallas / Fort Worth, but the daytime signal is directional, pointing away from the city. The night time signal reaches even a smaller part of the city. Arbitron shows no rating for it at all in the DFW market.
Remember my post about people buying up worthless AM stations because it gives them the ability to put the AM signal on an FM translator – effectively buying a major market FM signal for the price of a translator? (it addition, if the station owns their antenna, that can be a cash cow for mobile phones and 3G/4G internet access)
Using my new super dooper “what’s nearby” thing, it looks like KBEC is protecting the signal of KMNY-AM on 1360, a 50kw station owned by Multicultural Broadcasting located right in the middle of DFW – the MNY refers to its “Biz” format. Most of Multicultural’s stations do rentals to Asian language broadcasters… if they can work out a deal for KMNY to go away, or to reduce power, KBEC could change its pattern to cover the Metroplex instead of the the cows grazing out in the pastures….
The FCC records show a “Transfer of control” in 2004 with the children taking over control of Dad’s corporation when he died – I found one blurb about the owner in 2006 dying in a fishing boat accident (presumably the husband of the daughter – guess)…
The buyer is a businessman with no other radio experience.