Re: [IRCA] IBOC battle begins

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick Martin wrote:
> Bill,
> 
> I have an idea some stations would not take the money as they want their
> coverage. If I have a station, I would want the coverage...

This is an extreme over-simplification of what can be a very complicated 
decision for some stations.

Take WYSL, for instance. Yes, Bob Savage prides himself on the service 
he provides from the station. But he also makes no secret of the fact 
that he's been putting in 60-hour weeks (or longer) for 22 years now, 
getting the station built, then implementing two power increases and a 
frequency change...and that he's put pretty much every penny he's made 
back into the place, all with an eye toward eventually selling the station.

He's spoken publicly about seeing the station assets as being his 
retirement fund. It would be no surprise at all, regardless of the 
outcome of the fight with WBZ, if Bob sells WYSL within the next few 
years - and maybe I'm just being cynical here, but I have a hard time 
imagining that most buyers will try as hard as Bob has to run the place 
as a "real radio station" with live people and all the associated costs.

If Bob's ready to cash out, and if a sale would probably mean that his 
signal becomes nothing more than a satellite repeater of ESPN or Family 
Life Radio or Radio Disney, why should he turn down an equally lucrative 
offer (if not more so) to sell CBS his nighttime interference protection?

Bob loves radio as much as any of us - but in the end, it's still a 
business.

s
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