Andleman to buy WWZN?

[Sean Smyth]

Kevin writes:
> Paul Allen may want 20M but 10 is probably what it is worth.

Absolutely not. A station slammed by interference at night, a
less-than-stellar night pattern, a hideous lease, a high power bill and no
ratings?

$10 million?

I wouldn't buy it for $1 million out of bankruptcy.

> If Eddie did buy it his first move should be to become ESPN 
> radio. SNR 
> has been a disaster in every major market,

WEEI has the ESPN affiliation locked in for a while, I reckon. 

> WWZN has no listeners. Even the mighty 740 has a  token rating.

I wouldn't be surprised if WWZN has an OK listenership in the 20-something
set (especially with Rusillo and Pepe afternoons), they just may not be
getting diaries in their hands, or that set may not care about filling out
diaries.

> He also could try Air America assuming they stay afloat.

What someone buying the station SHOULD do:
* Try to arrange a cross-sell agreement with either GM or Clear Channel --
Clear Channel may go for it, especially if somehow they can get an agreement
to put Fox Sports Radio and clear Jim Rome in the market.
* Promote the hell out of it, besides doing "Sausage Guy" vans. 
* Do something out of the box. 

Sadly, I think Eddie may be dragging down the station's on-air product at
this point, not pulling it up, although his show (what I've listened to it)
has been better lately.

If he was smart, he'd bring the Huddle guys back to anchor afternoon drive.
Jim and Mark both have to be near retirement age, if not there, so their
afternoons could well be free -- but one has to wonder how they'd work after
not working together for years. It would at least give them a short-term
boost.

Has anyone ever successfully turned what was a dog AM station in a major
market for 10 years or more back into a ratings performer? WJIB is the only
one I can think of at the moment.

The only thing sports-wise that could draw listeners to that frequency
long-term is the Red Sox. How they would fill up 16 hours/day with local
programming would be the main issue.