WMEX is Gone

[Scott Fybush]

David Tomm wrote:
> It won't take much for this station to be profitable.  It's simply a 
> simulcast of programming being beamed to dozens of affiliates 
> nationwide.  There's little to no promotion outside of word of mouth in 
> church circles. The only major expenses EMF will have is the electric 
> bill and occasional transmitter maintenance.  If a small percentage of 
> their local audience ponies up a few bucks occasionally, it should cover 
> expenses.  I'm sure that some EMF stations lose money while others make 
> quite a bit, but balanced out across their entire network they are most 
> likely making a respectable profit, something that most commercial 
> stations (religious or otherwise) can't say right now.

I wonder about that, actually. I'm sure that on an operational level, 
they're making a profit, and a handsome one at that. But they're also 
buying stations left and right. The $1 million EMF spent for WMEX/WKHL 
is a drop in the bucket compared to bigger buys they've made just in the 
last year or so in markets including Milwaukee, Spokane, Syracuse and 
Albany. (And others, too - those are just the first ones that came to mind.)

Most of these stations are being bought on terms - EMF puts 10% or so 
down and pays the rest over 10 or 15 years. They're piling up a lot of 
debt, quickly, in an economy that might not be forgiving of same - and 
in an regulatory environment that may or may not continue to support 
their model of staff-less stations fed by satellite from Sacramento.

If they had to build and staff main studios for each of these stations, 
the financial picture might not look so rosy all of a sudden.

(I'm not privy to EMF's internal financials, so this is at best informed 
speculation, mind you.)

s