If WMKK becomes WEEI

[Dan.Strassberg]

If Entercom moves WEEI from 850 to 93.7 to ensure the survival of
their cash cow, sports talk (actually, guy talk), they will be risking
the nice revenue stream that the automated juke-box at 93.7 has been
producing for them. A move of WMKK to 107.3/97.7 seems unlikely to me
because I understand that WAAF/WKAF is cash-flow positive (although
the $30 million Entercom sunk into buying 97.7 plus the huge amounts
the company spent on wrecking the 107.3 signal with the move from
Asnebumskit to Stiles Hill probably alter that picture if you
apportion the costs appropriately). We'll have to see whether
Entercom's answer to finding a home for WMKK is an LMA of 99.5. (I'm
assuming that an outright purchase is not in the cards at least until
Entercom's stock price improves.)

But if you look at Greater Media's properties, isn't 92.9 still
under-performing? If so, how much of a risk would it be for Greater to
flip 92.9 to an automated jukebox format like the one Entercom is
presumed to be sacrificing to preserve the WEEI franchise? Could the
market support two automated juke boxes (92.9 and 99.5)? Or would
Entercom reluctantly surrender that niche to Greater Media? Greater
would seem to be in the enviable position of having a "spare" FM it
could flip if it chose to, whereas Entercom would have to find such a
signal in another company's stable. Which means that, if it decided to
make such a move, Greater could probably pull the trigger more quickly
than Entercom could.

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Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367