Click on the banner to learn more...

To sell, or not to sell? Is that your question? Part 10

If you've thought of selling your radio or TV station(s), how do you know if now is the right time to sell? And how do you figure out how much it's worth? After all, no one wants to leave money on the table, nor do they want to put on a price tag so high that the sale never happens. If you are in the market to sell, or just pondering the possibilities, we've gathered some expert advice to help you figure out whether and when to pull the trigger.

If you have decided to sell, how then do you pick a broker?

"I've been asking myself that question for 20 years," broker Frank Boyle chuckled. "I think part of it has to do with experience. Usually it becomes an assumption as you take a look at the list of success stories that each broker has in terms of who have they worked for, then you can call some of the station owners who have used various brokers and ask 'Who do you like and why?' part of it is going to come down to, whether we brokers like it or not, is a presumption that certain brokers have better contacts in certain geographic areas. I find that to be a little bit of a bugaboo. I'm located in Stanford, Connecticut and there's a perception that I don't know squat about the West Coast. Well, here in Stamford one of my neighbors and former clients is Rick Buckley, and I was privileged to sell Rick's Classical combo in San Francisco. I don't know that there's any set questionnaire or pattern in how and why you choose a certain broker. You may have used my firm or some other firm already and may have a felling of comfort with that firm. Certainly factors that come into it are whom we have done business with before and whom you perceive that we have contacts with. I spent 27 years in the rep business, which permitted me to run a firm that got hired and fired by all the big guys, so I have no excuse for not knowing who the influentials and affluentials are."

From a buyer's perspective, is there much for sale?

"You will find that most brokers are going to agree that there isn't that much inventory out there," Boyle told us. "The motivated sellers have pretty much sold out as consolidation was ongoing. 'We're at the end of the beginning,' as Winston Churchill said. We're very much in the next stage of consolidation where groups that have owned stations for four or five years are starting to sell out. It's still an exciting business, but it will never be, not in the next 10 years anyway, the kind of exotic transaction environment that we saw from 1996 to 1998. There's very little for sale and there will be very little for sale in the top 25 or 30 markets."

This article, in its entirety, appears in the August issue of RBR Solutions magazine.

Miss an installment?

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9