On April 26, 2012, The Walt Disney Company and the company founded by Jeff Smulyan, Emmis Communications, agreed to a 12-year-lease of a radio station that over the years had been known to New Yorkers as “98.7 KISS FM,” “99X,” and “WOR-FM.”
That agreement, which has been profitable for Emmis and in December 2021 was assumed by Craig Karmazin’s Good Karma Brands, is nearing its end. A National Football League team’s shift to a new radio broadcast partner has renewed questions as to what is WEPN-FM’s next chapter.
In an announcement distributed February 28, the New York Jets shared that it has signed a multi-year broadcast and streaming arrangement with iHeartMedia.
This makes WAXQ-FM “Q104.3,” the Classic Rock station serving the nation’s No. 1 market, the team’s new home.
“We are thrilled to partner with the New York Jets and their incredibly loyal and passionate fans,” said Kevin LeGrett, President of iHeartSports. “The collaboration between our two organizations has already begun and we are excited to partner with them to bring their games, players and programming to our millions of listeners across iHeart’s broadcast, podcast and digital platforms.”
The shift to WAXQ is the direct result of the coming conclusion of GKB’s operation of WEPN-FM, which remains owned by Emmis.
Since March 2022, GKB has owned WEPN-AM 1050 — the frequency that brought to life the very first all-Sports Talk radio station, WFAN, under Emmis ownership. GKB will shift all of its focus away from WEPN-FM, placing it on the 1050 kHz signal and digital distribution of its New York market programming.
This will transpire on August 31, and as RBR+TVBR reported in September 2023, Emmis is expected to sell WEPN-FM. Smulyan confirmed this in a conversation with RBR+TVBR on Wednesday, following his delivery of a speech to high school students in Indianapolis.
“We are in very serious discussions and my strong sense is that based on conversations we are having with several people, we will have a sale in place,” Smulyan said, noting that a $50 million price is likely for WEPN. “We are closing in on that. That’s my strong sense.”
WEPN-FM boasts a 6kw Class B facility atop the Empire State Building, and so far there’s been little to any discussion of who the potential buyers are. Smulyan wouldn’t share specifics on the multiple parties he’s been in discussions with.
The Emmis Communications of today is vastly different than in years past. Its main focus is now on sound masking technology business Lencore Acoustics, as it maintains a controlling interest in dynamic pricing solutions specialist Digonex. Its radio holdings, aside from WEPN-FM, are comprised of WLIB-AM 1190 in New York — a property that has long been for sale but has not attracted the right buyer for Emmis.
How successful has the WEPN lease to Disney, and then to GKB, been for Emmis? According to the company’s annual report for fiscal year 2020, the last to be filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, it received an annual fee of $8.4 million for the first year of the term under the LMA. The fee increased by 3.5% each year through the LMA’s termination in August 2024.
That income will soon cease. However, the payday from the sale of a full-market FM signal in New York could become a talk topic at the 2024 NAB Show in mid-April, as speculation rises and potential suitors arrive.
