4-11-13
Now that I could move forward with some confidence as it related to financing, I prepared to make an offer. I looked around to see what was available. I was in a midsize town in mid Missouri with a home I loved, and a husband and five children that I promised not to raise in the traditional transient lifestyle. What would be really ideal is if we could find something close that would work.
The radio landscape in Columbia, MO consists of two large clusters and a few stand-alones in the rural area outside of Columbia. Cumulus Broadcasting has several stations in the market as did my former employer, Zimmer Radio Group. There wasn?t many to pick from but there was one that I favored as a likely candidate for the first station under the Ruckus Radio banner.
I remember like it was yesterday?cooking dinner with my husband and looking at him across the bar in our kitchen. I remember saying, ?You know what station I would really like? I would like to own KXYZ.? (Station name withheld to protect the innocent.) The challenge was it wasn?t technically for sale.
Again, I pursued this as if it were the biggest client of all time. As I tell my associates while training, there?s no such thing as a bad ask. All they could do was say no, but I certainly didn?t have the right to say no for them. With that in my mind, I emailed the ownership team and asked them to meet with me for coffee.
During the course of our meeting, we discovered that we were like-minded. We really valued small town, locally owned businesses and likewise radio. We had chemistry personally and thoroughly enjoyed our time getting to know each other. However, the owners were quick to point out that the station wasn?t for sale. I asked them, ?Just suppose it was. What would you want for it and under what conditions?? I gathered information on what their long term plans were, what they wanted to accomplish and what a good deal would look like to them. At the end of our meeting, we agreed to stay in touch.
After mulling it over for a month or so, putting pen to paper and discussing it with my personal board of directors, I decided to make an official offer. I asked the owners to meet with me again, and this time?I came armed with a letter of intent that addressed all of their objectives.
The offer was met with interest?a good amount of interest. After all, as a newbie and the opportunity to be located here at home, I was willing to pay more for the station than it was worth today. There was a great deal of upside to it, but it would require a year?s worth of hard work on my part to get there.
What started as a move because there wasn?t anything to lose soon became a real offer on a real purchase met with real interest. They promised to get back with me soon after their attorney and accountant looked at it, but at first glance?it looked good to them.
The next part was the worst. The waiting. And more waiting. And more waiting. Whoever knows me personally knows that this was akin to torture for me. I like to move and move now. In the end, we ended up waiting over a month just to find out whether they were willing to accept the offer or not. Apparently, people get sick in the winter and like to take vacations.
I kept myself busy by preparing the chess pieces in the event that my gut was right and this deal would move forward. I interviewed traffic companies, production companies, national rep firms, made plans for a studio build out, new imaging for the station, sales plans, etc. When this happened, I wanted to be ready to hit the ground running. I would wait for now, but when the gun sounded?I wanted to be ready to go!
Little did I know that there might be much more needed than a willing bank, a willing buyer and a willing seller to make the slipper fit Cinderella. I would soon find out what a roller coaster ride the purchase process could be?as well as whether or not I would end up with a station when the ride came to an end.
Stay with me next week as I tell you what happened at the end of the month long wait.
Have any advice for Erica? You can reach her at erica@theruckusgroup.com
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