So we see WABC in New York has been …
Billionaire supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis’ media group has bought 77 WABC radio in a $12.5 million cash deal, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Red Apple Media, a subsidiary of Castimatidis’ Red Apple Group, bought the talk radio station from Cumulus Media Inc.
And Catsimatidis, who owns supermarket chain Gristedes —and recently bailed out rival D’Agostino’s with a line of credit — is worth $3.1 billion, according to Forbes. He is also the host of AM-970 radio show “The Cats Roundtable.”
“I grew up with WABC,” Catsimatidis told the Post. “It’s an iconic channel. We want to bring it back to being a great station.”
My knee-jerk reaction was that Catsimatidis is a bit of an idiot spending that kind of money on the station after Cumulus has basically ruined the brand. I knew Lew Dickey, SR years ago.
The sign outside the WABC transmitter along route 17 in Hasbrouck heights New Jersey, back in the station’s hey day
I have a small mountain of respect for the man.
Junior, meantime, has no idea how to run a radio station as evidenced by the disaster that WABC has become. The Cumulus stewardship of the station should be written up in the annals of broadcast radio under The heading “How to kill an icon.”
But that last paragraph stands out to my eye as being crucial. Catsimatidis apparently understands that the brand needs to be rebuilt. I wish him luck at it, and I’ll be watching, but I can’t help but wonder if the damage isn’t already beyond repair.