Mohr of the Same: Monopolizing the Local Airwaves

[XLFD]

WLDN!  WTFF?!

 

I noticed a little snippet on another local internet site, Rob Always' The Mason County Press :

New radio station airs October 4, 2012

LUDINGTON — A new area radio station is on the air. WLDN FM 98.7 debuted last week. The station is owned by Synergy Broadcast Group of Ludington. According to Synergy President/CEO Todd Mohr, the station is currently simulcasting with WMLQ but will eventually have its own format. “It will be a news/talk format specializing in local talk programming,” Mohr said. “We will also carry Glen Beck, Dennis Miller and Dave Ramsey just to name a few.” Mohr said the station will also be broadcasting Michigan State University sports and may broadcast Tiger baseball.

What caught my attention was the name of the station, the format, and the spokesman.  With a name like WLDN, I made the association with the acronym of our local newspaper, the Ludington Daily News, and when I saw that it would specialize in local talk programming, I could only guess how it would spin stories.

If you have been paying attention, the Daily News, which I affectionately call the "City of Ludington Daily News" or just COLDNews, has decided to avoid any serious discussions about controversial local issues, and report a sanitized version of events that make our local officials and the paper's advertising partners appear in the best light, and those who do not believe that to be the case, in the worst light.  Throughout the last two years, the Ludington Torch has illustrated such unjournalistic bias by that paper on a regular basis, so I direct you to search our archives for reference thereof regarding a variety of topics, people, and groups.

          Todd Mohr

Also in the archives is a story relating to the selling of this franchise (which was then just a construction permit) and others to the Synergy Management Broadcast (SMB) President Todd Mohr  radio-activity-local-radio-consolidates .  I repeat my sentiment made there:  "Having more diversity in your sources of information and entertainment is usually a good thing...  I can't think of an argument for how this is a plus for the public at large."  Nor was one given by Todd Mohr then, just that it would result in improved programming and client services for Manistee, Lake, and Oceana counties without explanation.

I checked out the new station this weekend, it was still being simulcast with Coast FM (WMLQ), and promising to be on its own soon.  Figuring that WLDN might follow the COLDNews journalistic standards and fearful of the resultant possibility of having a half dozen other stations under Mohr's SMB reporting the same slanted product, I began an investigation.

The Internet Investigation

On June 4, the COLDNews  reported:  "Under the terms of a local management agreement signed Friday, Synergy will manage the assets of Lake Michigan Broadcasting stations WKLA-AM, WKLA-FM and WKZC-FM, until a Federal Communications Commission broadcast license transfer is granted, and will provide management assistance for WMTE-FM, according to President/CEO Todd Mohr."

Has the FCC transferred the license after this transaction?  This  link here says no, the Baerwolf's LMB still being listed as the licensee, and the sublinks appear up to date.   But a check at the local radio stations acquired by the deal (WKZC, WKLA, WMTE (by proxy)) shows they are not operating from their original facilities right now.  They've moved, but to where?

WKLA(FM)  ,  WKLA(AM)  ,  WKZC  ,  and  WMTE  have all moved to the Synergy Headquarters situated behind McDonald's on 5399 Wallace Lane, as can be seen in those links with their names.  Now that   WLDN  is simulcasting a signal, soon to be independent, according to Mohr and their commercials, we have quite a lot of Synergy radio stations when we add on its original holdings.  The local radio market involving the Lakeshore Counties (Oceana, Mason, an Manistee) is quite revealing when we look at their owners:

92.3 - WBNZ - Frankfort (tower in Pleasanton Township, Manistee County) - Roy Henderson 94.1 - WWKR - Hart - Synergy Media 94.9 - WKZC - Scottville - Synergy Media* 97.7 - WMLQ - Manistee - Synergy Media 98.7 - WLDN - Pentwater - Synergy Media 99.3 - WOUF - Beulah (tower in Pleasanton Township, Manistee County) - Roy Henderson 100.1 - WCUZ - Bear Lake - Roy Henderson 101.5 - WMTE - Manistee - Synergy Media* 102.7 - WMOM - Pentwater - Bay View Broadcasting 106.3 - WKLA - Ludington - Synergy Media* plus an application for 93.3 licensed to Onekama

(*- scheduled to be licensed to SMB from LMB.  List courtesy of this MI Buzzboard link)

Ten radio stations, one owned by Bay View Broadcasting's Patrick Lopeman, three northern Manistee County stations owned by Roy Henderson, and six radio stations owned/operated by Todd Mohr's Synergy Media Group.  If we cut the northern part of Manistee County out of the picture, six of seven stations are being operated under one roof, innocently nested behind Just Bargains on the PM Highway and McDonalds on US 10.

The Conclusion

Appropriate neighbors for this enterprise into airway domination by McBroadcasting formulaic bargain-priced product.  Our community would be better served if all six of the stations were independently owned, and competing against each other for listeners.  Not all six ganging up on the rest of the competition, which amounts to one other station.  But I wondered if this was lawful, and when I checked I found this FCC rule for a Local Radio Ownership Limit, which goes back to over 70 years ago in the infancy of radio in practice:

The Commission retained the local radio ownership rule. That rule embodies the numerical caps set by Congress in 1996. The caps are based on a sliding scale that increases with the size of the local market. As a general rule, one entity may own (a) up to five commercial radio stations, not more than three of which are in the same service (i.e., AM or FM), in a market with 14 or fewer radio stations; (b) up to six commercial radio stations, not more than four of which are in the same service, in a market with between 15 and 29 radio stations; (c) up to seven commercial radio stations, not more than four of which are in the same service, in a radio market with between 30 and 44 radio stations; and (d) up to eight commercial radio stations, not more than five of which are in the same service, in a radio market with 45 or more radio stations.

http://transition.fcc.gov/ownership/rules.html

One would think that Mohr owning six stations (5 FM stations) in a seven station market would put him in arrears of the FCC, and be caught by the watchdogs of that group.  It should; but in researching I have found a few different LLCs associated with Mohr to perhaps cloud some involvements, and the initial agreement to "manage assets" may also work that way, but there's little denying that the records show these six stations are all under one roof.    Here are some LLCs associated with him I found from just a cursory look:

SMG WESTSHORE PROPERTIES, LLC was formed on 2010-06-03 in Michigan by TODD MOHR.

http://businessprofiles.com/details/smg-westshore-properties-llc/MI...

SYNERGY MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC was formed on 2006-04-03 in Michigan by TODD MOHR

http://businessprofiles.com/details/synergy-management-group-llc/MI...

SYNERGY LAKESHORE LICENSES, LLC

http://www.bizapedia.com/mi/SYNERGY-LAKESHORE-LICENSES-LLC.html

So is there an effort to homogenize the local airwaves by the Synergy group?  The evidence seems to point to that conclusion, the FCC law's intent seems clearly to show that such airwave control is against the public interest, and they have the ability to regulate it accordingly.  But you can perhaps sum it up by just looking at the name of Todd Mohr's group.  Synergy is defined as a mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants.  This conjunction of stations was mutually advantageous for the two companies involved, as are most mergers making a bigger monopoly.  The public loses.

 

Let's not take any Mohr of this, let the FCC know your concerns.  http://www.fcc.gov/

[Eye On Ludington]

btw (means By The Way), How does the public lose with the addition of WLDN as a new radio station with new format and programming?

[XLFD]

 The empty buildings in their old neighborhoods, and the empty websites that used to be active, should show you that something is lost by this monopolistic behavior.  But here is a more in depth essay of why it's generally a bad thing to have monopolies existing in our country in most any form.  http://monthlyreview.org/2011/04/01/monopoly-and-competition-in-twe...

[Eye On Ludington]

XLFD, that is a 40 page document. Please summarize your points. In my opinion the empty buildings that may have been vacated by the radio stations can still become a viable asset to the communities in which they reside. I highly doubt the empty websites are ever going to be a problem to this area.

 

btw (means By The Way): What about that empty white building at the end of the 100 block of Dowland Street? What good is that? It just sits there empty except for a small portion of it where somebody lives part time.

[XLFD]

EyE,

Interesting.  You start a site, twice, to issue loose and defamatory statements towards a citizen who seeks information from his local governments (particularly the city he resides in) and brings that information out to all in a social networking site.  Then you make a comment about his personal residence suggesting you are intimately familiar with the amount of time I spend their and where in this structure I do that.  Sounds a bit more intimidating than just analyzing public records, doesn't it? 

[AQUAMAN]

Well, it could be a fixed situation, sure sounds like it. However, having programs like Glen Beck and Dave Ramsey, along with Tigers games, esp if they broadcast playoffs this post-season, I might enjoy listening. If local chat starts, it will be interesting to see what happens there, more blah blah fixed agendas, or true freedom of speech, time will tell. WKLA had many conservative talk shows, and finally decided they were too controversial, and now plays strictly oldies, and they are cousins of this new station, so why put a new platform up for a repeat of what they already decided was not in line with local polliticos?

[AQUAMAN]

I thought we intended to talk about possible radio station monopolies and such, instead, it's being spinned into a troll chat? Quit feeding the trolls I say...lol. No bounds on hunger........

[XLFD]

Few could argue that everyone wins when you get more variety on your local radio, but when the person establishing a new station like WLDN appears to violate local ownership rules made to disallow trusts forming in an area, it needs to be challenged.  Those radio stations playing by the rules, like WMOM, and I may presume Roy Henderson's three holdings, should not have to deal with another entity taking possession of the full radio dial by devious means. 

It's kind of like a store filling 90% of its shelves with Brand A items, and only 10% of its shelves with Brand B items.  Everything else being equal, you'll have brand A being selected more often just due to the logistics.

[XLFD]

I have uncovered a law in the FCC books that refers to public inspection of certain radio records, in part:  "Every permittee or licensee of an AM, FM, TV or Class A TV station in the commercial broadcast services shall maintain a public inspection file containing the material, relating to that station, described in paragraphs (e)(1) through (e)(10) and paragraph (e)(13) of this section."   FCC Rules and Regs sec. 73-3526  Among those records would be the agreement between the two radio broadcasting mergees that took place earlier this year, and any licensing, communications with the public regarding station operations, and several other records. 

A road trip to Wallace Lane may be in order.

 

[XLFD]

Another interesting tidbit is that the FCC links I have above not only have the same address for these stations, they also have the same official phone number, [phone].  That includes the established ones (WMLQ, WKRK), the 'consolidated' stations (WKLA AM, WKLA FM, WMTE, and WKZC) and new one, WLDN.  That's a money saver, definitely, but it pretty much illustrates that there is no 'community' radio station in Ocean County.  If you live there you have to go midway into Mason County to visit your 'local' radio station.   

[Vince Hancock]

You may find this of interest, as it relates to Synergy and Lake Michigan Broadcasting.  Our publication covers mostly Bear Lake news, but occasionally looks at issues affecting Manistee County.  This is an initial report.  More to follow.

http://threepinesgander.blogspot.com/2012/11/dismantling-of-wmte-fm-kool-1015-fm.html

Cheers,

Vince Hancock

Vince Hancock

Journalist
Three Pines Gander

[e-mail]

[phone]

[XLFD]

Vince,

I would invite you down to our fair county to inspect the public file regarding WMTE out at the Synergy Broadcasting's headquarters located behind McDonald's.  You may want to drop them a line or give them a call before you do to set up an appointment to review things of interest to you.  I looked into some myself and found some intriguing things regarding our local radio stations I have not shared here primarily because of time limitations.   I think you're looking into the right places for a potentially groundbreaking article.

[XLFD]

Unfortunately, I have had to hold onto info lately, and leave this on the backburner, because I am in the midst of a few things. 

I can send you some raw data, John, if you want to take a look at what I've scanned, but I have yet to consolidate it much more than that to offering anything else very newsworthy here.  Maybe you can make out more from it than I. 

Thanks for the heads-up on the Sound-Off program, I will check it out tomorrow.