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This is sad news. Many people on this board graduated from the Mount Hood Radio program, myself included (1983).
https://pamplinmedia.com/go/42-news/443492-358012-mhcc-plans-to-cut-7-programs
The MHCC program put on a competition for radio students in the northwest in 1977. A few of us went down from KNHC in Seattle. I believe Craig Walker was one of the judges. They put on a great event. Sorry to see the program go.
Must be one of the last to go. Most colleges cut broadcasting eons ago due to poor long term job outlook.
My understanding, either from information posted here or from a local newspaper is that KMHD has always been operated separately from the broadcasting program. Campus only stations, such as X-58 have been used by the program as learning laboratories to allow students to gain hands-on experience.
While it is possible that the license will be sold to OPB for quick money at some point, The Portland Mercury carried an article in March of this year stating that the LMA on KMHD is on a five-year contract. Therefore, it wouldn’t be until 2024 that the license might go up for sale. See https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/03/21/26189975/after-months-of-uncertainty-kmhd-will-remain-at-opb
Aw, this is sad news. Semoochie and I went through there waaay back in the day! I have fond memories of the whole program and my fellow radio students. But I guess I see why it’s happening, as Randy pointed out.
Edselehr and I came up through the radio program the same year (1983). I graduated a year late – in 1984, due to a medical issue that caused me to miss an entire term, which I then had to retake the next year. Ralph had retired by then, and John Rice was the primary instructor. I will always have very fond memories of MHCC’s radio program. I still have my diploma….somewhere. 🙂 And I have my FCC “3rd Class Phone” prominently displayed in my home studio.
I was in the studio when we first launched KMHD in February of 1984. Back then, KMHD was specifically student-run. But not enough 18-20 somethings knew much about “real” jazz. So eventually, the on-air presence became more of a community minded approach.
I do understand why MHCC would cut the program, yet I’m saddened nonetheless. Personally, I’ve enjoyed a prosperous career here in Portland radio over the last three and a half decades. and I can attribute much of the skills I acquired to KBPS initially, and then the “Radio Production Technology” program at MHCC.
“that the license will be sold to OPB for quick money at some point”
An NCE license cannot be sold and the only compensation that can be received by the licensee are mostly for hard assets. More importantly, it’s never a “quick” process to assign the license to another non profit entity. Assets bought and paid for years ago are not worth much after years of use. Establishing actual compensation is an arduous task. Unlike in the commercial band, the value of the license does not enter into the calculations.
I’m not sure that Ralph Rogers actually retired. He died in 1978 at age 66. I had several stimulating conversations with John Rice, during the time period, to which you refer. I remember one about the new Madonna song, “Like A Virgin”, so that pretty well pinpoints it.
Well, Matt you guys are about 9 years after us. I started in Fall of 1972. It was Ralph Rogers and Ralph Walker at that time. It was just KMH, on campus radio. Rogers was quite a guy. Went to the OAB convention with him and some others, oh my, we had some drinks. Semoochie, I suspect you live a bit healthier lifestyle than good old Ralph, so you should be okay for a bit longer, eh? 🙂
An NCE license cannot be sold? I know that you cannot sell an LPFM, but I think the $9 million paid to Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma for KPLU wasn’t a goodwill gesture. But I could be wrong; is there something I am missing?
I lost my mother in 2015 at 102, so I’m optimistic. Would you care to tell Ralph’s story about Battleship Snapshots?
Chico, I may have presented a kind of brute force description. Actually, the license, any license, is never really sold because no station really owns the bandwidth. That applies to all stations.
The licensee can apply to have a license transferred or reassigned. A bill of sale comes first, before that new assignment or transfer can be applied for.
The rules for the assignment or transfer of a license from one non profit organization to another is complicated for many reasons far beyond the scope of my engineering background and I’m not a lawyer but for a commercial station with a history of revenue, the valuation of the station is a calculation of net assets taking into account liabilities, leases on land, tower space, etc., operating contracts and good will. Net assets for non profits is a sticky wicket because of non profit tax rules. The nonprofit balance sheet is more about accountability for sources and uses of funds as opposed to assets and liabilities.
My point to Alfredo is that there is no such thing as quickly converting an NCE property to cash in a short period of time. Valuation of a non profit station sounds easy but it’s not. A commercial station can hire a broker and request a price usually based in a multiple of cash flow plus net assets where assets equal liabilities plus equity. Nonprofits substitute net assets for equity and follow the formula of assets minus liabilities equal net assets.
I’m not an accountant, but you might find this helpful:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-balance-sheet-profit-not-profit-18297.html
As far as your example of KPLU, if you’re really curious you may be able to dig up the sale contract but it does take a lot of time consuming net research to find them. They can be buried in various correspondence associated with the FCC forms that are filed, often referring to an attachment that can’t be found because they conveniently didn’t upload that document having sent a paper copy to the FCC and not wanting to divulge details. But there are some to be found and they are difficult to parse without an accounting or legal background.
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