Why did ENERGY 92.7/5 leave the airwaves?
First of all, Energy 92.7/5 did not go off the air because of ratings. (In fact, Energy was beating major market radio stations in many key demos!) Energy’s parent company, Big City Radio (AMEX: YFM), made several multimillion dollar station acquisitions since 1998 in the New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Phoenix radio markets. In order to do this, Big City Radio took out many bonds and incrued such a high debt. Unfortunately, due to several unforeseen circumstances such as format changes and changing market conditions at many of its radio stations, Big City Radio could not keep up with its debt payments. This essentially forced Big City Radio to auction off its assets. On New Year’s Eve 2002, it was announced that Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) purchased the ENERGY trimulcast stations (WKIE/WKIF/WDEK) for $22 million. On Thursday, January 2, 2003, SBS announced that it will take over the station through a leased management agreement starting on Monday, January 7 at 12:01am. ENERG
