Honey, I’m Buying a TV Station

Who hasn’t thought they can run things better than the boss?

I certainly did when I worked in broadcasting, but TV stations are usually super expensive, making owning one on my money a crazy dream. Until now.

According to the New York Times, WMKG in Muskegon, Michigan is for sale on eBay starting at the bargain price of $550,000. That includes the “broadcast center,” all the equipment, and FCC license.

Back in 2007, owner Bud Kelley was asking $700,000 for the station, so now it looks like he’s really eager to unload the place. In his eBay listing it says, “WE WILL ALSO TAKE AN OFFER ON THIS…” (His caps, not mine.)

Programming? No problem. Among WMKG’s local offerings is “TV Bingo,” where viewers play along at home while the host reads out numbers on the air. I could do that. Another popular show is “Dial a Bargain,” where you call up to get coupons and gift certificates. Coupons on TV. That’s real innovation.

Judging by the pictures, it’s located in a house so I imagine you could live upstairs and run the business downstairs. And the place is located just minutes from downtown Muskegon, so I think the family will be pretty excited about moving out there. And who wouldn’t enjoy that? It says in Wikipedia, “The city of Muskegon is known for its unique local culture and diverse and often eccentric residents.”

And if Muskegon doesn’t float your boat, it’s less than an hour to Grand Rapids.

If anyone is interested in getting in on the ground floor of this amazing opportunity, now is the time. If I sell my house and cash in the 401K I’ll have a significant down payment. Perhaps you have some money you’d care to invest, or maybe you’re looking for a job. I’ll be hiring a reporter or two, and if you don’t mind doing a little yard work, this could be a great opportunity.

Oh, and we’ll definitely need to work on the website.

UPDATE: Hmmm… looks like the eBay listing has been removed. Oh, well…

12 thoughts on “Honey, I’m Buying a TV Station

  1. I’ve lived in Muskegon for 37 years and didn’t know WMKG existed. The studio looks something like the inside of my garage and I’m going to check in the morning to make sure it isn’t; maybe I could have been charging rent. The problem may be that the TV cable runs over the garage, but not into it.

  2. Kevin: Anything with “2.0” added to the name is automatically cool.

    I neglected to mention in my post that Mr. Kelley hasn’t bothered to upgrade his station to digital yet. That’s gonna cost about $100K for just the transmitter, but we can probably use this to drive the price down.

  3. Oh, and make sure you have that yellow starry night backdrop that’s shown in the picture. If that doesn’t come with the station, I’m pulling me and my group of investors out.

  4. Sam: we could probably figure out a way to run it right out of Schenectady or someplace. We’d just need to hire a master control operator/janitor to keep an eye on things in Muskegon.

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