Citadel - ABC Radio Ready To Hand Control To Lenders

[jensenbay]

According to Brian Maloney (once a local host in Seattle), Citadel - ABC Radio Ready To Hand Control To Lenders. I don't know if this matters or not locally.

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/

 

[KFNNradioFan]

According to Brian Maloney (once a local host in Seattle), Citadel - ABC Radio Ready To Hand Control To Lenders. I don't know if this matters or not locally.

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/

It could, if programming genius Brian Jennings now in Bend, Oregon and author of Censorship is still is employed by Citadel making perhaps 6 figures by the company ;D I would like to get his new book Censorship

KOMO and KTTH are ABC affiliates owned by Fisher and Bonneville respectively. Not sure who owns KMAS.

I'd love to see Brian come back to Seattle and re-program KVI to increase ratings to what they were 15 years ago. I think Brian hired Kirby Wilbur (?) and sorry to see Kirby now OTA.

I think Citadel N/T stations are the best - w/ strong local news, local hosts, and strong weekend programming KGO, KKOB, KKOH, etc.

Very sorry to hear this news.

 

[HowardMBurgers]

This news won't effect KOMO nor any other news stations that are ABC affiliates.

The buzzsaw that Citidel ran into was getting too leveraged when buying ABC Radio Networks and several former O&O's, then having the economy tank a couple years later. The stations made money for the most part, but the network(s) including those who provided satellite music and syndicated talk programming were/are money losers. That's why over the past few weeks you've seen several ABC satellite formats discontinued.

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

It could, if programming genius Brian Jennings now in Bend, Oregon and author of Censorship is still is employed by Citadel making perhaps 6 figures by the company ;D I would like to get his new book Censorship

Y'know, each post of yours just shows your cluelessness. Jennings left Citadel and now works for Larry Wilson (the former head of Citadel) who put together a station group in Portland.

KOMO and KTTH are ABC affiliates owned by Fisher and Bonneville respectively. Not sure who owns KMAS.

Really? God, you must think us morons in the Northwest are REALLY clueless.

I'd love to see Brian come back to Seattle and re-program KVI to increase ratings to what they were 15 years ago. I think Brian hired Kirby Wilbur (?) and sorry to see Kirby now OTA.

And I think many on this board would love to see you crawl back under whatever rock in the Southwest you crawled out of.

 

[jockeyjohn]

Having worked for Citadel for 8 years, I had heard that the old ABC/Disney stations did not cash flow very well. The studios and facilities were very nice...lots of perks for the management etc...Then here comes Citadel...who does not operate that way, they are a little tighter with the purse.

The economy tanked...Citadel is stuck with these ABC stations, they also paid WAY too much for others...I heard 20+ times cashflow for the Memphis cluster...and then the death and loss of income from Paul Harvey's show, and the loss of money from losing Hannity. Add all that up and they could not make the nut.

Citadel even paid huge money for Imus...not sure if that is working out so well or not for them...they have a bunch of stations so they can get the clearances...but I doubt the national advertiser cares that that show is on in Colorado Springs ;0

Interesting that Farid gets to keep his gig after all of this...I wonder how Teddy Forstmann is feeling after he paid HUGE money for Citadel and now to find himself with little return...Looks like the banks will own 99.5 percent of the company.

 

[KFNNradioFan]

Y'know, each post of yours just shows your cluelessness. Jennings left Citadel and now works for Larry Wilson (the former head of Citadel) who put together a station group in Portland. And I think many on this board would love to see you crawl back under whatever rock in the Southwest you crawled out of.

Well you have more rocks per square mile in terms of glacial till and some of the worst ground conductivity in the US so be careful what you say. ;D

Here's the news on Brian Jennings from Al Peterson:

http://www.ntsmediaonline.com/?p=8960

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

KOMO and KTTH are ABC affiliates owned by Fisher and Bonneville respectively. Not sure who owns KMAS.

{KMAS is locally owned in Mason County}

I'd love to see Brian come back to Seattle and re-program KVI to increase ratings to what they were 15 years ago. I think Brian hired Kirby Wilbur (?) and sorry to see Kirby now OTA.

I think most @ Fisher/KVI would like to see AT LEAST two more mountain ranges between Jennings and the station. One is not enough. Most do not share the enthusiasm you have for his .... his ... his .... uh let's just go with "legacy".

 

[KFNNradioFan]

I think most @ Fisher/KVI would like to see AT LEAST two more mountain ranges between Jennings and the station. One is not enough. Most do not share the enthusiasm you have for his .... his ... his .... uh let's just go with "legacy".

99.99% of the people reading this myself included do not know what you mean, because you are making a general statement. Please be specific.

 

[TVradioguru]

I believe it's the other way around- 99.9% of the people reading his post understand what LBB is saying, it's only you who don't. I don't even know who the guy is and get the implication LBB is making.

Allow me to interpret.. The folks at KVI wouldn't want Brian Jennings back. There, is that easy enough to comprehend?

 

[RealityBites]

I have found folks on this site to be fairly informed. We all have our opinion and that's for sure.
I as well understand the 'Mountain range' reference as it means, stay far far away.

I have a comment and a suggestion. Although I worked in the Seattle market for many years,
I've lived in the Los Angeles market for the last 5. Citadel still has Hannity down here and I was told
specifically face to face by Citadel Management they have Hannity under contract for several more years.
That was a few months back, but I don't know if it has changed. Los Angeles is a very different market from Seattle,
but Citadel has recently invested in it's morning show here. (Frosty, Heidi & Frank) They are also on AM too.
Not sure of the future for them, but they are trying.....

A suggestion. Try and avoid concrete statements if you are not sure of something. Opinions are always welcome here,
but if you're going to "tell us what to do" Or tell us "how it is" check your facts first. This board is very forgiving
if you state an opinion or ask a question in earnest.

 

[bossbill]

There is a very large beautiful building on Montfort Drive in Dallas that is virtually empty. As an affiliate for a couple of Citadel formats, I had the occasion to call yesterday to discuss why their "live" disk jockey was talking about Pearl Harbor Day on Thursday. I was informed by the person I talked to that hers was the only office with someone in it at the moment. About 12 formats, hundreds of affiliates, and one person trying to figure out how to fix voice-track issues.

 

[TheBigA]

If you think things are bad now, wait about a month. If you don't have a plan B for your station, you need to be developing one.

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder how Teddy Forstmann is feeling after he paid HUGE money for Citadel and now to find himself with little return...Looks like the banks will own 99.5 percent of the company.

That's the surprising part to me. He was the driving force behind the expansion. Now he's left with nothing.

He made a lot in the IPO, and I'm sure he shorted the stock a lot and got enough out of it during the five years. I haven't seen the full list of creditors, but unless he's on it, he's out.

 

[scottwmro]

My station is a Citadel Media Affiliate. We are using their Hot AC/Today's Best Hits Format that comes out of Dallas. It frightens me that Citadel bought the ABC Radio Network without doing their homework. About 2 weeks ago, many people were let go from the Dallas Offices and Satellite Studios.

Now, Citadel Media in Dallas is making decisions that could hurt music affiliate stations. It's the weekend and I'm dealing with it right now! My station was with Dial Global, and we left to come to ABC. I'm really scared that one morning I'm going to get into my car and bam, we have dead air, and Citadel Media will be shut down!

 

[TheBigA]

It frightens me that Citadel bought the ABC Radio Network without doing their homework.

I don't think that's true. I think they did their homework at the time, and then circumstances changed.

 

[jockeyjohn]

I have found folks on this site to be fairly informed. We all have our opinion and that's for sure.
I as well understand the 'Mountain range' reference as it means, stay far far away.

I have a comment and a suggestion. Although I worked in the Seattle market for many years,
I've lived in the Los Angeles market for the last 5. Citadel still has Hannity down here and I was told
specifically face to face by Citadel Management they have Hannity under contract for several more years.
That was a few months back, but I don't know if it has changed. Los Angeles is a very different market from Seattle,
but Citadel has recently invested in it's morning show here. (Frosty, Heidi & Frank) They are also on AM too.
Not sure of the future for them, but they are trying.....

A suggestion. Try and avoid concrete statements if you are not sure of something. Opinions are always welcome here,
but if you're going to "tell us what to do" Or tell us "how it is" check your facts first. This board is very forgiving
if you state an opinion or ask a question in earnest.

Reality...not sure if your post was directed at me or not...but if you do a google search for Hannity...you will infact see that the ABC network does not syndicate the Hannity show...that money went to Premiere...that would be clear channel...

here is a quote...For the struggling Citadel - ABC operation, this news couldn't come at a more inopportune moment: it has recently reported huge losses and shares have fallen by 88% over the past three years.

Syndicated in over 500 markets nationwide, Hannity's afternoon drive show is said to bring in $35m in annual revenue, which will now be lost as Sean jumps ship. The program is considered to be the second- biggest cash generator in ABC Radio's network lineup, with his compensation at a reported $5m per annum.

 

[bossbill]

To be sure, the 24/7 syndicators have challenges. Technology now allows even the smallest station to operate with a few parttime voices (not the best way to operate, but available revenues dictate decisions), without using a network, and I'm sure that the total affiliate count is down for 24/7 programming.

We have used satellite providers outside of drive-time because they at least were live, and we would have the World-Series scores, etc. in real time. But now that the network providers are voice-tracking at least some of their programming, it is more difficult to justify giving up inventory for that privilege.

Although Dial-Global eliminated positions due to consolidation of Westwood One, Jones, and Waitt, they appear to be more transparent in what they are doing, and more affiliate-friendly than Citadel, even before Citadel's recent bloodbath.

TheBigA mentioned having a Plan B. We have a Plan B and Plan C. It is probable that we will execute a new plan soon.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

I think most @ Fisher/KVI would like to see AT LEAST two more mountain ranges between Jennings and the station. One is not enough. Most do not share the enthusiasm you have for his .... his ... his .... uh let's just go with "legacy".

99.99% of the people reading this myself included do not know what you mean, because you are making a general statement. Please be specific.

I have to be careful so I don't violate rules of the board. I think it's safe to say in this business sometimes SOME people think OTHER people are a^^^^^^s. Sometimes that generality will apply in specific situations such as this.

 

[Rusty Muck]

I have found folks on this site to be fairly informed. We all have our opinion and that's for sure.
I as well understand the 'Mountain range' reference as it means, stay far far away.

I have a comment and a suggestion. Although I worked in the Seattle market for many years,
I've lived in the Los Angeles market for the last 5. Citadel still has Hannity down here and I was told
specifically face to face by Citadel Management they have Hannity under contract for several more years.
That was a few months back, but I don't know if it has changed. Los Angeles is a very different market from Seattle,
but Citadel has recently invested in it's morning show here. (Frosty, Heidi & Frank) They are also on AM too.
Not sure of the future for them, but they are trying.....

A suggestion. Try and avoid concrete statements if you are not sure of something. Opinions are always welcome here,
but if you're going to "tell us what to do" Or tell us "how it is" check your facts first. This board is very forgiving
if you state an opinion or ask a question in earnest.

Reality...not sure if your post was directed at me or not...but if you do a google search for Hannity...you will infact see that the ABC network does not syndicate the Hannity show...that money went to Premiere...that would be clear channel...

here is a quote...For the struggling Citadel - ABC operation, this news couldn't come at a more inopportune moment: it has recently reported huge losses and shares have fallen by 88% over the past three years.

Syndicated in over 500 markets nationwide, Hannity's afternoon drive show is said to bring in $35m in annual revenue, which will now be lost as Sean jumps ship. The program is considered to be the second- biggest cash generator in ABC Radio's network lineup, with his compensation at a reported $5m per annum.

Hannity's show is distributed by Citadel to the legacy ABC Radio stations (and I think a few other Citadel stations as well). Premiere distributes the show to all other affiliates. A very, very lopsided deal.