Clear Channel and Smooth Jazz

[Radio_Princess]

Clear Channel jumped on Smooth Jazz about a week ago. It is a Los Alamos Station that has a FM Booster in Santa fe and a translator here in Albuquerque. Can Clear Channel tie up three frequencies (a station, an FM booster and a translator)with one station? It can be heard in Alb. at 101.1. I also heard Mega on both 104.1 (it's originating station) and 100.9 another translator.

Clear Channel/Citicasters has an interest in some way in
1)94 Rock owned by CC,
2)Hot 95 owned by CC,
3)95.9 where they are broadcasting Radio Free Santa Fe a CC station on a translator,
4)98.1 Radio Free Santa Fe owned by CC,
5)100.3 The Peak owned by Citicasters,
6)100.9 a translator owned by Citicasters broadcasting Mega owned by CC,
7)104.1 Mega owned by CC,
8)104.7 The Edge owned by CC
9)107.9 The Big I owned by Citicasters.

Double check me on this but thats a lot of stations in one town. I bet it's legal somehow. Probably just found the right loopholes. Like having a different company. I believe they own Citicasters which owns some and Clear Channel which owns some. Am I right that Clear Channel is Citicasters?
Maybe they can eventually just take over the FCC to drop the F and just call themselves CC.

 

[ajhenderson]

> Clear Channel jumped on Smooth Jazz about a week ago. It is
> a Los Alamos Station that has a FM Booster in Santa fe and a
> translator here in Albuquerque. Can Clear Channel tie up
> three frequencies (a station, an FM booster and a
> translator)with one station? It can be heard in Alb. at
> 101.1. I also heard Mega on both 104.1 (it's originating
> station) and 100.9 another translator.
>
> Clear Channel/Citicasters has an interest in some way in
> 1)94 Rock owned by CC,
> 2)Hot 95 owned by CC,
> 3)95.9 where they are broadcasting Radio Free Santa Fe a CC
> station on a translator,
> 4)98.1 Radio Free Santa Fe owned by CC,
> 5)100.3 The Peak owned by Citicasters,
> 6)100.9 a translator owned by Citicasters broadcasting Mega
> owned by CC,
> 7)104.1 Mega owned by CC,
> 8)104.7 The Edge owned by CC
> 9)107.9 The Big I owned by Citicasters.
>
> Double check me on this but thats a lot of stations in one
> town. I bet it's legal somehow. Probably just found the
> right loopholes. Like having a different company. I believe
> they own Citicasters which owns some and Clear Channel which
> owns some. Am I right that Clear Channel is Citicasters?
> Maybe they can eventually just take over the FCC to drop the
> F and just call themselves CC.

Citicasters is the licensee name for some CC properties. They also use "CCB Texas Licenses", "Jacor", and I think still even some "AMFM" for licenses. Same company, same restrictions. Keep in mind that the FCC just eliminated the ability to have LMAs/JSAs/leases not count toward the limit; CC was using the legal Mexican owners of their Mexican stations in San Diego to get around the cap, which they can't do anymore.

 

[Kent]

> Clear Channel jumped on Smooth Jazz about a week ago.

Actually, it's been around for awhile. When I was in Albuquerque and Santa Fe the last week of July, 101.1 The Cat was on-air and in the Santa Fe phonebook.

> It is
> a Los Alamos Station that has a FM Booster in Santa fe and a
> translator here in Albuquerque. Can Clear Channel tie up
> three frequencies (a station, an FM booster and a
> translator)with one station? It can be heard in Alb. at
> 101.1. I also heard Mega on both 104.1 (it's originating
> station) and 100.9 another translator.

It's actually a White Rock station. Small difference, though. Are you sure it's on a translator in Albuquerque? It wasn't a few months ago. You could, however, hear a weak signal from 101.1 north of downtown on a good car radio. As I understand, it has a permit to upgrade to a class C2, but I'm not sure that has happened yet.

> Double check me on this but thats a lot of stations in one
> town. I bet it's legal somehow. Probably just found the
> right loopholes. Like having a different company. I believe
> they own Citicasters which owns some and Clear Channel which
> owns some. Am I right that Clear Channel is Citicasters?
> Maybe they can eventually just take over the FCC to drop the
> F and just call themselves CC.

Translators and boosters don't count toward FCC ownership limits. Clear Channel would not be able to own as many FM's as it does in Albuquerque today, but it was perfectly legal when they acquired their stations. The FCC used to use citygrade signal contours when determining whether a station was in a market when Clear Channel bought into Albuquerque. If I remember correctly, it was because 104.7 and 104.1 were not considered to be in the same market as their citygrade signal contours did not overlap when they acquired their last station. However, they would be considered same market today. Also, remember that 98.1 and 101.1 never have put a citygrade signal into the Albuquerque market and would probably not be considered Albuquerque market stations today either.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Kent on 11/18/05 11:16 PM.</FONT></P>