Clear Channel selling off 448 stations!!

[Kahuna1]

From AllAccess.com

"The CLEAR CHANNEL BOARD has agreed to a bid of $26.7 billion by private equity firms THOMAS H. LEE PARTNERS and BAIN CAPITAL, including the assumption of including the assumption or repayment of approximately $8.0 billion of net debt. CLEAR CHANNEL will still be run on a day-to-day basis by Chairman LOWRY MAYS, CEO MARK MAYS, and President/CFO RANDALL MAYS.

Additionally, CLEAR CHANNEL has announced plans to sell 448 of its 1,150 radio stations, all located outside the Top 100 ARBITRON markets -- 90 markets are affected -- as well as the company's 42-station TV group. Collectively, these properties contributed less than 10% of the company’s revenues last year."

In Ohio that includes:

Chillioethe - 4
Clyde - 1
Defiance - 3
Findley - 3
Lima - 4
Lorain - 1 (may be held as Cleveland)
Mansfield - 3
Marion - 3
Napoleon - 1
Sandusky - 3
Tiffin - 2
Washington Courthouse - 2
Youngstown / Warren - 4

Total of 34 stations

If you ever wanted to get into station ownership, right now may be the perfect time.

 

[Toddy-0]

Radioactive.

 

[danafly]

They are probably asking millions. Where do you find what stations are for sale?

 

[Kahuna1]

They are probably asking millions. Where do you find what stations are for sale?

According to all the news articals today, CC plans to sell off all radio properties that are not in a top 100 market. In Ohio, Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus are all safe. Everything else in the State will be sold off as well as all thier TV holdings

WXXA -TV FOX ALBANY , NY
KGET -TV NBC BAKERSFIELD , CA
KVOS -TV IND BELLINGHAM , WA
WIVT -TV ABC BINGHAMTON , NY
WKRC -TV CBS CINCINNATI , OH
WETM -TV NBC ELMIRA , NY
KMTR -TV NBC EUGENE , OR
KMTX -TV NBC EUGENE , OR
KMTZ -TV NBC EUGENE , OR
KVIQ -TV CBS EUREKA , CA
KTVF -TV NBC FAIRBANKS , AK
KGPE -TV CBS FRESNO , CA
WHP - TV CBS HARRISBURG , PA
WLYH -TV UPN HARRISBURG , PA
WJKT -TV UPN JACKSON , TN
WAWS -TV FOX JACKSONVILLE , FL
WTEV -TV CBS JACKSONVILLE , FL
KASN -TV UPN LITTLE ROCK , AR
KLRT -TV FOX LITTLE ROCK , AR
WLMT -TV UPN MEMPHIS , TN
WPTY -TV ABC MEMPHIS , TN
WJTC -TV UPN MOBILE , AL
WPMI -TV NBC MOBILE , AL
KCBA -TV FOX MONTEREY/SALINAS , CA
KION -TV CBS MONTEREY/SALINAS , CA
WOKR -TV ABC ROCHESTER , NY
KTVX -TV ABC SALT LAKE CITY , UT
WOAI -TV NBC SAN ANTONIO , TX
KPXL -TV PAX SAN ANTONIO , TX
KCOY -TV CBS SANTA MARIA , CA
KFTY -TV IND SANTA ROSA , CA
WIXT -TV ABC SYRACUSE , NY
KOKI -TV FOX TULSA , OK
KTFO -TV UPN TULSA , OK
WUTR -TV ABC UTICA , NY
WWTI -TV ABC WATERTOWN , NY
KAAS -TV FOX WICHITA , KS
KSAS -TV FOX WICHITA , KS
KSCC -TV UPN WICHITA , KS

 

[keys2]

A couple of thoughts.....

If they sell off Channel 12 who gets the WKRC call letters? Last time the two were split you'll recall that the KRC calls remained with TV. Can they agree that Channel 12 would remain officially "WKRC-TV" while radio remains "WKRC"?

The selling off of all the small market stations and clusters brings to an end Randy Michaels' vision of owning regional groups of stations and having the larger stations feed programming and talent to the smaller ones. Sounds like these smaller stations have not contributed much profit to the company. Does this mean that we may now see a gradual return to more localized small town radio?

 

[jefflaurence]

This may very well be the beginning of a new genre of station owner..and that could spell the new beginning for radio training grounds..for young talent to get some much needed experience. A lot of my CC stations are in larger metro markets, and from what I see as far as the "list" of stations scheduled to be spun-off..they could very well be locally succesful withough having to prove themselve to large stockhlder driven execs. This could be a good thing as long as the new company isn't trying to over inflate the prices. A nice "loss" cold be a boon to the newly formed Clear Channel...

OR..

It could be the gateway to an irradiated Citadel, or Cumulus...or...hmmm I wonder how much money Jeff Trumper has in his account.

 

[uppendowndadial]

PLEEEEEEEZE, not Jeff Trumper. He's as bad as the Mays'

 

[tophour]

The list of markets for sale is here. Note that Y-town is not going to be sold.

 

[major]

It doesn't matter that CC is selling. The articles I've read say the Mays' family will still run the operation. Then why buy it?

 

[Ray D Yo]

In listing all of the markets in Ohio, you forgot that Dayton is safe. It's market 58.
Clear Channel isn't selling ALL markets under 100, just most of them. Markets like Lexington aren't being sold, even though they're below 100 by a few.
And for those markets being sold, the Mays' won't have anything to do with them after they go. But the Mays family will keep running the stations that remain part of Clear Channel after the merger.

 

[gr8oldies]

Reality check..don't expect Joe Jock or some Mom and Pop operation to buy these stations individually. More than likely, many of them will be bought in bulk quickly by the Forevers or, heaven forbid, Art Angotis of the world. The "new" CC isn't going to wait for a guy to mortgage his house and scrape together the money for a standalone.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Reality check..don't expect Joe Jock or some Mom and Pop operation to buy these stations individually. More than likely, many of them will be bought in bulk quickly by the Forevers or, heaven forbid, Art Angotis of the world. The "new" CC isn't going to wait for a guy to mortgage his house and scrape together the money for a standalone.

So true. The best shot for a local group to make any headway here is in the Sandusky market, where Elyria-Lorain could make a run for WCPZ-FM and WLEC-AM. But Elyria-Lorain itself isn't the mom-pop type company, they have a significant presence in the Cleveland market with smooth jazz WNWV, which by all accounts runs as a corporate station.

Elyria-Lorain already has three stations in the Sandusky area; two of the three can be divested to get WCPZ/WLEC. Aside from that, and from the possible cherry-picking of some small stations over to other existing local groups, RadioActive's going to get the meat off of the bone here.

- Nathan Obral

 

[Kent]

So true. The best shot for a local group to make any headway here is in the Sandusky market, where Elyria-Lorain could make a run for WCPZ-FM and WLEC-AM. But Elyria-Lorain itself isn't the mom-pop type company, they have a significant presence in the Cleveland market with smooth jazz WNWV, which by all accounts runs as a corporate station.

When you use the textbook definition of "corporate radio," pretty much every station is corporately run. The risk/reward factor is such that it's impractical to run a radio station as a sole-proprietorship or partnership, where the owners are not separate from the station.

As a case in point, a few years ago, I worked for a company that owned 7 stations in one market, and that was all they owned. Five of the seven stations were separate corporations, and the other two were run as one LLC. While it wasn't a public corporation that had to file SEC reports, it was very much a corporation, and it did things very much as any large operator does. It was a lean operation that emphasized low costs and a high return on investment.