Clear Channel wants to get BIGGER!

[dfwrunner]

In 1978, there were 13 radio stations in Terre Haute, Indiana, a city of 60000. Hows that for competition

They have 37 now.

I was only counting those located inside city limits. There were of course many more in surrounding towns like Brazil and Clinton.

 

[davideduardo]

In 1978, there were 13 radio stations in Terre Haute, Indiana, a city of 60000. Hows that for competition

They have 37 now.

I was only counting those located inside city limits. There were of course many more in surrounding towns like Brazil and Clinton.

I see 8 stations licenced to the city in 1978, not 13. Again, not counting Paris, Brazil, Clinton. That would have brought it up to 13 in '78. Remember, we had a license revocation issue that reduced today's numbers, too.

Today, Arbitron calls 23 stations home to the metro.

 

[davideduardo]

How do you figure we have 107 stations?

There are 89 stations home to the metro, including an LP. Add in the HD-2 and HD-3, you have over 107.

 

[davideduardo]

@TheBigA - so you are suggesting that clear channel should be allowed to monopolize radio?

As mentioned before, when several single stations had around 20 shares each, and the top 6 stations had about 75% of the audience (late 60's), how can you possibly claim that anyone has a monopoly today?

Clear Channel has about 15 to 16 shares in Dallas today. That's not a monopoly.

There is not even a case to be made for the existence of an oligopoly in the market today.

 

[davideduardo]

So, in other words, will CC buy the struggling Citadel stations anytime soon? That company is in debt right now, & CC might be the last thing to buy this struggling company. Any thoughts on that?

Citadel discharged a large amount of its debt via a bankruptcy proceeding in which lenders took equity; Clear has more debt in proportion to equity than Citadel right now, IIRC.

Most companies carry debt. THose most affected by the economic downturn became unable to service the debt, but that does not mean that there is anything wrong with financing growth with borrowing.

A Citadel acquisition makes no sense to Clear, since they would have to turn around and sell off stations in many markets under current rules.

The Clear Channel filing was in response to an FCC request for comments on the current status of market caps. It was not a petition for rulemaking or a request for a waiver... just comments to be considered if and when the FCC looks at ownership issues.

 

[gr8oldies]

Everybody on this board is allowed to write their own!

 

[dfwrunner]

I see 8 stations licenced to the city in 1978, not 13. Again, not counting Paris, Brazil, Clinton. That would have brought it up to 13 in '78. Remember, we had a license revocation issue that reduced today's numbers, too.

Today, Arbitron calls 23 stations home to the metro.

That was a 30 year old memory of an 18 year old in college. My point was the competition for advertising $ must be ridiculous. I never saw how so many stations could survive in such a tiny market. There were also 3 TV stations.

 

[Bubbadad]

If Clear Channel sucked anymore.....it would implode.
Nothing original. Nothing special. Just a bunch of employees that are frightened every day that they are going to get canned.

 

[TexasTom]

Owning 12 stations in a market with 107 stations doesn't come close to a monopoly.

Sorry, but "12 stations out of 107" doesn't even begin to tell the whole story. Because if those 12 stations are all Cedar Hill based Class C FM stations, then I would say that it would come very close to being a monopoly. Conversely, if it is 12 low powered rimshots, then you could own that many stations and still effectively be a non-player in the market.

And this reflects a real problem with Clear Channel's proposal (and with the current rules) -- it makes no distinction between the market power of a centrally located full Class C FM station and a 500 watt daytimer that is located 60 miles from downtown Dallas, but treats those stations as if they're interchangeable from the viewpoint of how much competition they can create in the market.

To address this, it might be interesting to weight the ownership limits (and stations counts per market) based on the percentage of the market covered by the community grade and protected contours of each station. The resulting rule might at least have some pretense of reflecting reality, as opposed to the nonsense that Clear Channel wants to magnfiy with their idiotic proposal.

 

[TheBigA]

Because if those 12 stations are all Cedar Hill based Class C FM stations, then I would say that it would come very close to being a monopoly.

There are other aspects of the FCC ownership laws that deal with that possibility. And CC doesn't address those other aspects in their letter.

At the end of the day, any station purchase must be approved by the FCC and the DOJ. They would have to determine if the purchase constituted a monopoly. That would be based on the percentage of audience and revenue the company would control.

But keep in mind that CC doesn't actually have to BUY these stations to control their programming.

And CC could just as easily merge with Yahoo or AOL, and control websites that reach far further than all of their radio stations put together. No rules about that.

 

[TheRover]

If Clear Channel sucked anymore.....it would implode.
Nothing original. Nothing special. Just a bunch of employees that are frightened every day that they are going to get canned.

And the Point is..... CC wants to spread that "love" .... over more genres in one market, for the sake of the listening public the advertisers' dollars..... The ONLY reason for Radio to exist, according to some.

 

[TheBigA]

It's not a hobby.

 

[UncleCharlie]

some people think it should be entertainment and information. Crazy, I know. Some even think life is supposed to be fun and not a constant struggle over dollars with sleazy profiteers, a struggle that decides which souless jerk gets to pour champaign on the floor, surrounded by golddigging faux freinds in a 5 acre Preston Hollow estate.

 

[TheBigA]

It's hard being an adult.

 

[UncleCharlie]

who shot your dog?

 

[X-Man]

This is AMAZING to me. CC wants the FCC to expand the number of stations a single group can own in a large market to 10. Can you imagine? You would have 4 owners here and only 2 would matter.

Didn't they try to that before years ago? I guess that's really nothing new.