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How will things change at ABC Radio / Citadel?

J

jetfli

Now that the marriage ceremony is over, how will things change for ABC Radio? For Citadel? ABC programming? ABC customers? Citadel stations? What event will signal that the honeymoon's over in the marriage?

Any takers?
 
Not much for things overall for a year...outside of some long-needed and known changes in very select markets.

One doesn't spend $3-billion to come in an make instant changes from a company that's been doing it successfully to earn that price.

Though I understand that the Disneyland Silver Passes issued to now former ABC Radio employees in LA were canceled. Or, "revoked" is how I heard it... That's gotta suck... :eek:
 
I think if an "ABC" station is doing well, nothing major will happen. I believe, however, there will be changes at the network level. I'm sure Citadel will look
at underachieving syndicated talkers and low-clearance network features.
Disney's ABC News will provide news to Citadel's ABC Radio Networks, but I wouldn't be surprised if Citadel cuts back on some news programming.
Also, what about the Rewound programming that has been airing on Memorial Day on WABC for years and this year on WLS??
action central
 
Terry, I think your points are well taken.

I still have concerns about what Citadel will do with the Paul Harvey situation in December. Time flies when it's negotiating time. He breezed through the CapCities and Disney deals ... but coming out of a 10-year deal might be different this time.

Another thing ... while I understand that Citadel has a 10-year lease on "ABC" ... what about in markets where their are call letter problems?

I see that there has already been "segregation" of markings between KGO-AM and KGO-TV, but how about potential call letter changes? KABC Radio and KABC-TV, WABC Radio & WABC-TV? WLS & WLS-TV?

We know how "splits" like these, especially by TV, are not well taken. WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh still refuses to sell the calls to radio after the AM was sold years ago. I hear it's a million dollars just to get the calls approved by the station, let alone the FCC.

KGO-AM was the 4th ABC O&O and is, I believe, one of the oldest original calls in the country.

I know when Cumulus traded up in Reno, the original 3 letter calls were lost and reformed out of 4 letters ... from KOH to KKOH.

I think it would be criminal to change any of these ... but I see TV getting the edge. They may say ABC7 ... but there's still those call letters ... and I don't think Disney is going to want to share with their former operations, would they?
 
Do Hannity and Levin work for ABC or Citadel? Mark Levin's "get off the phone you dope" doesn't go over too well in Texas, but ABC-owned WBAP Fort Worth-Dallas seems to have been pressured more and more to clear time for the NYC-based hate talkers at the expense of local programming.
 
oaktree said:
I see that there has already been "segregation" of markings between KGO-AM and KGO-TV, but how about potential call letter changes? KABC Radio and KABC-TV, WABC Radio & WABC-TV? WLS & WLS-TV?

We know how "splits" like these, especially by TV, are not well taken. WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh still refuses to sell the calls to radio after the AM was sold years ago. I hear it's a million dollars just to get the calls approved by the station, let alone the FCC.

KGO-AM was the 4th ABC O&O and is, I believe, one of the oldest original calls in the country.

I know when Cumulus traded up in Reno, the original 3 letter calls were lost and reformed out of 4 letters ... from KOH to KKOH.

I think it would be criminal to change any of these ... but I see TV getting the edge. They may say ABC7 ... but there's still those call letters ... and I don't think Disney is going to want to share with their former operations, would they?
Click to expand...

Those calls were assigned as follows:
KGO radio: 1922, KGO-TV: 1949
WLS radio: 1924, WLS-TV: 1968 (previous calls WENR and WBKB-TV are currently in use elsewhere, although I think WENR-TV could be used since the current WENR is an AM station in Tennessee)
WABC radio and TV: 1953 (previous WJZ calls are now in Baltimore, as WJZ-TV 13)

As to who "inherits" the calls, I'll guess that the current owner (Disney) has the right to keep them if they want. One exception was in Phoenix, where Combined Communications Corp. (now Gannett) kept KTAR-TV and sold KTAR radio in 1979. They let the radio station keep the KTAR calls due to the fact that they'd been on AM 620 since 1929. Channel 12 then became KPNX, which it remains today.

But there is a precedent in Chicago, where the WMAQ call letters were sold to Westinghouse along with AM 670 when NBC got out of the radio business in the late '80s. NBC kept the WMAQ-TV calls on Channel 5 at the same time and the FCC went along with it.
 
Nice post ... thanks for the info. Stay tuned!
 
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