The end of Infinity Broadcasting

[osr]

From the Associated Press wire:




(AP) — CBS Corp., which is separating from parent company Viacom Inc., on Wednesday said it plans to re-brand its Infinity Broadcasting radio division under the CBS name.

CBS said the division will be re-named CBS Radio. The group includes 179 market-leading radio stations, most of which are in the nation's top 50 markets, according to the company.

Media giant Viacom is scheduled to break up the company into two publicly-traded corporations -- CBS, which will hold the CBS network, a group of affiliated TV stations and CBS Radio, and the ''new'' Viacom, which will hold MTV, VH1, several other cable networks and the Paramount movie studio. The split is expected to occur with the start of the new year.

©Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[TheClearAnswer]

I won't be impressed with this old school company until they own more than 1,000 stations. Then we can talk how great they are.

> CBS said the division will be re-named CBS Radio. The group
> includes 179 market-leading radio stations, most of which
> are in the nation's top 50 markets, according to the
> company.

 

[osr]

> I won't be impressed with this old school company until they
> own more than 1,000 stations. Then we can talk how great
> they are.

Me either...But I do know of a company that you should take a look at. Cumulus Media. With the acquisition of all of the Susquehanna properties they'll be much closer to 1,000 stations in their company than even Clear Channel. Looks like there is a new 500 pound gorilla on the block...Whatever will Clear Channel do???

 

[CinnamonRoll]

I don't understand what you're saying.
Clear Channel already owns more than 1200 stations.

> > I won't be impressed with this old school company until
> they
> > own more than 1,000 stations. Then we can talk how great
> > they are.
>
> Me either...But I do know of a company that you should take
> a look at. Cumulus Media. With the acquisition of all of the
> Susquehanna properties they'll be much closer to 1,000
> stations in their company than even Clear Channel. Looks
> like there is a new 500 pound gorilla on the
> block...Whatever will Clear Channel do???
>
<P ID="signature">______________
Because you dance to disco but you still like rock.</P>

 

[am-fm]

> I won't be impressed with this old school company until they
> own more than 1,000 stations. Then we can talk how great
> they are.

Greatness is not measured in number of stations - KYW, WINS, WCBS-AM, WBZ, KDKA, and KILT are all great stations that continue to live up to their legendary call signs. Only legendary CC station's I can think of are WHTZ and KIIS....and CC has a LMA with KIIS....<P ID="signature">______________

AOL IM: wnjoldies or jamminoldies105
CBS-FM lives at http://67.83.118.54:8010
Oldies Board co-moderator</P>

 

[TheClearAnswer]

I think you are a perfect spokesman for Cumulus. They are clueless too.


> Me either...But I do know of a company that you should take
> a look at. Cumulus Media. With the acquisition of all of the
> Susquehanna properties they'll be much closer to 1,000
> stations in their company than even Clear Channel. Looks
> like there is a new 500 pound gorilla on the
> block...Whatever will Clear Channel do???
>

 

[CW]

> I don't understand what you're saying.
> Clear Channel already owns more than 1200 stations.
>
AND Cumulus still will be at half that (maybe 500)...Susquehanna only has 20 or so stations...but all in large market..in revenue, they did better than a lot of companies with more stations like Citadel and Cumulus...similar to ABC Radio....small in number of stations, BIG in revenue...big enough to be in the top 5 revenue!

 

[adguy]

> I won't be impressed with this old school company until they
> own more than 1,000 stations. Then we can talk how great
> they are.
>
> > CBS said the division will be re-named CBS Radio. The
> group
> > includes 179 market-leading radio stations, most of which
> > are in the nation's top 50 markets, according to the
> > company.
>

ClearAnswer: You get bashed on this board early and often. I have observed and most of the time laughed at yours and others naivity, but I have to chime in on this one. You really don't have any business sense do you? There's no doubt that CC is successful, but don't believe it's because they own 1200+ stations. There are hundreds of other factors that create their success. In fact I would guess they sit in their corp offices over there in San Antonio and constantly battle how to overcome thousands of debilitating issues that arise out of being the 800 lb gorilla. I for one avoid buying CC channels here in Houston because of many of their policies and the way they depersonalize their stations. It has proven detrimental to my clients. I just pulled two of my prominent clients off of Infinity stations for the same reasons: bs corporate polices that make it difficut for clients to work with them. I'll give you an example. Infinity charges a 3% fee for using credit cards. Now if you know anything about credit card merchant accounts, and I doubt that you do, you would know that Infinity is only charged 1.5% at the most by Visa/Mastercard. They are trying to make an extra 1.5% for using credit cards, most of which come as "cash in advance" business. That's the gold standard for the radio ad business. In fact I deal with several stations that offer me discounts for using credit cards because it means they get the cash up front and won't have to devote resources to billing and collection at a later date. That's an example of the policies a large corporate group owner can inflict on its advertisers that will hurt business in the long run for them because there is no one down the chain of command that will have the cahonies to stand up to a random dumb policy. When was the last time you had a disagreement with your CC bosses? When was the last time you thought that a policy was not right? Did you stand up and challenge that policy? I though so. The key to companies like CC and Infinity (CBS to be) success is to listen and react to many of the smart and talented folks they have working under their wings. It can be done. Look at Univision and Cox. Top rate outfits that adapt very well to the unique issues at EACH AND EVERY ONE of their stations. They listen to their people and don't berate them for their challenges. It's obvious that in Houston CC and Infinity have people problems. That comes from insecurity. That tells me they probably don't have the most talented radio folks working for them here. Clear Answer: Look in the mirror. You are probably one of those persons. If you are you can stop kissing so much CC ass and see if there's someone up the chain of command that can address the issues they face here in Houston. Grow some stones and maybe you can improve CC here. I for one would love to see some of the CC channels return to the glory they once were when they were owned by smaller units. CC is a smart business operator and I guarantee you there is someone in SA that will grab some of the issues that make CC the evil empire here and perhaps turn some of the negative to positive. But it takes a set of big stones in that organization. Good Luck!