[BC] Clear Channel Wants More?

[George Nicholas]

Rich - Depending on the definition, you'd be surprised at how many stations
make up a "market."  Based on the previous Arbitron definition of the area
covered by the stations with common city-grade overlap, Omaha had close to
sixty (60) using KFAB as a reference station.  A few years ago I did a
multiple ownership study for a client in Sioux Falls and I seem to recall 45
stations that included, or overlapped with, the reference stations.  In
Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, we've got some nice 30
conductivity soil which helps the count go up.

Using BIA, those counts are much lower.

While that may seem to "even out the playing field," it in fact allows
companies to now target adjacent markets where they couldn't before, due to
overlap.

gn


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Wood" <richwood at pobox.com>
To: "Broadcast Radio Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [BC] Clear Channel Wants More?


>
> ------ At 08:37 AM 10/4/2005, Tom Dimeo wrote: -------
>
> >On the news this morning I heard that billing for Clear
> >Channel is down thirteen percent.  The report also said that
> >Clear Channel wants to be able to own ten stations in markets
> >where there are sixty or more stations.
>
> I curious what "sixty or more stations" means. Is it 60 receivable
> stations or 60 stations licensed to the metro? I haven't researched
> it but it doesn't seem there are many markets with that many
> stations. I'm also not sure how he can be so sure additional stations
> will bring the ratings needed to increase billing. Wouldn't it be a
> surer bet to divest unprofitable stations? I suppose someone could
> buy one and make it profitable, creating a new competitor. If radio
> is dying, why buy more? If the head of Gargantua International is
> afraid of Podcasts we really have a problem.
>
> This sounds a little like Lee Iacocca complaining to the government
> that American cars weren't selling well in Japan. American cars were
> too big and had the steering on the wrong side. The government was
> supposed to help by forcing Japan to accept more, rather than
> redesign the cars to be attractive to Japanese consumers.
>
> I find it ironic that Clear Channel was one of the original investors
> in XM and helped create a new competitor.
>
> Rich
>
>
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