[BC] Citadel trading at 1 penny per share.

[Bill Harms]

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2009/03/abc-radio-owner-citadel-communications.html 

Even for the most jaded industry professionals, it's stunning to believe 
shares of one of the nation's largest radio station owners might trade 
for a single penny.

And yet that's exactly what has happened to ABC Radio owner Citadel 
Communications, a once-proud group operator destroyed by massive debt, 
epic mismanagement and a liberal political ideology often at odds with 
the company's still-successful and profitable conservative talk radio 
programming.

Booted off of the New York Stock Exchange after it failed to make a 
convincing case for its future viability, Citadel will cease trading 
there tomorrow, moving to the illiquid and sometimes shady world of the 
"pink sheets". That's despite a recent move by the NYSE to relax listing 
requirements.

Ahead of that undignified exit, Citadel (NYSE:CDL) shares closed today 
at one penny, down nine cents from Wednesday's trading. In 2004, it 
traded as high as $22.

That leaves a total market capitalization of just under three million 
dollars, despite owning some of the nation's largest radio stations, 
including WABC / New York City, WMAL / Washington, WBAP / Dallas - Fort 
Worth, KGO - KSFO / San Francisco, WLS / Chicago, WJR / Detroit, KABC / 
Los Angeles and dozens of other music and talk stations across the 
country, from Albuquerque to Providence and all points in between.

Citadel's original ownership and management team built a 
highly-successful firm around conservative talkers on the AM band and 
country music stations on FM, mostly in medium-sized Sunbelt markets. 
When subsequent owners acquired ABC Radio and saw their own liberal 
ideology clash with Citadel's established internal structure, it began 
to unravel.

Many of these stations still turn in remarkably strong ratings and are 
lucky enough to feature successful (in both ratings and revenue) talk 
programs hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and others at 
a time when talk radio is dominating the national spotlight.

But recent meddling by Citadel's incompetent managers have led to 
baffling moves, such as watering down WABC with incompatible, 
non-conservative programs such as Don Imus and "Joe and Mika", as well 
as dumping nearly all local programming in the nation's largest market.

Your Radio Equalizer has been tracking this mess for nearly two years, 
warning of the consequences of this meltdown. In yesterday's Washington 
Times, yours truly called for a "divorce" to remove highly lucrative 
talk radio programming away from sagging music radio formats and their 
rapidly-disintigrating audiences.

The broadcast industry's rapid deterioration calls into question the 
Obamist plan to impose a backdoor-Fairness Doctrine designed to suppress 
opposition voices by breaking large station ownership groups. Before 
they even have that opportunity, these companies are far more likely to 
collapse on their own.

 From there, who will own these stations? Will some join the newspaper 
industry and be forced to shut down?