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Closing on Cumulus-Susquehanna Merger Delayed

From radio-info.com, AJC Radio Writer Rodney Ho posts:

I ran into Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey at Bones today. He said the current target date for the FCC to finalize the Cumulus purchase today of Susquehanna is May 5. The hope had been to get the deal finished by mid April but this is the FCC we're talking about.

Done Deal

It appears that Cumulus' purchase of Susquehanna Media (and therefore 99X) is complete. 

Susquehanna Media Co., the nation's largest closely held radio operator by revenue, has agreed to sell its radio assets to a group led by Cumulus Media Inc. for $1.2 billion, Cumulus announced Monday--from CNN/Reuters.

One interesting tidbit is that this deal could be the precursor to reuniting Zippy with Radio Disney (ABC Radio.)

The radio deal could signal a rise in merger activity in that sector, potentially jump-starting stock prices, according to the Journal. One prize many radio companies have their eyes on is ... radio assets, including ABC Radio.
...
Susquehanna's private structure may make it easier to enter into a "reverse Morris Trust" -- a transaction in which Disney would spin off its stations into another radio company, with Disney shareholders holding at least half of the new company, the Journal reported.

Could this mean an I-8-Paste reunion?

 

Pot's DJ Calls Kettle Black

This morning's 9:00 hour News Pile contained a story with the lead in : "Today's lesson: Don't cross Christian broadcasting."

Maynard High School's radio frequency, 91.7 FM, is being seized by a network of Christian broadcasting stations that the Federal Communications Commission has ruled is a better use of the public airwaves.

The story inspired Toucher to (correctly) criticize the FCC and argue that this decision was an example of the FCC " buckl[ing] to Christian conservatives."  Yet ironically (and probably unbeknownst to Toucher) a similar phenomenon has been happening in our own back yard.  In this case, the FCC was buckling  to a "conservative company" with political influence. 

On FredToucher.com(registration required) a poster by the screen name of TDOGG related the following story:

My brother is the Chief Engineer at Southern Poly Tech's radio station (WGHR) in Marietta, GA.
...
Their frequency got pulled by....and get this...Q100, [99X's] partner station.  Q100 claimed that my brother's station was bleeding over their frequency...honestly, you couldn't hear his station OFF-CAMPUS. They have a pic of them with a portable radio NEXT TO THE WGHR antenna...tuned into Q100 and there was no bleed through.  But because Q100 is a [class C (commercial)] and WGHR is a [class D (non-profit)], Q100 had the ability to protest...and shockingly, Q100 won and their frequency was pulled! 
...And in a subsquent post...
[A] LARGE corp bumped off a SMALL college radio station.  This LARGE corp happens to be a sister station of 99x and the SMALL college station is actually in the ATL area.  I was curious if the change in these variables changes Toucher's point of view, since the 'bully', in this scenario, signs his checks.

The details of this are chronicled on the WGHR website and wikipedia.

Interestingly, Q100 announced that it will be "upping its power at 5:15 p.m. Friday [October 21, 2005]."

Ultimately, the airwaves are owned by the pubic, and any influence which causes the FCC to act in any way, other than in the public interest is undue.  Thanks to TDOGG, proprietor of www.stopstickers.com, for his contribution to this story.

Updated on 10/20/2005 11:24am to correct punctuation, to add wikipedia link, and to add Radio Talk link.
Updated on 10/20/2005 12:06pm to correct and amplify TDOGG quote regarding FCC License Classes. 

Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss

According to the New York Times, Susquehanna is ready to sell: 

Susquehanna Media, the nation's largest privately owned radio broadcaster, is near a deal to sell its group of radio stations to investors including Cumulus Media, the Blackstone Group and Bain Capital for more than $1 billion, executives involved in the talks said...For the investor group led by Cumulus, the radio deal gives it new stations within its midsize market base...Cumulus, based in Atlanta, is the second-largest radio broadcasting company in the nation based on the number of stations owned or operated; it owns 310 stations in 61 markets.

So who is Cumulus Media?  According to a profile from The Center for Public Integrity: 

Virtually all of the major radio broadcast companies have taken advantage of the 1996 law that loosened limits on how many stations a single company can own to grow bigger. But Cumulus Media is the only major broadcaster that actually formed because of that controversial piece of legislation. Now the second-largest radio station owner in the United States by number of stations (ninth by total revenue), Cumulus is following the same corporate strategy as radio kingpin Clear Channel Communications Inc.: buy as many stations in each market as possible, cut costs and raise revenue. The strategy seems to be working, as the company has continued to scoop up stations...
Cumulus continues to expand despite concerns that the company has used its stations to punish artists whose politics don’t agree with those of its management. Cumulus briefly banned the Dixie Chicks from its play list for their criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq in 2003. Dickey told a U.S. Senate panel the Chicks were pulled from the air because of a “groundswell of negative reaction by our listeners against the band and we had never seen anything like it before.

While Republican Political contributions out number Democratic contributions 4 to 1, it should be noted that Cumulus' political spending seems to be significantly less than Clear Channel's or for that matter Susquehanna's. 

TJ&L's New Bosses?

Bidders on Susquehanna Media's 33 radio stations include Citadel Broadcasting Corp., Atlanta based Cumulus Media, and a management group headed by former Susquehanna CEO Peter Brubaker.   Sale of Susquehanna Could Come Soon.

Susquehanna Fires "messenger of Satan"

Tuesday, Susquehanna Radio management decided that nothing frightens off potential investors like a sports talk guy (San Francisco Station KNBR's Larry Krueger) making fun of the manager (Felipe Alou) of a losing baseball team (the 49-64 Giants).

It should be noted that Krueger's comment ("brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly") was at that classic talk radio intersection of stupidity and insensitivity.  But that comment, for which he apologized and had been suspended, was met with an equally stupid comment by Alou who referred to Kruegar as a "messenger of satan."   When KNBR morning show producer Tony Rhein cleverly cut Alou's comments with soundbites from "South Park" and "The Church Lady" Susquehanna Management fired Rhein, Kruegar, and, taking a page from the Mark Renier playbook, the Program Director.  This saga is chronicled (pun intended) here.

In announcing the three's termination, KNBR'S GM Tony Salvadore stated "We would like to express our deepest apologies to Felipe Alou, his players and the Giants organization for this offense to the Caribbean community." 

Bullshit.

Did you vote for John Kerry?  Well, Susquehanna's KCMO carries Laura Schlessinger who said "We have insurgents, terrorists, Muslim terrorists in Baghdad murdering children to make sure Kerry's elected."  Are you a member of the ACLU?  Susquehanna's KLIF carries Bill O'Reilly who said "[n]o organization enables terrorism as much as the ACLU".  Are you a feminist?  Susquehanna station WSBA carries Rush Limbaugh who refers to feminists as "feminazis", in his words, "Because it's right. Because it's accurate."

So why is it that sports talk guys get fired for basically doing their jobs, while talkers like Schlessinger, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh are free to spew whatever hate they want towards liberals?  Perhaps its because, progressives tend to value free speech, even when it's directed against them.  Perhaps it's because Suquehanna is owned by a right wing activist.  Perhaps it's because many of the investment bankers involved in its sale are too.  Whatever the reason, Susqehanna doesn't care about the feelings of the Caribbean community.  The only reason Krueger got fired, is that Alou called him on his statement and had sufficient clout to get and keep media attention on the issue.  Perhaps, progressives should borrow a page from Alou's playbook.

"We've always been a more conservative company"

In fairness, Ms. Vaeth-Dubroff the below quote appears to refer to conservative broadcast standards rather than conservative politics, but it is interesting to note how Susquehanna Radio management sees itself.

Reed Bunzel, Radio Ink, "Industry Q&A" asks "Has the FCC been as clear as it should be about what constitutes indecent programming?"

Nancy Vaeth-Dubroff, Susquehanna Radio president, responds:

We've always been a more conservative company, so this hasn't been a major issue for our group. It's an ongoing process of examining what we're doing and finding ways to make sure we're within the boundaries of our own corporate culture. That was going on before the Janet Jackson incident, and it continues today.

New Mastercard Commercial on 99X

No Witness DVD: $22.49.
Statuatory damages for copyright infringement:  $30,000*.
Watching your competition self-destruct:  Priceless.

There are somethings that money can't buy.  For everything else, there's MasterCard.

* This will probably be closer to $750, once the judge finishes laughing.

New MasterCard Commercial on dave fm

Cease and desist letter: 2 hours @ $400/hour.
Attorney speaking to reporter: 5 minutes, rounded up to .25 hours @ $400/hour.
Susquehanna attorneys gagging TJ&L:  Priceless.

There are somethings that money can't buy.  For everything else, there's MasterCard.

What I learned today...

I learned that pretty soon 99X will be doing PSAs for child literacy.

Check out Susquehanna: Celebrating a Year of Spinelessness.