Clear Channel to sell two stations

By Katie Maurer

FCC regulations limit number of stations

Bob Zuroweste has been the new market manager for Clear Channel Communication Inc.’s Dayton radio stations for only about three months, but already he has to contend with some big changes.

At the top of the list is the pending sale of two of the company’s eight local radio station. A decision is expected by the end of the year on which stations Clear Channel will part with. Until then, Zuroweste is reluctant to make any major content changes within the group of local stations.

Clear Channel, the largest radio station owner in the Dayton market, had been grandfathered into Federal Communications Commission rules implemented in 1996 that puts limits on how many stations could be owned in any given market. Those rules said a company in a market such as Dayton could only own six total stations, with only four in a certain band such as FM or AM. Prior to 1996, the FCC did not have ownership limits and Clear Channel bought all eight local stations before then.

But Clear Channel will soon lose its grandfather protection as an investment group led by Brian Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP has a proposal to acquire Clear Channel and take it private. As such, Clear Channel will be required to sell at least two local stations. A vote by shareholders is set for Sept. 25 to make a decision on approval of the deal to go private.

“We will have to wait to see what happens,” he said.

Changes are nothing new for Zuroweste. He came from Kansas City where he operated nine stations and had frequent format changes.

For example, he switched one of the classical stations in the market into a rock and roll station and made some people angry.

“Some people are happy and some are angry when you make changes,” Zuroweste said. “Radio is free, and people take it personally when you change something because most refer to it as ‘their stations.’”

In Dayton, Zuroweste looks to boost morale and teambuilding among the company’s 120 local employees. He recently organized a kayaking trip in Eastwood Lake.

Zuroweste doesn’t foresee any format changes locally, because he feels Clear Channel has been successful in this market. The company had six of the top 10 stations in the market, based on spring Arbitron Inc. ratings.

The stations that fared the best and had the highest share of listeners in the 12 and over demographic for the company included:

WLQT-FM 99.9 with an 8.2 share;
WMMX-FM 107.7 with 6.8; and
WTUE-FM 104.7 with 6.2

Clear Channel’s poorest-performing FM stations were WDSJ-FM 106.5 — with a 2.2 share — and WDKF-FM 94.5, which had a 3.1 share.

Rob Riggsbee, owner of Inside Media, Cincinnati-based media research, said 106.5 and 94.5 would be the two stations most likely to be sold because Clear Channel might not want to break up stations that target the same demographics such as rock stations 104.7 and WXEG-FM 103.9 and adult contemporary stations 107.7 and 99.9. Plus, those station received the lowest ratings.

David Baxter, department of communications faculty member at Wright State University, said the least profitable stations will be sold. But he expects Clear Channel to find a buyer and that the stations won’t be eliminated.

“The bottom line is no one wants to see stations off the air,” he said.