Posted by Badger Boy on December 06, 2012 at 22:21:55:
In Reply to: Is Clear Channel doomed to fail? posted by Paul on December 06, 2012 at 17:23:48:
You will notice that since Bob Pittman arrived they have doubled their efforts on the digital side. iHeartradio is a centerpiece of their promotional efforts on all stations...all formats. This is where CC believes their future is.
In the last couple of rounds of reductions, many of those let go were in medium and small markets. This time the changes (so far) have been made in their top 70 markets. In all markets they are utilizing their Premium Choice talent, duplicating promotions across the country or select regions by format, website efforts are very generic with some localization...all of moving toward a national programming platform for each format. This doesn't mean they abandon local programming but it will probably be more so centered around mornings show and perhaps one other live shift, if that. It will depend on the size of the market.
As far as selling off stations...I believe CC has held firm on the pricing they have place on many of their markets. However that may change as they realize to collapse their debt they will reduce the price they're looking at. Larry Wilson just purchased Triad at around 5x cash flow. CC may follow suite with markets 101+ they still have.
For any operator who's local and have staffs (sales and programming) more and more great opportunities will present themselves to capitalize on CC and Cumulus withdraw from being local powerhouses as they shift to more and more national programming.
Not pretty...but it business. And since the venture capitalists got into radio they have reduce it to a commodity and not much more (not all but many).