Re: Cumulus Media donates WHQO to Maine Public Radio

[Dib9@aol.com]

Excluding WHQO, which I agree is redundant, what other stations of Maine 
Public Radio would you say are totally redudant?  While there is considerable 
overlap, I think the majority of the signal of most of their stations serve 
areas that would not otherwise have adequate service.

As for Cumulus, they are not being altuistic.  As a public company they have 
a fiduciary obligation to their shareholders and I assume they determined 
that the tax break they get for donating WHQO to MPR is more than they could 
get if they sold the station.  I doubt that the competition was much of an 
issue.  The reality is that WHQO was one of the many Class A stations 
established during the 1980's that are simply not commercial viable in rural 
Maine.

It is also important to point out that while Cumulus dominates the 
Augusta/Waterville market in terms of the number of stations, they do not 
dominate in terms of ratings or revenue.  92 Moose and B-98.5 are still the 
most successful stations in the market.

Dan Billings
Bowdoinham, Maine

In a message dated 5/26/99 8:16:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, beckwith@ime.net 
writes:

<< My quarrel is not with MPR's programming but with their saturation
 bombing of the FM spectrum in Maine with ever-more-redundant translators.  
Also, before we canonize Cumulus for its altruism it should be noted that 
this move effectively prevents other commercial (i.e. tax-paying) 
broadcasters from expanding their services in Central Maine, which would of 
course threaten their dominance of the Augusta-Waterville radio market.>>

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