Re: Clear Channel expands in New England

["Dan Strassberg" <Dan.Strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

Is that so? Then how is it that the two top-billing stations in this market
(WBZ and WEEI) and the top-billing station in the US (WFAN) are AMs?
Moreover, these stations are not complete anomalies. Take a look at the rest
of the ten top billers in New York. You'll find WINS, WCBS, and--I
think--WABC and WOR on the list. Similar situations exist in other large
markets, such as Philadelphia and San Francisico Bay. Mel and his opposite
numbers at Clear Channel and some of the second-string groups (especially
Salem and Beasley) are more than happy to take a buck wherever they find
it--and to pay handsome sums for the cash flow that major-market AMs still
generate. And though I don't have statistics, I'd be surprised if there
weren't dozens of small and medium markets in which an AM is the #1 or #2
biller.

If you take XM Satellite Radio and its competitor, Sirius, seriously, I
think you'll have to acknowledge that these companies pose a greater
potential threat to FMs than to AMs. Most FM formats are generic enough to
be supplanted by similar formats from direct-broadcast satellites. On the
other hand, the successful news/talk formats have too much local content for
satellite broadcasting to replace them--at least until the technology finds
a way to deliver fresh local content to moving vehicles without using local
stations.

--

Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
Phone: 1-617-558-4205, eFax: 1-707-215-6367

-----Original Message-----
From: John Mullaney <john@minutemancomm.com>
To: Dan Strassberg <Dan.Strassberg@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: radiobuzz@lycos.com <radiobuzz@lycos.com>; bri@bostonradio.org
<bri@bostonradio.org>
Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 3:10 AM
Subject: Re: Clear Channel expands in New England


>Okay if you think anyone in this major corporate business thinks about AM's
you
>have an interesting story.... But I think the AM's are long dead. This is a
>story about corporate power houses .... before ACME takes over...