Re: WWZN

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

I can't believe that CCU needs any bug in its ear. Boston is one of the few 
major markets in which the company isn't even close to the limit on the number 
of stations it can own. If it's looking to buy--and we have to assume that it 
is--it has to have its feelers out. What I'm sure that Lowry & Co don't want to 
do, if they can help it, is start a bidding war for 1510. So they have to at 
least give the impression of not being interested--even if they are. They are 
way more skiled at deal-making than any of us are, and though every acquisition 
is different, they probably even have a rule book on how to approach these 
deals. You've gotta agree that if ABC and CCU are both involved (along, maybe, 
with some smaller players), whoever wrote that the chances look dim of Rose 
City escaping whole could scarcely have been more wrong. I think that the 
minimum opening bid might just have jumped to $15 million or more ;>)

As for the Oak Hill NIMBYs, don't bank on the Vinikoor precedent killing their 
chances. New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling or no, the town of Lebanon STILL 
hasn't issued a building permit for WQTH! They did issue a building permit for 
the 600W ND 1490 station for which Vinikoor also holds a CP--and the original 
application for that station stated that it would use one of WQTH's four towers.
--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367
> At 08:19 PM 7/21/2003, Scott Fybush wrote:
> >I don't know why I never thought of this before (perhaps Dan S. will tell 
> >me why :-)...
> >
> >Could 1510 be the solution to Clear Channel's 1200 woes?
> >
> >$11 million for 1510, less whatever 1200's current facility could be sold 
> >for ($5-6 million to the right buyer?) is a pittance compared
> >with the long-term cost of pursuing the Battle of Oak Hill. I still don't 
> >believe Clear Channel's engineering brass really understand
> >what a political hot potato the Oak Hill project might be.
> 
> Based on what I saw at the hearing, I don't think they care.  Why should 
> they?  They're a MULTI-BILLION dollar national (soon to be international) 
> company, and the opposition is a small group of middle-class homeowners 
> with mediocre political connections at best.   Who, I might add, seem 
> largely composed of whiny NIMBYers that conveniently forget that they 
> *chose* to move in next to a high power AM station; 1600AM has been there 
> longer than any of them.
> 

> The moment this gets beyond the local arena, which it will if Newton denies 
> the permit, thanks to the Vinikoor case  the Oak Hill residents are gonna 
> find themselves S.O.L.   It might take a long time, but they're gonna 
> lose.  So what if it costs $3 million in legal fees - Clear Channel still 
> comes out ahead.
> 
> The only way I can see your idea working is if someone actively wants to 
> buy 1200 from Clear Channel and is willing to pay enough money to make the 
> WWZN purchase "cheap" to CC.
> 
> Still, I know a few local CC engineers...I'll drop a bug in their ears 
> about it, one never knows...
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
> Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
> FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
> http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA
>