Boston Globe Item on WERS LMA Proposal

[Steve West]

And the $64 question is, any relation to one Charles McCord of WNBC/WFAN/ 
Imus in the Morning fame?

IMHO, from everything I've read on the alleged WCRB transfer, I think the 
sale is in jeopardy and that's why the supposed ten mil offer to Emerson. 
You guys are probably right in thinking the trust is difficult to get out of 
or even stretch to the point of a digital subband.... at least while some of 
the stockholders are alive.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@csail.mit.edu>
To: "A. Joseph Ross" <joe@attorneyross.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 2:31 AM
Subject: Re: Boston Globe Item on WERS LMA Proposal


> <<On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 01:27:01 -0400, "A. Joseph Ross" 
> <joe@attorneyross.com> said:
>
>> Just what I'm thinking.  That trust was set up to keep WCRB
>> classical, and I don't think it's going to be that easy to break.
>> What I'm wondering is who has the right to enforce the trust and what
>> can GM do to get them to back off from doing so.
>
> That's a very interesting question.  Another question might be: who
> are the trustees and beneficiaries?  I can't answer as to
> beneficiaries (I've got some good guesses) but I can answer as to the
> former, since it's a matter of public record which must be reported
> every six months to the FCC.
>
> Charles River Broadcasting WCRB License Corp. is owned by CRB Media,
> Inc.  CRB Media is 100% owned by Charles River Broadcasting Company.
> CRBC has outstanding 1,848 shares of voting common stock and 11,945
> shares of non-voting common stock.  CRBC's President, Treasurer, and
> Clerk, Christopher S. Jones, owns a 7.79% voting interest.  CRBC vice
> president Dave MacNeill owns 0.27% (voting).  Susan Paine, a director
> of CRBC, owns 6.17% (voting).  Richard L. Kaye, who has no difficulty
> hearing WCRB at his home in Waban, owns or controls an 11.15% voting
> stake, but his actual interest is not stated.
>
> The Jones Trust owns 50.84% of CRBC.  That leaves about 24% of the
> voting shares unaccounted for; none of the remaining owners are
> company executives or directors (that would have to be reported), so
> they must own individually less than 5%.  The non-voting shares don't
> need to be reported to the FCC; I would not be surprised if the
> interest the BSO is supposed to have in the company were non-voting.
>
> The Jones Trust is identified in the FCC filing (BOA-20051122AAC for
> those of you following at home) as follows:
>
> BRADLEY R. COOK, MARY L. MARSHALL, CHRISTOPHER S. JONES, TRUSTEES,
> THEODORE S. JONES TRUST - 1979, 1010 WALTHAM STREET, F-13, LEXINGTON,
> MA 02173
>
> This address is a unit at the "Brookhaven at Lexington" retirement
> community.  Mr. Cook, or a person of the same name, appears to be an
> attorney at Taylor, Ganson & Perrin.  I also see a Mary L. Marshall as
> a lawyer, with an individual practice in Wellesley.  Believe it or
> not, there are lots of Christopher S. Joneses; I found at least five,
> none of whom were the CRB chief executive.  (I have heard that this
> Jones, who IIRC is Ted's son, is to buy WCRI, but there's nothing in
> the FCC filings about that yet.)
>
> One of the other interesting people on the CRBC board, by the way, is
> Herb McCord, who is also on the board of Beasley Broadcast Group, the
> licensee of WRCA.  The name should ring a bell for another reason,
> though: McCord was head honcho of Granum Communications, which owned
> WBOS and the then WOAZ (99.5 Lowell), now in Greater Media's hands by
> way of Infinity.  According to his bio, prior to starting Granum,
> McCord was Group VP for radio at Greater Media.  He was also once PD
> of WCBS-FM.
>
> -GAWollman
>
>