cross ownership (newspapers/radio)

[Bob Nelson]

I'm guessing the newspaper/radio-TV cross ownership rules set by the
FCC are still in effect--a paper can't own a radio station in its same
city unless there's a special
waiver. (I notice WFNX is owned by "Mcc Broadcasting"--as in Stephen Mindich,
Phoenix owner?  Not sure if Mcc Broadcasting is considered a separate company,
or if there's a waiver...maybe the fact that the Phoenix is a weekly
paper not a daily?)

Will we ever see Boston Globe Radio or Boston Herald Radio? In the
nation's capital,
we see a newspaper _running_ a station, WTWP at 1500 (also at FM 107.7). A few
weeks back the old WTOP moved to 103.5 FM and 820 AM, and Bonneville
unveiled "Washington Post Radio" at 1500/107.7. So maybe this is how
the Post gets around the cross-ownership rule, by putting its people
on a station owned by a separate
company, Bonneville.

Now imagine this: Greater Media sells off 51 per cent of WBOS to the
Red Sox, as some are guessing. You would have the majority (barely) of
the station owned by an entity which is,
in turn, owned partially by the Globe's parent company, the New York
Times. The Globe
can put its people on WBOS and create...

WBOS 92.9 Boston Globe Radio
It would have a mixture of news, talk, and sports talk and of course
Red Sox games.

Station owned by _Red Sox_, not the Globe, with Greater Media as minority owner.
This gets around the cross-ownership rule, as it's the ballclub owning
the station,
not the paper (the paper's parent in Gotham owns 17 per cent of the team).
The Globe gets to prod more interest in the paper by putting its product on the
radio (as they already do with NECN...and with NESN's Sox pre- and postgame
shows).

Just a thought...the Globe could get their own radio station by a
partnership with
Greater Media, with the owners being Red Sox (majority) and GM (minority).