Report: Clear Channel to keep Midcoast Maine stations

[Scott Fybush]

> http://www.mainecoastnow.com/articles/2006/11/23/courier_-_gazette/local_new
> s/doc4564669501014073279642.txt
>
> The story above says that though Clear Channel plans to sell its Bangor
> and
> Augusta clusters, they will keep the stations in midcoast Maine.
>
> Does this make sense to anyone?

I suspect it will depend on who the buyer ends up being for the other
stations being spun off. If they're interested in the Rockland, Camden and
Boothbay stations, I'm sure CC will sell those, too.

My understanding is that pretty much anything outside the top 10 or 20
markets is at least potentially for sale, if the right buyer shows up
offering the right price. For that matter, if the right price showed up
for CC's stations in a market such as Boston, where they've never quite
achieved critical cluster mass the same way they've done in NYC (5 FMs) or
LA (3 AMs/5 FMs), I'd have to believe a deal could be struck there, too.

What's slightly more interesting to me is that the Manchester/Seacoast
cluster and the Springfield and Worcester stations weren't on the list. I
guess they're close enough to the big spine of large CC markets stretching
from Boston through Providence, Hartford and New Haven to NYC to be worth
keeping...

s