Report: Clear Channel to keep Midcoast Maine stations

[David Tomm]

CC/Portsmouth has some decent performers, like WHEB and WERZ , but 
there are plenty of dogs in that cluster like WUBB, WQSO and all of the 
AM's. They may eventually spin off some of these lesser properties and 
hold onto the moneymakers.

While CC has relatively few stations in Worcester & Boston, all of them 
with the exception of WKOX and WXKS-AM bill extremely well.  Kiss and 
Jam'n together bill well north of $30 million a year.  WSRS is the big 
dog in Worcester and WTAG does about as well as you can expect from a 
5000 watt AM.  I doubt that Clear Channel would want to part with any 
of those stations.  They've been able to squeeze out maximum revenue 
with lower capital costs and less personnel in these markets.  Once the 
signal upgrade to WKOX is complete, I could see them selling off 1430.

Providence, Springfield and New Haven do reasonably well with 
relatively few signals in those clusters. They probably bill quite well 
in comparison to markets of similar size in other parts of the country, 
which is why CC is keeping them.  They have their issues right now in 
Hartford (particularly WKSS and WPHH) but overall that has been a solid 
market for them.

I'm not surprised they are keeping Midcoast Maine, at least for now.  
Real estate prices in that area are soaring and towns are increasing in 
population.  Unlike many New England markets, The Midcoast is in a 
major growth mode, and Clear Channel feels they can reap some benefits 
down the line.

Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"


On Nov 23, 2006, at 9:05 PM, SteveOrdinetz wrote:

> At 04:15 PM 11/23/2006, Scott Fybush wrote:
>> 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...
>
>
> Dunno about Springfield & Worcester, but I understand the N.H. 
> clusters (or at least WGIR & WHEB) are solid moneymakers.  I'm sure 
> proximity to Boston is a factor as well.