The purchase of WOR-AM by Clear Channel is still pending.
I vaguely remember reading that Clear Channel might start its operations under a lease (called an LMA) October 1st. I just read the LMA at the FCC and it says it runs for up to 12 months, and ends when the FCC approves the sale and it closes (the money changes hands). Curiously, it has a cutout from 6-8 AM on Sundays, which Buckley would continue to program while Clear Channel runs the station.
The Presumption is that Clear Chanel’s WOR will pick up the Premiere Talk syndication – Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity – they already carry Coast to Coast, but with the WGST change I’m not so sure. Maybe they’ll run NBC Sports, at least part of the day….
The barely existing WOR Radio Network will probably end.
I think our first hint will be what they choose to replace Savage. If it’s Beck, who last I checked still doesn’t have a NYC station, then you can certainly bet Rush and probably Hannity will soon follow.
I think there’s a difference between markets such as Boston and Atlanta in contrast to New York City. Boston and Atlanta had radio stations willing to pay a nice hefty rights fee for the CC programs– more than they could likely make from running their own station (and the associated expenses thereof). In New York, Cumulus is notorious for being cheap and has made quite a bit of allusion of wanting to dump Limbaugh on its stations at the first opportunity (the only reason they won’t is because they’re locked into a contract until 2013). Heck, I doubt people like Geraldo and Mike Huckabee would be employed if that weren’t the case.