Randy Michaels – a controversial guy involved with Jacor and then ran Clear Channel for several years got some folks to provide him with $150 million to buy up three large major market FM stations – 2 in Chicago, one in New York.
The idea he had was to go head to head with CBS in those two cities (WBBM in Chicago and WCBS/WINS in New York), but to target people interested in “softer” news (ie Soccer moms). The content and presentation was deliberately going to be female friendly.
The first PPM are in and Chicago is not buying the concept. The guy with the idea of the female friendly news format is gone as of Friday, according to the Tom Taylor newsletter, available at radio-info.com
There were rumors that these stations were the initial assault that would expand to stations in other major markets. The events of the past few days suggest the “money people” may be getting nervous.