it already doesn’t much exist. The thing we knew as ABC Radio growing up in the 1960s first went to Cap Cities in Chicago, then Disney, then Citadel Communications.<\/p>\n
Following the bankruptcy of Citadel, the Cumulus Broadcasting company of Atlanta Georgia launched a hostile takeover of post bankruptcy Citadel. The Department of Justice has signed off on the deal, and next Thursday all the money and paperwork changes hands. A few stations in a few markets will be sold, but the combined Cumulus + Citadel + Susquehanna will become the #2 largest radio owner (counting by # of stations).<\/p>\n
Disney still owns ABC TV and the ABC trademarks, so expect some brand related changes, maybe even call sign changes fir WABC and KABC to break the relationship that used to exist between Radio and TV<\/p>\n
The reputation of Cumulus is they operate in medium and small markers and have no experience running heritage AM stations in major markets. They view management’s role is to cut expenses everywhere they can – perhaps not understanding in major markets you have to spend big money to make even bigger profits. <\/p>\n
During the Citadel bankruptcy, they leaned hard to force the on air talent to take large cuts in their contracts. I expect a lot of the people working for the former ABC Radio stations to be planning their exit strategies. I expect nothing good to come from this and a lot of programming chaos over the next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
it already doesn’t much exist. The thing we knew as ABC Radio growing up in the 1960s first went to Cap Cities in Chicago, then Disney, then Citadel Communications. Following the bankruptcy of Citadel, the Cumulus Broadcasting company of Atlanta … Continue reading