CC bailing out of DC?

[AmpedNow]

From DCRTV:

Wild Rumor: Clear Channel Might Sell DC Radioers - 1/14 - DCRTV has a very well-placed source who tells us that Clear Channel is giving very serious thought to unloading some or all eight of its DC radio stations. And the first to go could be SportsTalk 980, WTEM, probably to Redskins-owner Dan Snyder, whose Red Zebra broadcasting arm owns Triple X ESPN Radio. San Antonio-based Clear Channel, currently in the midst of a buyout to take it private, has been selling stations in small markets. If true, the DC sale, in radio market number eight, would be the radio giant's largest market to be sold-off. "It just does not sound right to me," says a veteran DC radio honcho at a competing firm. Clear Channel owns five FMers here - WWDC, WASH, WMZQ, WBIG, and WIHT. And three AMers - WTNT, WWRC, and WTEM. More as we hear it.....

Okay, I can see them unloading the 3 AMs... But all 8?

If this happens, we may see CBS, Citadel, Bonneville, Red Zebra, and who know how many outside bidders come in to really shake up the market. They are all under the market ownership cap.

I'd also look for some spanish language players to come snooping around.

Obviously, this is hypothetical right now. But what do you think would happen should they sell off DC?

[Ace Purple]

I thought the idea was to hold onto the large market stations -- this would surprise me and be a departure from what had happened to this point.

[Zak Tyler]

maybe bob loblaw can fill us in on if there's been any excessive tightening of the belts over there.

[Dave Loudin]

I'd guess that CC might ditch at least two, if not three of their AMs. First on the list is 1260 WWRC, a 5 kW DA-2 that serves southern Montgomery County (MoCo), DC, and Prince Georege's County (PG) well 24/7 and has been carrying "liberal" talk lately. To me, this station should be in Radio One's hands targeting black listeners. Six months ago, I would have further stipulated religious programming, but Radio One now has that on 104.1 and seems to be doing very well.

Next is 570 WTNT, a 5/1 kW DA-2 that severs Fairfax County, the most-populated part of MoCo, and DC 24/7. You would think talk would work, but CC has (from an outsider's perspective) failed to put a big dent in WMAL's and WTOP's ratings, even while carrying Imus. I obviously have no clue how solid the billing is, but it's pretty clear to me (and should be noticable to even casual listeners) that CC puts little effort in this station (too much dead air, double audio, crappy audio, etc.)

Finally, there is 980 WTEM, the 50/5 kW DA-2 that has the second- or third-best signal in DC (behind 630 and, maybe, 1500). The nighttime signal misses western Fairfax, central MoCo, and Prince William Counties. If CC were to keep any AMs, I'm guessing this would be the one despite the complications inherit with spinning off 1260, as 101.1 WWDC is co-located.

Who would buy these? In the front of everyone's mind is Dan Snyder's Red Zebra. RZ currently has two rim-shot Class A FMs and 730 WXTR, an 8/.025 kW ND-U that covers the metro well days ONLY. The conundrum is the best signal to fix the holes in RZ's coverage is the one CC would be least likely to sell (not to mention that 980 is RZ's sports competition.) I doubt that Radio One would want to add more AMs at this point, and CBS has chased out hispanic operators with 99.1 WLZL (570 could serve as relay for that station into some of 99.1's spotty coverage areas, though).

Bottom line is, there's no slam-dunk obvious scenario to me.

[AmpedNow]

The rumor mill went on to speculate that Dan Snyder is trying to buy all 3 AMs, which makes absolutely no sense...

I could see him being interested in 980, with its monster daytime signal. But 570 and 1260 both have similar lobes, and wouldn't really improve coverage.

Any scenario with these AMs says that he would still have to keep 92.7 and 94.3 for outlying burb coverage.

If anything, he should ante up for one of the big FM sticks, like 100.3. DC is an FM market anyway, with some 85% of the market never even turning on AM.

Oh well. Things haven't really been the same with Redskins radio ever since they left WJFK, who sounds like a very distant shadow of their former selves. In mono.