Wow!! You can't tell the (former) players without a scorecard. Today's R&R provides one (to date)----


R&R's continuing coverage of the ongoing layoffs at Clear Channel stations around the country is at your fingertips right here.

Four Out At CC/Hartford
The Clear Channel Restructuring Train visited the company's Hartford cluster, where four people exited.

Changes At CC/Charleston, S.C.
A bunch of changes went down in Clear Channel's Charleston, S.C. cluster as a result of the company's ongoing restructuring efforts.

Buchner, Kennedy Exit Lite FM/New York
The Clear Channel restructuring reaches all the way up the food chain to AC behemoth WLTW (106.7 Lite FM)/New York.

Marcel Departs KISC/Spokane
Dawn Marcel, PD/MD of Clear Channel AC KISC (Lite Rock Kiss 98.1)/Spokane, has left the building.

Baker Departs, Cunningham Gets Star/S.F.
Clear Channel continues to make programming changes, this time in San Francisco, where longtime KIOI (Star 101.3) guy James Baker exits.

Changes At XL106.7/Orlando
Clear Channel's Restructuring Train stops by Orlando, where Chad Pitt exits afternoon drive at CHR/top 40 WXXL (XL106.7).

Layoffs At CC's WIOQ/Philly
Clear Channel top 40 WIOQ (Q102)/Philadelphia has laid-off 11-year station vet Marian Newsome-McAdam, plus her husband, seven-year vet Franklin McAdam.

Chuck Atkins Exits CC/St. Louis
Chuck Atkins, OM for Clear Channel's St. Louis urban stations, has exited.

Dolan Out At CC/Baltimore
Clear Channel/Baltimore VP and market manager Jim Dolan's position has been eliminated and he exits the company.

Clear Channel Memphis Hit With Cutbacks
Like many other markets, Clear Channel Memphis made several cutbacks late last week.

Clear Channel Cutbacks In Macon Claim Two
Clear Channel has laid off urban AC WRBV/Macon, Ga., PD Chris Williams due to budget cutbacks.

Undeniable proof that FM radio is dying a slow and painful death. I feel sorry for anyone trying to make a career out of radio now.

That doesn't include some of the internal management moves they have made in numerous other markets that didn't make the 'wire'

Excuse me Bonger, FM is not dying. It is just ill after having been run by idiots.

This is what happens when you eat your own!

Really, anyone shocked by another round of 4th quarter Corporate radio layoffs? Wouldn't happen if they were as "HEALTY" as they would like you to believe..

This reminds me of that moment a couple years ago, when Entercom corporate appeared to decide it was wasteful to pay a premium for experienced morning talent chainwide. Donovan and Deb were consistent Top-5 25-54, but were gone. In my home town of Buffalo, Bill Lacy was out after 18 years of good numbers at WBEN.

Some owners drop air talent the way the rest of us would turn down the thermostat. I wonder how much they really save in the long run.

a few bucks, but lose in the goodwill department.

Goodwill is what makes a business worth more than the book price!

Alan Lawson of KIJZ (and K103 music) has been shown the parking lot. Can the Clear Channel / Broadcast Architecture Smooth jazz remote network (with Whoopi) be debuting soon?

And who did Alan run into in the parking lot yesterday? He wasn't the only one.

The Jazz station's PD should go in a room, shut the door and listen to KMHD for a few hours. THEN he or she can get the concept of what a Jazz station is all about....PASSION...and CC Jazz station has zero passion. Another dog on the PDX radio dial. Horrible radio station. The non-pros in Gresham love what they do & it radiates right out of the speakers.

Stoner, KIJZ HD2 is a great REAL JAZZ station, they know what real jazz is, its just "hidden between the channels."

Correction, a REAL JAZZ jukebox.

http://www.kijz.com/cc-common/hdradio/

The whole idea of Big Corporate Jazz is pretty funny.

I stand corrected but the music selection is quite good... I assume Alan Lawson may have had a hand in that.

I think it is much better than the main channel programming on KIJZ.

It goes without saying that KIJZ HD2 has no airstaff and therefore much less human passion than KMHD who do an excellent job with the format and presentation.

Is the rumor true that Mr. Charlie bush has been shut out as well? if this has been posted I have missed it, does anybody know?

Like I said on another thread with Bush as a lame duck their not sure where their future revenue streams will increase.

The board of Clear Channel includes a former GOP Congressman/Football Player from Oklahoma who now has zero clout in Washington DC.

As I said earlier bye bye, the parties over.

So, it's all a vast right wing conspiracy and not just Clear Channel making themselves as lean as possible for a sale?

Any help is welcome. I wear a size 7 3/8s aluminum foil hat.

There is a "healthy" lean, and an "Anorexic" lean.

Some markets are not getting enough to eat.....

Google news. Search it.

Come on Parker your the one that left Clear Channel. The cuts won't even make them avaliable for sale. The amount of debt that Clear Channel has makes it impossible to be sold.

The debt most likely is based on the prime so the costs of business has just gone through the roof where the prime rate has increased 100% in 2006.

I hate to inject actual facts into your wild and baseless speculations savit but here's what Standard and Poors reports on the broadcast industry:

Debt:

Clear Channel 39% of Capital
Cumulus 42% of Capital
Emmis 53%
Entercom 55%
Radio One 45%

Most radio sales are based on a multiple of forward cash flow (usually the next 4 quarters from date of agreement. And cash flow EXCLUDES service of debt. But salary cuts, promotion cuts, research cuts, all improve the cash flow in the short term.

And most long term debt (which is almost always from the cost of acquisitions) is fixed. I suggest you look at the Clear Channel's bonds to get the average interest rate they were issued at. (And not what they are selling at today!)

If the above figures for debt are correct then all of the chains are in a world of hurt.

The quick ratio and the current ratio would have to be below 1 which means the bonds are at a junk rate.

And with what is now happening in Washington it is only a matter of time before chapter 11 is filed by more networks than just Air America.

Almost all broadcast groups (they aren't chains or networks) have financed their rapid growth and aquisitions with debt. As long as the cash flow covered the debt service (just paying the interest due) allowing appreciation to reduce the percentage of long term debt -- even though the amount of debt never actually decreased.

And as the ad market depressed, most bigger groups have used budget cuts and layoffs to maintain their ability to meet that debt service, along with the sale of underperforming assets.

The recent article below summarized the serious situation for CCU. It also seems to suggest that the sale of Clear Channel would be a far worse outcome than keeping it in the Mays family.

Clear Channel CDS,Bonds Take Beating On Buyout Prospects
10-26-06 10:52 AM EST

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s (CCU) bonds weakened and the cost of protecting them rose Thursday after the company said it is evaluating strategic alternatives, a sign the country's largest radio station operator might officially be for sale.
The announcement late Wednesday follows various reports that the founding Mays family may want to take the San Antonio-based company private.
The bonds came under pressure Wednesday, with risk premiums rising anywhere between 6 basis points and 32 basis points during the day.
On Thursday morning, Clear Channel's 6.25% notes due 2011 were 48 basis points wider at 218 basis points over Treasurys while the 7.65% issues due 2010 rose 42 basis points to 200 basis points over Treasurys and the 5.5% bonds due 2014 rose 63 basis points to 301 basis points over Treasurys.
Credit default swaps, the cost of protecting the bonds, also rose dramatically. Traders said the cost to insure $10 million worth of Clear Channel bonds for five years was trading in the range of $220,000 to $225,000, in from the wides of the day, but still significantly higher than the $144,000 to $155, 000 range where they were trading Wednesday.
"They'll be continued volatility in the name until something more definitive gets resolved," said Sid Bakst, managing director of Robeco Weiss, Peck & Greer, said.
The Wall Street Journal reported private-equity firms have been circling the company, which owns about 1,150 radio stations and operates 155,000 advertising displays across the nation. Providence Equity Partners, Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. have formed a bidding consortium, which intends to stage a buyout, according to a person familiar with the group's plans. The person characterized the group's interest as high and the discussions as relatively advanced.
Clear Channel had a market capitalization of about $16 billion as of Wednesday and carries about $7.9 billion in long-term debt.
A separate group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, and potentially including Texas Pacific Group and Bain Capital is also in the mix, another person told the Wall Street Journal.
Private-equity interest spurs activity in bonds because leveraged buyouts typically add debt to a company's balance sheet, which has the potential to negatively affect credit ratings.
Clear Channel is currently rated BBB- with a negative outlook from Fitch and Standard & Poor's ratings agencies. The BBB- rating is the lowest notch of investment grade ratings before junk.
"Clear Channel has been on the cusp of junk for nearly a decade during which the company has used the debt and equity markets to fuel tremendous growth through acquisition," CreditSights analyst Jake Newman said in a research note. He added that the company is perennially rumored to be a going-private candidate, but the Mays family has always expressed a commitment to keeping its investment grade ratings.
If an LBO is achieved, Newman said he believes the company's credit ratings will fall "much lower" than the high BBs.

It should be interesting to see what the future brings for these large holding companies.

Back in the "good old days" stations had to liquidate their loans in 7 years. The banks had a nasty habit of wanting to get their money back. If the cash flow wasn't there for a short mortgage, neither was the money.

Along came the 90s and corporate money. Shareholders don't expect to get their money back. And they don't call every week to see how the financials are doing. On the other hand, the need to "make the quarter" in the corporate world can lead to some dismal short term decision making.

Take a look at those annual reports. Most of the value of the stations is in "Goodwill" - and some groups are writing that off over 40 years.

When you cut staff down to bare minimums, you are also cutting into that "goodwill" substantially. There is a lagging factor that hides it for a while. Just not 40 years worth.

Thanks Tdanner I had not seen the article but it proves my comment above that the bonds for Clear Chanel are junk rated.

But it appears that Clear Channel is preparing to take the company private for several reasons.

However they need to move fast in case Congress were to change the last Communication Act which may heavily reduce the values of their stations.

As for me I would appreciate changes to the communication act to put all of the chains out of business and begin rebuilding.

From today's Billboard/R&R:

Bids are due in the coming days for Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. radio company, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Nov. 9.

Clear Channel, which has about 1,150 stations, said last month in response to reports that it was considering offers to be taken private that it had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. to help it evaluate strategic alternatives.

Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters at that time that two private equity consortiums were looking at bidding for the company, which has a market valuation of more than $17 billion based on Thursday's (Nov. 9) closing price of $34.67.

Private equity groups Providence Equity Partners, Blackstone and KKR make up one consortium. The rival group consists of Bain Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Texas Pacific Group.

Other parties have been speculated to be interested. The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 9 that Apollo Management and Carlyle, and Cerberus Capital and Oak Hill Partners were two other bidding groups, but that these had largely faded from the process.

It was unclear which day the bids were due, with various media reports saying final bids were due either Friday (Nov. 10) or Monday (Nov. 13). The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal reported that final bids could lead to a deal being announced as early as next week.

One source familiar with the situation told Reuters that final bids were due in the coming days. A separate source said that bids were due by Monday.

KKR and Blackstone declined comment, as did Thomas H. Lee, Texas Pacific and Bain. Providence and Goldman Sachs were not available for comment. Clear Channel declined comment.

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, Texas, last week forecast strong fourth-quarter radio advertising sales and posted a 9.5% drop in third-quarter profit, reflecting the spin-off of its entertainment unit.

The company is a dominant player in many U.S. radio markets, where it often owns a number of stations playing different formats from music to talk.

Advertising-driven radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel have been challenged to develop new formats and technology in the face of growing competition from satellite radio, the Internet and personal digital music players.

Private equity firms typically buy companies with a small portion of their own cash and borrow the rest. They usually hold a business for 3 to 5 years, restructure it, and sell it later either to a buyer or on the open market in an initial public offering.

Sometimes buyout firms "flip" an investment in a year or less when they think they can make a good profit on the sale.

Will the new owners give up on HD?

Pardon me for breaking in here, but, do I have a job or not? I'm confused. My logo is still the same. I really don't think the listeners are going to notice any ownership changes. But, then, that's pretty much up to me. We have an audience to serve here, and will keep doing so.
Y'all take care.

Going private would be a good thing.

CC, or whatever it ends up being, would be then free to make better strategic moves without having to maintain short sighted quarterly revenue goals.

If KKR comes in watch out for voice tracking, with the DJ's covering ten stations in 10 diffrent markets.

Like that's going to bring people back to radio.

Where's my MP3 player.

You can say what you want about Clear Channel but at least its roots are in broadcasting!

And Enron's roots were in energy. I forget we happened to Enron?

Lay off George Norrey !!! Make Art Bell work 4 nights and hire Clyde Lewis for the other 3.