"Sven Franklyn Weil" wrote in message
...
P.S.: Why did Clear Channel flip AM 1260 from CNN-Radio News to Fox
Sports?

Now they have two all-sports statios with the same name: SportsTalk 1260
(WWRC) and SportsTalk 98 (WTEM). Both licenced to the same city and
serving the same market with the same format. Way to dilute your brand
guys!!! Or is there something I'm missing here?


I'm convinced that Clear Channel has no idea what to do with 1260; they
gobbled it up when they bought Chancellor, flipped it from nostalgia to
business, then to CNN and now to Fox Sports.

It's always near the bottom of the heap book after book after book
regardless of the format - although much of that can be attributed to it's
signal. I really think it's just part of the Clear Channel business
philosophy - they don't run formats on their AM stations that serve a
community interest, they run formats that are *easy to sell*. The key word
in that sentence is *easy*. Sports sells (even with big honkin' zero's in
the book) because it's geared to young men. Nostalgia doesn't sell because
it's geared to an older demographic that advertisers just aren't targeting.
Business and CNN were just place holder formats (sports may be as well) to
keep from having a dead carrier.

Clear Channel seems to understand how to invest dollars in the licensing and
infrastructure of it's properties (their recent RDS bonanza as an example),
but they don't seem willing to investing in the content of their properties
(AM's most notably).

If I were a cynical person, thinking from a purely business perspective, I'd
think that they enjoy expending capitol on hardware/infrastructure because
those capitol expenditures can be written off on taxes. Investing in
content is undoubtedly considered by the accountants as an expense, and
therefore ineligible for the tax write-offs. Wouldn't it be sad if the
bean counters were really running the show after all...

Now, excuse me while I go wait for the black helicopters. grin

-Jeremy Powell