CLEAR CHANNEL PLANS REVAMP

New York Post ^ | 1/16/09 | PETER LAURIA

[xtinct]

The new owners of radio giant Clear Channel Communications will next week begin implementing a massive restructuring plan that seeks to cut $400 million in costs at the company, The Post has learned.

According to three sources with knowledge of the plan, the restructuring will include layoffs across the company's radio, outdoor advertising and international divisions as well as cuts to programming budgets and consolidation of back-office operations.

A precise headcount for the layoffs could not be obtained. Clear Channel has about 30,000 employees worldwide.

The company is also likely to move toward a "national programming" model that would require less local-level staffing, despite being criticized in the past for a similar action using centralized disc jockeys that made it appear as though they were broadcasting from local stations.

Sources said an initial round of layoffs is expected to commence next Tuesday - not coincidentally the same day President-elect Barack Obama is to be sworn into office. Clear Channel managers are hoping they can slip in the layoffs while the press is preoccupied with Inauguration Day festivities, sources said.

A Clear Channel spokeswoman declined to comment.

[xtinct]

Is there anything good on Clear Channel?

[Dinsdale]

No.

[DevNet]

This should help XM/Sirris stock.

[Mogollon]

Rush, Barry Young, Sean Hannity, J.D. Hayworth, etc.

[xtinct]

Rush, Sean are on WCBM - Maryland
Rush on WRKO - Boston

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Well, they own a classic rock station I listen to...

[RayChuang88]

Clear Channel is heading towards a "national" model because they know where the most profitable shows are: Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, George Noory (Coast to Coast AM), and several others.

[celtic gal]

Our local radio station which is a clear channel carries Rush in the morning and used to carry Hannity right after..now in Hannity’s old slot is a business show..a money show and it is quite good, But I switch to find Hannity. I have also found, on a different staion Monica Crowley.

[bergmeid]

No. Clear Channel has an agreement with many if not all major airports in this country to put CNN on those TV’s in the terminals. While you are waiting for your plane, you get subjected to CNN’s leftwing garbage on TV. That’s Clear Channel’s doing.

[traditional1]

Look for removal of conservative talk radio shows as a top priority here, in advance of the “Fairness Doctrine”??????

[jwparkerjr]

Their AM station here in the Tampa Bay area, WFLA-970 carries Rush, Glenn Beck, The Schnit Show, Hannity, etc. Their morning program is a three person show called AM Tampa Bay. A very good show. I fear it will feel the axe come next week. Two of the people on the program have been with WFLA for 30 years or more.

[Terry Mross]

Just when I was thinking of trying to get back into radio.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

A lot of the nasty-looking billboards you see along the interstates are owned by ClearChannel also.

[nutmeg]

No. Clear Channel has an agreement with many if not all major airports in this country to put CNN on those TV’s in the terminals. While you are waiting for your plane, you get subjected to CNN’s leftwing garbage on TV. That’s Clear Channel’s doing.

UGH, Clear Channel is behind that crap? For some reason I always thought Clear Channel was owned by some conservative group, but I guess I'm wrong. How long is that CNN/airport TV contract? Will it go on forever? Do you think there will ever be a CHOICE for news channels in airports?

CNN is pretty pervasive in the Hartford, CT area in one particular big city hospital and in several area doctors' offices. It's just disgusting...

[bergmeid]

I don’t think it goes on forever but they pretty much have a chokehold on the market. I emailed them a few months ago to complain and they basically told me to shove it. You can try to convince your local airport not to renew the contract but I don’t think you are going to have much luck. I could be wrong though.

[raccoonradio]

>>layoffs across the company’s radio

And indeed, as was mentioned (and has been said on radio boards) they’re picking coronation, er, Inauguration Day to
do it, apparently, so the news gets drowned out. Happy Obama day, you’re fired!

Clear Channel took some of their stations and tried Air
America. Flopped in places like Boston (now Tropical
Spanish music) and Providence (now conservative talk).
Whether they sincerely wanted to put progressive talk on
or were concerned that it would be FORCED on their _bigger_
stations by the return of the fairness doctrine, I don’t
know, but it stunk up the joint quickly.

[raccoonradio]

CNN is forced on the employees (in the break room) at the postal sorting facility where I work.

I don't know if it will be spun off, but Clear Channel's syndication arm is Premiere Radio which does Rush, Glenn Beck, Coast to Coast, and Dr. Laura

You don't have to be a Clear Channel-owned station to run these shows of course!

[RayChuang88]

I don't know if it will be spun off, but Clear Channel's syndication arm is Premiere Radio which does Rush, Glenn Beck, Coast to Coast, and Dr. Laura

I think Clear Channel will hang on to Premiere Radio Networks because that part of Clear Channel still makes money for the company. Remember, Rush, Dr. Laura and Coast to Coast AM have huge station clearances across the USA, which means a steady source of income to Clear Channel.