Posted on 05/17/2008 1:29:30 PM PDT by shrinkermd
Last Friday Rush spent an hour of "precious broadcast time" discussing a book by Jim Nantz. Jim Nantz has worked for CBS for 24 years.
CBS is self-described on their Web Site as:
"...CBS RADIO is one of the largest major-market operators in the United States with stations covering news, alternative rock, oldies, country, talk, classic rock, JACK and urban formats, among others. A division of CBS Corporation, CBS RADIO operates 140 radio stations, all but one of which are in the nation's top 50 markets. The overall mix of each radio station's programming is designed to fit the station's specific format and serve its local community.
CBS RADIO continues to make aggressive moves to converge new and traditional media through creative programming and advanced delivery methods, including online streaming, HD Radio, mobile messaging and podcasting. Audio streams of more than 140 CBS RADIO stations and custom channels are currently available online, and two thirds of the Company's stations are broadcasting in HD digital radio.
Additionally, CBS RADIO is home to 27 of the country's leading sports franchises amongst MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the WNBA and the NHL, including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and the Detroit Red Wings.
Further enhancing CBS RADIO's programming exposure is the Company's long-standing alliance with Westwood One, which provides stations with news, sports, weather, music, talk and entertainment programming and content, and presents an unparalleled menu of events such as the Olympic Games, NFL football, NCAA basketball, including the Men's Basketball Championship, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Grammy Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards
On the other hand Clear Channel (CCU)who holds Rush's current contract just recently finished a tortuous and discouraging (for the shareholders)settlement. See this from the current issue of Barron's:
...THE SUCCESSFUL RESOLUTION LAST week of the Clear Channel Communications leveraged buyout is a big victory for the radio and billboard operator's shareholders. They're getting a very generous price, considering the weakness in the company's core radio business. The outlook is much riskier for the buyout group, led by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners. A private Clear Channel (ticker: CCU) will carry a debt burden of perhaps $18 billion, and the company is being purchased at a premium to the valuation of such other big media companies as CBS, Time Warner and News Corp., the owner of Barron's.
Bain (Mitt Romney was a co-founder but now allegedly is inactive) and Thomas H. Lee agreed to pay $36 a share for Clear Channel, or $17.9 billion. That's below the prior deal at $39.20 a share that Clear Channel reached last summer, after shareholder opposition to the original agreement at $37.60 a share in 2006. The agreement at $36 represented a concession by Clear Channel after banks sought to pull out of the deal at $39.20 because they faced losses of $2 billion in financing that transaction. Rather than pursue lawsuits against the banks, Clear Channel was willing to recut the deal, pleasing the buyout group and reducing losses for the banks.
The URL for this is: HERE.
CCU will be in no mood to give Rush a better deal, perhaps they would even choose to give him a lesser deal while CBS may be on the prowl for a greater radio presence since they do not have a cable news channel.
Just a guess, but the deal, Rush uncharacteristically spending an hour with Jim Nantz for a new book and puffing (at least it seemed to me) both the CBS radio and sports presence all lead me to think a change may be in the wind.
he! he!..ho! ho! LOL!....
that would absolutely kill Swimmer *HIC!* Kenne(drunk)y et.al.....and throw the MSM (NYT/WaPo/ABCNNBcBS/pBS)....into a fatal fit....and scares "the He!! outa" the Liberal National Education Association
cBS, would be plowing new ground...showing their "newly found" independence...the Columbia Broadcast Company (CBS), would shine again....and the country might get "the true situation" of the country.
Blech.
Wish I could have heard the whole hour.
I don’t get your point?
I think that Clear Channel’s business model is coming to an end. The big question is what will happen next? There are several possibilities.
1) An oligopoly. Clear Channel breaking up into several competing companies, but who do not share markets.
2) A confederacy. Individual radio stations banding together for some of the advantages that Clear Channel had provided. This was how the broadcast networks formed way back when.
3) A government re-imposition of strict ownership rules in which nobody can own more than a limited number of media types in a given market.
4) The FCC promulgates indy stations with bandwidth sales and licensing favoring them over networks.
I’m sure there are others I haven’t thought of.
LOL!, That was a Classic!
Thanks for reminding me....I wanted to get Nance’s book.
Golf is of interest to less than 10% of the population and is of declining interest and participation. A response to your previous post.
Fortunately, because of all the crazies out there, shrinkermd will never lack for work in his day job.
<}B^)
O.k.,you don’t like golf,I got it,thanks.
I wonder if Rush is maneuvering to get out from under that Fairness Doctrine when the Democrats bring it back?
Sorry your bias prevented you from hearing an interview with an all around good guy that just happens to work for CBS. I've always enjoyed listening to Jim Nance and the fact that he is friends with the Bush family and Rush just reinforces my positive opinion of him............
Chill out dude, take a couple of weeks off and stop listening to the news and talk radio...........
Sorry to hear that......Personally, I enjoyed hearing the interview and the thoughts from an individual whom I have come to respect thru his coverage of key sporting events over the years. Nance is a true professional
Just curious tho, at which point in the interview did you realize that you were bored and why didn't you change channels at that time?......LOL! You guys kill me!
Are you the ghost of....?...while your on this plane of existence, why don't you haunt 'ol Walter & Danny Boy and appear before katie....
and offer encouragement to RUSH.
btw, welcome to freerepublic (5/10/08).
That was the one hour of Rush last week that I tuned out, on purpose.
God that was a boring piece. I switched channels, too.
The Fairness Doctrine ... obliquely.
I’m pretty sure that’s a “market by market” decision. Don’t think it harkens a Rush move to CBS or any such thing. Cool you have FM though. Nice signal without the $69/year for 24/7. Nice.
Additionally, CBS RADIO is home to 27 of the country’s leading sports franchises amongst MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the WNBA and the NHL, including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and the Detroit Red Wings.
I think the problem with golf is that the public perception that it is too expensive to play. Not to mention that it is a difficult game to learn to play well.
Doubtful. Going from 600+ stations to 140? Even with a potentially better deal? Do you know how long it would take him to get onto 600+ stations again? CBS would have to gain over 460 affiliates.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.