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[ARD NOTE: This story was forwarded to us via email from one of our national supporters.]
( perhaps this story should be titled "CAPSTAR AVOIDS COMMUNITY
STATION" ?? ) STORIES BEG TO BE TOLD: Tales of Piracy and Big Money in Radio World by Rob Patterson, Austin American-Statesman Some people in Austin radio ask why I keep writing about pirate radio and station sales. But that's where the best stories are. And the tale surrounding the latest station sale is a doozy indeed. The result (as reported in this paper Saturday) is a brand new, 50,000 watt station hitting the airwaves at 107.5 FM a year or so from now -- pretty big news in the local radio world, if you ask me. ...... [omitted irrelevant text] ..... Jim Hill of Austin... hunted out an open Austin FM frequency a decade ago, and was one of those who filed for the 50,000-watt license assigned to Round Rock when the Federal Communications Commission opened applications in July 1988. Sure, Hill has put in a substantial investment over a decade while the 13 competing applicants battled and waited it out. Three stayed in the race: Hill, former radio station Elinor Stephens of Shreveport, and radio station broker and owner John Barger of San Antonio. Hill had a dream: Grassroots Radio, a station with a clear-cut environmental and community slant, and a musical format not unlike the one that came on the air at the beginning of the decade as KGSR [AAA with a local bent]. He even secured former Eagle Don Henley, a generous contributor to local green candidates and causes, as a partern in the venture. But even Henley's bucks weren't enough to play the high-stakes radio game in a booming market like Austin. The FCC gave the three competing applicants until the end of last month to settle their differences. Otherwise, the license would be auctioned to the highest bidder. It took the savvy radio veteran Barger to broker the deal and find the white knight [ha!] to buy all of them out and get the station up and running. The money man? Austin's Steve Hicks, head of Capstar Broadcasting Partners, which owns more radio stations than any other company in America, and which just bought KASE [country] and KVET-FM [country] and AM [talk/sports]. For $8.5 million from Hicks, Hill and Stephens gave up their claims on the frequency to allow Barger to get the license, which he is subsequently selling to Hicks. So what will we be hearing on 107.5 FM? Hicks doesn't know yet, but wonders if an FM talk format might fly at that high wattage. [Another strong-signalled station, KJFK, has been talk for about a year now, featuring Stern in the morning. It's ratings have been poor, and word is that they're dropping Stern.] Hicks wasn't the only bidder on the license, and admits he came "late to the game." LBJ-S Broadcasting, which owns more local stations than any other entity [3 or 4 FM, 1 or 2 AM, I believe; local and pretty decent company], had been negotiating for the signal, but was outbid. So now Hill, Stephens and Barger each receive seven-figure sums, and we finally get a new radio station. [Another cookie-cutter station, sure, but it's another station.] As for Hill's dream, he says he's going to put a six-figure amount into a trust for environmental efforts, which may include another media venture. Even though Stephens didn't get a radio station here, she is moving to Austin to enjoy a well-financed retirement. Barger is in the process of selling some of his San Antonio stations to Cox Broadcasting Inc., making even further millions. But he said he'd still like to fulfill his dream of putting two creative formats on the air: what he calls a "South Texas" station, in the tradition of the music on the Gavin radio trade's Americana alternative country and roots-rock chart, and a blues station. |