Radio Station Ownership Gets Complicated

Seismic events occurred in the Spokane radio world last week.

The big news is that Triathlon Broadcasting announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire KISC-FM (KISS), KNFR-FM (The Frog) and KAQQ-AM from Silverado Broadcasting Co.

Triathlon is already in the midst of acquiring four other Spokane stations from the Pourtales Radio Partnership: KEYF-FM, KEYF-AM, KKZX-FM and KUDY-AM. So this latest purchase will give Triathlon seven stations in the Spokane market. This is allowed under the new federal telecommunications bill. Previously a company could own no more than four stations in a market this size.

Complicating the situation even further is the fact that just three weeks ago, Pourtales entered into a joint sales agreement with Citadel Communications Co., which owns four other stations in Spokane: KDRK-FM, KAEP-FM, KGA-AM and KJRB-AM. Under this agreement, Citadel is responsible for selling advertising for the Pourtales stations. This deal will remain in effect even after Triathlon completes its acquisition of the Pourtales stations. It will also be binding for the Silverado stations once that deal is closed, according to Spokane Silverado general manager Kosta Panidis.

Further, Silverado currently sells advertising for KCDA-FM and KNJY-FM (Z-Rock), both owned locally, under another joint sales agreement. So there is the potential for Citadel to soon be selling advertising for 13 different stations in Spokane (four of its own, plus the seven Triathlon stations, plus the two locally owned stations).

It’s still too early to tell how this will all shake down. Panidis said the status quo remains in effect at his three stations until the sale actually goes through, which could be several months.

KZZU purchase goes through

Meanwhile, KXLY’s purchase of KZZU-FM and KTRW-AM won preliminary approval by the Federal Communications Commission on Feb. 2.

KXLY general manager Steve Herling said final approval is set for March 13, but it should be a formality. KXLY should be operating those stations by about the first of April.

This gives KXLY four stations in Spokane: KXLY-AM, KXLY-FM, KZZU-FM and KTRW-AM. Consolidation, clearly, is the order of the day in today’s radio market.

Perfectly Clear

KGA-AM’s Richard Clear has come up with a foolproof strategy for improving his dead-last ratings: Put Mr. Spotlight on the air and bully him. Now that’s good radio.

Clear blamed his last-place showing (and the first-place ranking of Rick Miller at KXLY-AM) on two things: The Seattle Mariners late-season juggernaut, carried by KXLY-AM, and an evil conspiracy involving my own wicked self.

The Mariners factor seemed like it might be plausible, until I actually looked into it and realized:

The ratings period ran from Sept. 21 to Dec. 13, so two-thirds of it was unaffected by the Mariners.

Only one Mariners game pre-empted Rick Miller in the afternoon (the Oct. 2 playoff with California). Most of the games started at 5 p.m. or later. (KXLY kicked the only other early afternoon game over to KTRW-AM.)

Clear still gets trounced by Miller even if you count only the final eight weeks of the ratings period, after the Mariners season was over. Those numbers are: Rick Miller, 6,133 listeners, Richard Clear, 4,133 listeners (average quarter-hour persons).

As to his other contention - that I am in love with KXLY this would come as a surprise to KXLY. The last time somebody complained this loudly about my ratings coverage, it was KXLY.

Still, I suppose this could all be part of a vast Spokane media conspiracy to prevent Clear from being anointed as the giant that he is.

Simon pure

Every year, the Interplayers Ensemble holds a springtime slot open in hopes of acquiring a recent hit. Sounds like they nabbed a good one this year.

“Laughter on the Twenty-Third Floor,” which has been called Neil Simon’s funniest play in years, will be staged April 19 through May 11.

It is loosely based on Simon’s experiences as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” in the 1950s. Simon and his brother Danny were both writers for that show, along with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Selma Diamond and Woody Allen.

, DataTimes