posted March 05, 2009 06:40 PM            

Apparently, the recently new owners of Citadel Broadcast ABC never got the message. Nor were they smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall when Al Franken and his merry little band of leftist shrieking hucksters bit the dust after huge infusions of cash to keep Air America...on the air.

Last year, Sean Hannity had had enough of the leftist duo in charge of the Citadel Broadcast Network to which he was under contract and when his contract expired, Hannity moved to Clear Channel Broadcasting. He also took about 35 million advertising dollars per year with him because national advertisers sponsoring his talk radio broadcasts jumped ship too.

14 April 2008
Sean Hannity To Leave Citadel - ABC Radio
CHECKING OUT
Fed-Up Hannity Exiting Troubled Citadel - ABC Radio

Apparently unhappy with the recently- merged company's political and business direction, talk radio syndication biggie Sean Hannity is exiting Citadel - ABC Radio (NYSE:CDL) for a yet- to- be- disclosed rival. The move could dramatically reshape programming lineups on a number of major stations.

According to a highly- placed source inside the company, Hannity is unhappy with Citadel - ABC for two reasons: its dismal financial performance and the liberal ideological leanings of CEO Farid Suleman and COO Judy Ellis, which are said to have interfered with good relations between the parties.

Rumors of the move were first reported yesterday by the New York Radio Message Board and independently confirmed with a key insider by your Radio Equalizer late Sunday evening. Rumblings of a Hannity exit from Citadel were first revealed in late 2006 by yours truly, but the situation has apparently deteriorated markedly since then.

For the struggling Citadel - ABC operation, this news couldn't come at a more inopportune moment: it has recently reported huge losses and shares have fallen by 88% over the past three years.

Syndicated in over 500 markets nationwide, Hannity's afternoon drive show is said to bring in $35m in annual revenue, which will now be lost as Sean jumps ship. The program is considered to be the second- biggest cash generator in ABC Radio's network lineup, with his compensation at a reported $5m per annum.

As for ratings, in New York City under the new Portable People Meter system, he pulled an impressive 5.4 12+ share for February. That was just shy of Rush Limbaugh's blockbuster 5.6. Nationally, Hannity's audience is second only to Limbaugh's.

The move comes on the heels of a recent round of massive layoffs at Citadel - ABC, which saw a number of talk hosts canned, while management ranks at some outlets remain bloated.

Beyond Citadel's sagging stock price, Hannity is said to be concerned with the leftist political bent of its corporate suits, which has created some awkward moments. In particular, COO Ellis has been reluctant to even be seen near the FOX News Channel host.

And since they took the reins of the merged company, Suleman and Ellis have made a number of peculiar decisions, including an emphasis on the 65+ audience rather than younger, more advertiser- friendly demographics. That has included a mega- deal with talk fossil Don Imus.

Also highly questionable were baffling decisions to remove Rush Limbaugh from WPRO-AM in Providence and fire nationally- known conservative morning talker Melanie Morgan from KSFO/ San Francisco.

The impact of Sean's departure will be significant for all parties involved: Citadel - ABC loses millions, while his show will be pulled from key ABC Radio stations in some major cities. At the same time, it will have to compete against his new program, most likely to be syndicated by Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks, home to Rush Limbaugh.

Will Hannity's exit hasten the demise of this troubled company? How will buyout king Teddy Forstmann, whose firm owns 30% of CDL, respond to this latest setback? And what will be done to save some of the nation's biggest news- talkers from collapse?

UPDATE: Could this story change the outcome? We're hearing reaction has been intense within the radio industry and may have lit a firecracker or two over at Citadel's HQ. Will this rude awakening lead to a renewed interest in keeping Hannity in the fold? Is it about resources, ideological conflicts, or something else?

Either way, time is of the essence: Hannity is free to exit as of 12 June 2008.
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2008/04/sean-hannity-to-leave-citadel-abc-radio.html

posted March 05, 2009 06:53 PM            

In every market where leftists radio is on, it's a total bust. No one wants to or will listen to all the screeching, shrieking and howling leftist talk show hosts. Not even if radio broadcast networks are forced to put them on the air. This brand of broadcasting will simply drive radio broadcast networks into bankruptcy and off the air.

So, now that Hannity is gone from Citadel Broadcast, their stock is down to one penny per share.

05 March 2009
ABC Radio Owner Citadel Communications Shares Worth One Penny
ONE RED CENT
ABC Radio Owner Finishes Trading At One Penny

*** BREAKING NEWS ***
Even for the most jaded industry professionals, it's stunning to believe shares of one of the nation's largest radio station owners might trade for a single penny.

And yet that's exactly what has happened to ABC Radio owner Citadel Communications, a once-proud group operator destroyed by massive debt, epic mismanagement and a liberal political ideology often at odds with the company's still-successful and profitable conservative talk radio programming.

Booted off of the New York Stock Exchange after it failed to make a convincing case for its future viability, Citadel will cease trading there tomorrow, moving to the illiquid and sometimes shady world of the "pink sheets". That's despite a recent move by the NYSE to relax listing requirements.

Ahead of that undignified exit, Citadel (NYSE:CDL) shares closed today at one penny, down nine cents from Wednesday's trading. In 2004, it traded as high as $22.

That leaves a total market capitalization of just under three million dollars, despite owning some of the nation's largest radio stations, including WABC / New York City, WMAL / Washington, WBAP / Dallas - Fort Worth, KGO - KSFO / San Francisco, WLS / Chicago, WJR / Detroit, KABC / Los Angeles and dozens of other music and talk stations across the country, from Albuquerque to Providence and all points in between.

Citadel's original ownership and management team built a highly-successful firm around conservative talkers on the AM band and country music stations on FM, mostly in medium-sized Sunbelt markets. When subsequent owners acquired ABC Radio and saw their own liberal ideology clash with Citadel's established internal structure, it began to unravel.

Many of these stations still turn in remarkably strong ratings and are lucky enough to feature successful (in both ratings and revenue) talk programs hosted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and others at a time when talk radio is dominating the national spotlight.

But recent meddling by Citadel's incompetent managers have led to baffling moves, such as watering down WABC with incompatible, non-conservative programs such as Don Imus and "Joe and Mika", as well as dumping nearly all local programming in the nation's largest market.

Your Radio Equalizer has been tracking this mess for nearly two years, warning of the consequences of this meltdown. In yesterday's Washington Times, yours truly called for a "divorce" to remove highly lucrative talk radio programming away from sagging music radio formats and their rapidly-disintigrating audiences.

The broadcast industry's rapid deterioration calls into question the Obamist plan to impose a backdoor-Fairness Doctrine designed to suppress opposition voices by breaking large station ownership groups. Before they even have that opportunity, these companies are far more likely to collapse on their own.