Radio Station Bidders Have Just a Week Left

By Meena Thiruvengadam, San Antonio Express-News

Feb. 17–Clear Channel Communications Inc. has set a deadline of Friday for bids on the radio stations it has put up for sale.

Bids are due by noon Central Standard Time, a company spokeswoman said.

Clear Channel, which last year announced a $26.7 billion buyout plan, has hired Tucson, Ariz.-based Kalil & Co. Inc. to sell 448 of its more than 1,100 stations.

“This is an opportunity to buy radio stations most people thought would never be available,” said Frank Kalil, Kalil & Co.’s president. “A lot of people thought that whenever Clear Channel bought anything it was going into a black hole and they would never see it again.”

The stations being sold are in 90 smaller U.S. markets. Combined with a 42-station TV group also up for sale, they contributed less than 10 percent to Clear Channel’s 2005 revenue.

In January, San Antonio-based Clear Channel said it had reached purchase agreements to sell 76 stations in 17 markets. Those agreements are valued at nearly $121 million, according to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

In addition to those deals, Clear Channel said it will swap its eight stations in Ann Arbor and Battle Creek, Mich., for Cumulus Media Inc.’s WRQK-FM in Canton, Ohio.

The company declined to say whether any other deals are in the works.

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