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January 16, 2009
Clear Channel bloodbath is WDFN toast?
The New York Post is reporting that Clear Channel Communications is about to wax a lot of employees starting this Tuesday.
"Clear Channel was built through a series of acquisitions that generally weren't consolidated very well," said one source, alluding to the late '90s buying spree that put more than 1,000 stations under the Clear Channel umbrella, making it the nation's largest radio company.
It is no secret that Clear Channel is financially challenged and the new owners are about to slice the 30,000 person workforce massively. In Detroit Clear Channel owns 1130 and 1310 AM, 97.9 and 93.1 as well as 100.3 and 95.5. Look for all the stations to consolidate staff and for many well known names to lose their jobs.
I think WDFN is a goner, I've been hearing rumors for months that WDFN would let go of the entire air staff and flip the switch to and ESPN branded version of 1130 and why not, management gave up the fight long ago to WXYT. Stoney and Wojo are under contract but it wouldn't surprise me if they were bought out much the same way Jamie Samuelsen was dispatched a year ago. I expect most of the support staff will also be let go including the Programming and Production staffs. WDFN could soon become a radio station run by a computer in a closet, nice and cheap.
It isn't a coincidence that ESPN revamped its lineup just this week, is it to attempt to appeal to a whole boatload of Clear Channel sports stations converting to the ESPN brand? You bet!
Most local music Air Personalities will be lost in Detroit with the exception of a very few. The only survivors will be the Morning Show and some of them won't be saved.
Just yesterday it was reported that the new PD at WKQI would be a woman from New York who would fly in a couple days a week and grace Detroit with her presence. Face it, Clear Channel NEVER cared about local radio and the call SHOULD get louder to break up these big companies that aren't serving the local audience. What Clear Channel has done to local radio is criminal and they shouldn't be allowed to have a monopoly.
What is even more sad is that Clear Channel is planning "Black Tuesday" to coincide with the Inauguration of Barack Obama in the hopes that the media will be looking the other way.
