Bonneville’s WTOP, Washington has done the impossible.

It has just become the number one billing station in the country from market #9.

WTOP out billed some pretty impressive radio stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other larger cities.

New York and LA together bill approximately half a billion dollars in a typical year – double what Washington bills as a market – making this victory most impressive.

And most instructional as WTOP strategy flies in the face of consolidated radio wisdom.

The news is impressive enough but headlines don’t tell the real story.

WTOP billed almost $60 million and that’s not counting their digital revenues that in the past have exceeded 8% of WTOP’s total billing.

In this article, I’ll reveal what things WTOP executives are doing that any station can do …

1.  How their content is different from 99% of America’s radio stations – and I’m not talking about their news format.

2.  How WTOP programs in the moment and cleans up with local advertisers.  All the details.

3.  An innovative listener/station connection that makes their fans addicted.  Read this and you can do the same thing with the same great results.

4.  How WTOP cashes in on websites and social media that other stations neglect.

5.  Is it possible to attract lots of non-radio advertisers to radio?  Bingo!  See how WTOP adds to its coffers by doing that instead of only chasing everyone else’s business.

6.  The one thing that WTOP sellers do that breeds fierce loyalty among advertisers and makes them addicted to the station.

7.  The most innovative strategy is right across the street.  I’ll name two of them in DC that WTOP has mastered and it will get your juices flowing.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a member of Inside Music Media so you can access stories like these every day, it comes out to as low as 27 cents a day.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

I am often asked which radio group would you work for if you wanted a career in radio.  That would be the one with the best management and best chance to succeed.

A lot has happened since I ranked the best and worst including bankruptcies, mergers, key station acquisitions, critical personnel changes and even luck.  For four years I’ve been getting hundreds of emails a week on the inner workings of radio’s major groups.

So here is my latest list of the best and worst radio groups.

In this article I’ll reveal …

•  What formerly worst group has finally made it to the best list and why they are no longer the worst.

•  The top 8 major radio groups -- what makes them strong and what their future looks like.

•  The three worst radio groups on the planet – at least in the U.S.  You may think you know which three I am talking about but you would be wrong.  I’ve got a big surprise for you and I’ll explain why.

•  The group I think has the inside track on being the number one best 12 months from now.

•  What toxic radio groups to avoid if you’re planning to stick around and have a career in radio.

I start counting down the best and worst radio groups in order – right here.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Cumulus Media is expected to close on its purchase of Citadel Media around September.

The day that deal is consummated, you can expect an earthquake stronger than the one in Japan to hit the radio industry.

While Cumulus CEO Lew Tricky Dickey is promising $50 million in immediate savings – you can bet that $50 million isn’t coming out of his fortune or that of his family. 

Dickey is saying all the right things – that Cumulus and Citadel are a team.  Sounds good – warm and fuzzy but …

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

What Cumulus is going to do when it finally takes over Citadel will be uglier than anything that has happened during consolidation – and that includes a lot of ugliness.   

Worse than the arrogant days of Lowry Mays and Randy Michaels at Clear Channel when they terrorized competitors and fired thousands and thousands of outstanding and dedicated radio people.

The Cumulus takeover of Citadel will be more brutal.

This article reveals what you can expect:

1.  How many of Citadel’s 4,000 current employees must be fired for Dickey to deliver on his promise of $50 million in savings once the acquisition closes.

2.  How the Citadel sales platform will be integrated with the existing Cumulus system.

3.  What about commissions?  Farid Suleman already chopped the hell out of Citadel sales commissions.  Is there room left for more pay cuts?

4.  The one thing Lew Dickey can’t wait to do when he gets his hands on Citadel’s old ABC Radio Networks.  Paul Harvey is turning over in his grave.

5.  If ratings and billing are not so important to Lew Dickey, what is?  I’ll share the sweetest sound in any language to a Wall Street banker and no one is better than Dickey at saying it.

6.  The Cumulus answer to Groupon couponing that will hurt local ad sales – but be seated when you read it.

7.  Dickey says now that the two companies will be one large company he can take on Pandora – just like Clear Channel’s Bob Pittman.   I’ll tell you Dickey’s plan.

8.  Plus, the timetable for completing firings, cutbacks, reorganizing and redeploying Cumulus strategies to Citadel.  

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Lew Dickey, Jr. is now playing with other people’s money. 

That’s why he plunked more of it on the table to buy Citadel last week at $37 a share. 

The question is not whether Citadel is worth $37 a share in what some analysts call a “not fast growth business”.  

The real question is what will one of the biggest under achieving operators in radio buy next.

You’ll love this.

Dickey has a reputation on Wall Street for overpaying for stations.  Insiders say back in the days of the first round of consolidation with Richard Weening, “Lew would bid $40 a share and the joke among brokers was that Lew would pay Milwaukee prices for Oshkosh stations”.

As we witness The Second Coming of Investment Banks who will Lew Dickey prey upon to feed his ego?

This article reveals the potential victims that Lew Dickey may have his eyes on …

1.  Clear Channel.  Don’t laugh.  Of course, Dickey can’t buy all of Clear Channel but can he buy some of it?  Clear Channel has some new options developing as well to avoid having to sell hundreds of stations to pay debt.  I’ll reveal it here.

2.  CBS.  Les Moonves wanted to sell his smaller markets, but does he want to sell more – maybe to Super Lew?  You may be surprised.

3.  Emmis.  They’re in hot water.  They’ve got some major market stations and now that Tricky Dickey is breaking into big market radio is this deal doable?  I’ll explain.

4.  Saga.  Oh boy!  Another company with no debt.  Dickey likes those well-run companies to counteract his red ink.  Read on.

5.  Greater Media.  Nice size group that gets Dickey closer to being as large as Clear Channel, but there is a little catch and you’ll learn it here.

6.  Bonneville.  Makes sense.  They sold 17 stations to Hubbard.  Slam-dunk?

7.  Entercom.  Stop drooling, Lew.  Entercom bid against Cumulus for Citadel.  I’m not saying Lew is a vindictive guy or anything but wouldn’t this be a great headline in the trades? 

8.  Hubbard.  After all, they just bought 17 Bonneville stations.  I’m giving Bruce Reese and the managers that are moving over to Hubbard with him a heart attack right now because Cumulus fires competent managers.

9.  Cox.  Not possible, right?  After all they don’t like each other.  Right?  So that means Cox is safe, right?

10.  Radio One.  No.  Never!  Here is the one reason Dickey would buy all or part of Radio One.  Maybe?

11.  Regent.  Out of bankruptcy after screwing its original investors – now this is just the kind of scenario that made Lew Dickey go after Citadel.  Possible?  Probable?

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

What we know is that radio’s serial overpayer spent $2.4 billion that he still doesn’t have to buy Citadel Media away from anxious shareholders.

That combined Cumulus and Citadel will be a platform of 572 radio stations in tiny markets and the top ten.

That Cumulus will carry $3 billion in debt.

And that Dickey is promising to de-lever that debt quickly to make the deal look like a steal.

That’s what we know.

But behind the scenes, there is a lot that will likely not see the light of day.

This article will reveal the Untold Secrets of the Cumulus Citadel Deal … among which are …

Secret #1.  Why Entercom didn’t fight harder to win Citadel.  Entercom publicly admitted to wanting Citadel and wanting to grow but one thing made them gun shy.  I’ll share that one thing with you.

Secret #2.  Is this a slam-dunk or can this deal be stopped?  There are unresolved financial and legal issues that are never really addressed.  What’s the chance that this deal blows up?

Secret #3.  What happens to Citadel CEO Farid Suleman?  Did he negotiate a way to stay on or get more money on the way out?  Your answer is here.

Secret #4.  Why did Dickey want Citadel so badly?  Why not Clear Channel if he was going to think big – they have a lot of financial problems?  Why not CBS or one of the other radio groups?  Turns out there was a big reason why Dickey had to go to Citadel and no one else.

Secret #5.  What happens to Citadel employees now?  Who stays, who goes.  Is there a plan in place?  The dealmakers don’t worry about people but there is a likely scenario about how Cumulus will takeover Citadel.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

The merger of Cumulus and Citadel has major repercussions for the two companies and the entire radio industry.

Here are 9 predictions of what will happen.  Among them …

• The first move Lew Dickey will make once the Cumulus/Citadel merger closes.  No, not layoff station people – that’s the second thing.
   
• Dickey’s next move after Citadel.
   
• The fate of Citadel’s ABC stations.
   
• First look at the media platform -- Citadel and Cumulus combined.
   
• The debt tightrope that Cumulus will be on.
   
• The one thing Cumulus should do when it takes over Citadel – that it won’t do.
   
• Farid Suleman’s future.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

You’ve asked me to handicap the top radio groups to project whether they are buyers or sellers and in this article, I’ve done that.

This piece reveals …

1.  Is Emmis a buyer or seller in light of legal headaches and a small platform? 

2.  Entercom – what if the Citadel deal never happens?  Is Entercom a buyer or a seller?

3.  The fate of Radio One in light of a potential Cumulus takeover of the radio industry.

4.  Then how does Clear Channel react if the Dickeys become the new Mays family?  Buy or sell?

5.  Cox is a great operator but can it survive more consolidation as a relatively small group?  I’ve got your answer right here.

6.  The old Bonneville – the one owned by the Mormon Church – are they going to sell the markets they held back from the Hubbard deal or operate them into the future?

7.  And what of Hubbard once they close on the 17-station Bonneville acquisition.  They’ve got Bruce Reese to run it, and Reese’s top managers.  Is Hubbard eyeing something bigger?

8.  CBS – Lee Moonves has said he’d like to sell some stations and hasn’t.  Will he in light of a potential Cumulus-Citadel merger that could change everything.

9.  Saga has the least amount of debt and keeps cranking out cash flow.  Will this small to medium market company feel Lew Dickey’s breath breathing down its back?

10.  Salem?  I have a hunch.

This article gets specific about how the main players in radio consolidation could be affected if the landscape suddenly changes and Cumulus becomes the new Clear Channel.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

The real merger of Cumulus with Citadel isn’t consolidation like radio used to see in the late 90’s.  It’s about a methodical takeover of the radio industry by banking interests who reward losers and punish winners.

This article reveals …

•  A slight opening in the exclusive negotiating window Cumulus is paying Citadel for – it could allow a white knight to save Citadel from Cumulus or it could be a bust.  Here’s how it works.

•  Who could give Cumulus a run for their money at this point.

•  Why the banks are hell bent to create yet another heavily debt ridden radio group.  It defies logic until you read this.

•  The Cumulus end game.  Lew Dickey is out shopping for loans to complete the deal, but here is his plan.

•  What will the merged Cumulus and Citadel look like?  More layoffs?  Lots or a few?  What will happen to Citadel programming?  Management changes.  The corporate setup.   This describes the net result of the Cumulus-Citadel merger.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Lew Dickey may be snapping his suspenders and enjoying making Citadel CEO Farid Suleman and his 14,000 employees squirm as he attempts a hostile takeover.

But in a little Connecticut courthouse, an ex-Cumulus employee who the Dickeys sued when she left them for Cox is prevailing in court so much so that she may be able to get Lew to say “uncle”.

You know that these kinds of stories are not reported in the radio trade press, which is happy to skirt controversy to stay in Dickey’s good graces.  But Cumulus is attempting to be the big dog among radio consolidators with a record of employee dissatisfaction and a punitive management style.

This article will reveal the draconian tactics being used by Cumulus and how one employee appears to be overcoming them:

1.  What a judge did with a Cumulus attempt to hogtie the income and personal possessions of former market manager Kristin Okesson.

2.  How low would Cumulus go to put a stranglehold on an employee’s life after she left their company?  I’ve got two scary examples for you.

3.  How much does this judge think Cumulus can win – if they win -- and the case goes to trial?  Let’s play high low.  Cumulus wants over $1 million from their ex-employee.  She wants to pay zero.  You guess what the judge said was Cumulus’ best-case scenario (yes, it’s higher than zero).

4.  Inside info on the shrewd countersuit that Dickey’s ex-employee filed against Cumulus – a suit so dangerous that one way or the other I think it forces Cumulus to settle the original case.

5.  Can you imagine Lew Dickey being deposed in this case?  Imagine it.  Here’s how Dickey cannot avoid a deposition.

6.  Cumulus has no women in senior management positions, most people know that.  But the very company that is hot in pursuit of Citadel has how many women as market managers?  Whatever your guess, keep in mind that it is three fewer than when Okesson was employed there. 

7.  What will happen in the end?  It’s harder to predict whether Cumulus will be successful in its takeover attempt of rival Citadel than it is to see how this secret and vindictive lawsuit will end.  I’ll tell you my prediction right here.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Everyone seems resigned to the fact that Cumulus is going to succeed in its hostile takeover of Citadel. 

Everyone but Citadel CEO Farid “Fagreed” Suleman and me!  How’s that for strange bedfellows?

I think Entercom still has a chance and even if Citadel accepts the Cumulus offer while I am writing this piece, I still think Entercom (or some other group) is the horse to watch.  

The Cumulus/Citadel merger stinks. 

It has no merit other than to earn fat fees for investment bankers and high interest rates on the debt that will follow.  And let me be clear – it will be destructive to every other radio group except Clear Channel (I’ll explain).

Here’s what this article reveals ...

1.  Could Entercom still buy Citadel even after coming up short last week?  I’ve got some compelling evidence for you to consider.

2.  Why would Entercom want Citadel now?  There are two reasons that I think you will appreciate as I lay out the scenario I see happening.

3.  What is a fair price for Citadel?  Notice you haven’t seen one solid number on how much radio stations are worth.  Just a pig in a poke number.  Here’s why.  There is a new pricing system that is apparently being used to determine the value of the Citadel stations and if I told you it isn’t station comps and it isn’t the recent Bonneville station sales, would you believe what the parties are using as a way of pricing the deal?

4.  The adverse affects if Cumulus is the one that merges with Citadel. 

5.  What happens to current Citadel employees who survived one dictator and now this?

6.  The major changes ahead for Citadel markets where Harvard case study mentality is likely to replace what is still good about some Citadel stations.  I’ll explain.

7.  What happens if Cumulus gets Citadel, will there be more radio mergers even without real station values to price the acquisitions? 

8.  How some good radio companies can have bad things happen to them if Dickey and his Wall Street cronies pull off this improbable hostile takeover.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

So Lew Dickey sweetens the pot and offers Farid Suleman what is effectively $37 a share instead of $31 and suddenly everyone assumes that these two toxic companies wind up as one – in debtors heaven.

Not so fast.

You can believe what you read if you want or you can consider what I am about to share with you and then decide.

This article will reveal the untold story of what is going on behind the scenes in this merger:

1.  Farid Suleman’s back room strategy to blow up the latest Lew Dickey attempt to steal his company.  All the latest details.

2.  Why the news of Dickey’s latest offer was leaked to Radio Ink, a friend of Farid Suleman.  Why I think it was done on purpose and I’ll tell you my reasoning.  Plus who I think leaked it.

3.  Evidence of Farid Suleman’s reluctance to sell and why he appears to be playing along with this second Dickey attempt to make him unemployed.

4.  What happens to Fagreed if Dickey wins?

5.  Why Citadel is attractive and why Fagreed Suleman himself may have accidently left the door open for archenemy Lew Dickey to steal his company.  I’ll tell Suleman’s costly miscalculation.

6.  The thing that could actually blow up the Cumulus takeover if it ever happens – something out of the control of Lew Dickey.

7.  Why a Cumulus/Citadel merger is a rotten deal for radio, local cities, employees, shareholders – need I go on.  We know that already perhaps. But it’s a great deal for someone – and that someone is not even Lew Dickey.  In this piece I’ll tell you who comes away the big winner if this marriage gets consummated.

8.  Details on the poison pill Fagreed established after Dickey’s first attempt to takeover Citadel.  It’s unbelievable and it’s brilliant in a sick kind of way.

9.  Can the Cumulus takeover of Citadel get done?  I’ll go on the record here.

10.  Could it get scuttled?  I’ll tell you what I know.

11. What other major radio group is said to be interested in fighting Lew Dickey for Citadel.  Read it here.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

So much is happening in the media business right now. 

Pandora and Facebook are getting IPOs.  Both will affect terrestrial radio and the record industry.

Social networking has not only fueled a revolution in the music and media business but helped spread the word for democracy in Tunisia and Egypt.

Electronic products were selling like hotcakes right through that miserable recession we hope we’re done with.  So I thought you’d like to know what I am seeing specifically for the radio industry in the year ahead.

This piece focuses on …

1.  Consolidation – Did the Bonneville sale of 17 stations to Hubbard pave the way for more contraction.  It’s kind of interesting and not what you may think. I’ll get specific.

2.  The Cumulus Citadel takeover – is it possible?  Is it good?  What happens to radio either way?

3.  Local sales – This is the most important prediction I can make because the world of local sales is being pressured by online operators like Groupon and the proliferation of social networking sites.  I’ll tell you how much money Pandora is taking away from radio in its first year accepting local advertising.  You’ll want to sit down first.  I also have a solution that very few companies are using to bolster local sales but the ones that are using it are bolstering local sales.

4.  Morning shows – This year something major is going to happen with regard to local and live radio shows.  One way or the other, things will change.  Here’s the blueprint.

5.  Employment security – Are the layoffs over?  If not, which radio companies still have firing in their future.

6.  Social networking – What radio does not understand about social networking and what they had better learn soon.

7.  Online streaming of terrestrial radio – The missing link, the one thing radio streamers still don’t get.

This article is about the evolving trends that are being observed now that will have a direct affect on the future of radio.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

(With my wife Cheryl before our recent Media Solutions Lab)

Enough of Bob Pittman and Lew Dickey – they get too much adoring press.

Let’s go to the field and see what is really happening in radio while talking heads wax eloquent about the future of consolidated radio.

This piece is about …

1.  One of the three major consolidators (that begins with a “c”) that is forcing all employees to sign a one-year – you read that right – non-compete in return for two weeks of severance pay upon exiting the company.  Two weeks pay for 52 weeks more of unemployment in radio.   It’s unbelievable.  Hear it from a company insider.

2.  The prestigious major market news station that followed corporate belt tightening and looped old news during the night while a blizzard slammed their city of licenses.  Also outdated traffic reports. 

3.  Which major group had the gall to screw St. Jude’s Hospital out of a mutually beneficially community-based public service alliance – at the last minute – reportedly leaving the well-known children’s hospital on the hook for tickets and hotel rooms?  Now that’s public disservice.

4.  Want to take your major market station from number two to outside the top 10?  This radio group did it with the help of a big corporate exec and his puppet program director.  Want to know how so you never do it?  Read on.

This article is about how firing people and saving money continually make radio groups look like clowns.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Has the sale of 17 Bonneville stations in four markets actually increased the price of other potential radio station sales?

That seems to be the conventional wisdom.  And to that I say, bull.

This piece clears up the misconceptions about what radio stations are worth on the eve of the biggest station selloff ahead in almost 8 years and in it, you’ll learn …

1.  My guess on how many Clear Channel stations will be put on the market when the company is forced to refinance almost $20 billion in debt and what kind of multiples they can expect to get in the wake of the recent Bonneville sale.  Here’s why they will have to sell stations soon.

2.  What’s up with other owners who really want or need to sell some stations off but have been afraid to do so if all they could get is fire sale prices?

3.  Why the Bonneville sale to Hubbard could have been bigger – and why the other key Bonneville properties were not included in the deal.

4.  The one thing that got Bonneville the big bucks – one thing that made the deal dance.  I’ll name it.

5.  What factor on Bonneville’s side actually drove up the sale of its stations to Hubbard and how other groups could do the same thing – easily.

6.  What types of stations Clear Channel is likely to sell and what type they will keep.

7.  My assessment of what the new multiple for 2011 will be.  You already know I think 8x is bull.  But how overinflated is 8x?  I’ll nail the new range for station sale multiples right here.

This article is about the future of the radio industry – its worth, its value, its viability going forward.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

The bell rings and it is round two of the lightweight fight to takeover Citadel Media.

In one corner, you have Citadel CEO Farid “Fagreed” Suleman looking like King Kong with a nice Florida tan.

In the other, the diminutive Lew “Tricky” Dickey dressed in plaid Yuppie shorts ready to get his head handed to him.

But … new events may change all of that.

If you’re working for Citadel or Cumulus, you’ve got to be worried.  

This piece reveals:

1.  The one thing that would be clearly better than Cumulus buying Citadel?  I’ll name it.

2.  The critical strategic mistake that Dickey is making in his hostile takeover attempt of Citadel.  Fix this and you’ve got a deal.

3.  The brilliance of Fagreed Suleman (don’t choke).  Suleman made a masterful stroke that will render Dickey impotent.  It really is brilliant in the world of greed.

4.  The chance of Dickey upping his bid and offering more money to Citadel shareholders.

5.   All those noisy Citadel shareholders who dislike Suleman – do they have the power to force him to accept the Cumulus offer?  If so, under what circumstances?

6.  The one sure-fire way to get Suleman to change his mind and accept Lew Dickey’s offer.  It’s foolproof and I think you’ll agree this is the key to the entire deal.

This article is about the high stakes of the Cumulus takeover attempt of Citadel and the repercussions that are likely.  It is not politically correct but it is right on the money.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

There is a reason why radio owners are tripping all over themselves to switch to hit radio formats.  This piece focuses on:

1. The radio format that CHR is going to make extinct.

2.  The big reason why radio groups are dropping formats to switch to CHR.

3.  What is so attractive to buyers about a format that has phantom People Meter listeners?

4.  The one thing these new CHR stations are doing that will turn off loyal fans.

5.  Two People Meter formats that are cheated out of listeners – take a guess.

6.  The bleak outlook for AM People Meter stations.

7.  More listening or less for the new CHR stations?  We’ll tell you.

This is an article about radio stations anxious to game the People Meter by switching as many stations as possible to CHR and what the unintended consequences may be.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Boy, would Keith Olbermann have a field day with Citadel CEO Farid Suleman, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey and the hostile takeover attempt by the smaller, debt-ridden Cumulus or the larger, debt-free Citadel.

Olbermann is gone just when The New York Times unearthed this dirty little hostile takeover story in our industry over the weekend.

While Olbermann got screwed by NBC and Comcast days before the takeover (ya think Comcast didn’t sign off on his departure?), we in the radio business know a lot about screwing people and getting screwed.

I know how the Cumulus hostile takeover of Citadel is going to end.  And in this article I am going to tell you.  And it’s not what you’re thinking.  It’s actually something you are probably not thinking.  I’ll bet you’ll be floored.

Plus … 5 things that will happen next in Dickey’s attempt to be Lewis the Conqueror:

1.  How Suleman will make Dickey want it more.  You read that right – want to do the merger he is opposing even more! 

2.  Dickey’s next counterpunch – the move to win the hearts and minds of the Spin Zone.

3.  How nasty it will get – I’ll be specific.

4.  Dickey’s tricky backroom deal to get Suleman’s attention and I want you to keep in mind that Citadel bylaws give Suleman the power to reject Dickey unless or until he is ready – if ever.

5.  The final outcome – the end of the long hello!  A pretty creative way to resolve what appears to be a standoff.  Want to know how I think it will all end?  Please be sitting.

This article is about the biggest potential radio merger in history that would create a new powerhouse and pave the way for substantial changes in radio broadcasting heretofore unseen.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

What do you get when broadcasters, music industry and new media people get together in one place to focus on the consumer and get better?  That’s The Media Solutions Lab this Thursday.  More here.

(My 2011 Media Solutions Lab is next Thursday.  To be included, register here).

Bob Pittman is fast becoming the Jim Jones of terrestrial radio.

The Kool-Aid Bob wants the public (and industry to swallow) about radio is very toxic. 

In fact, more dangerous given that Pittman is the likely successor to Mark Mays as CEO of Clear Channel -- a company that I believe has plans that may become the story of the year by next year at this time.

In this article, I am going to decode what Clear Channel is saying instead of what it will be doing:

1.  Deep denial over the 230 million listeners Arbitron says radio has every week.  The numbers are right but the conclusion is all wet.  But nevermind.  It is important that you buy it – for Clear Channel’s sake.

2.  Is Pandora a threat or not?  Pandora does have 75 million happy customers and satellite radio has 20 million.  Here’s the one thing Pittman wants you to forget about radio competitors like Pandora and Spotify. 

3.  Do you know how much actual listening an Internet stream of a terrestrial radio station attracts?  You will and I’ll bet you’ll fall off your chair when you read it.

4.  The true hope for radio is not defending the status quo, it is this …

5.  The one gigantic hole in the media market for something radio can deliver right now.  Would you like to know what that is because it is something you can do if Clear Channel doesn’t want to?  And Clear Channel has other plans, as you’ll see.

6.   Clear Channel’s end game – not what you think it is.

This article is about the methodical approach Clear Channel is taking to pave the way for what’s next – the new Clear Channel and probably a major change in the radio business.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

My Media Solutions Lab is next Thursday, January 27^th.  To attend, register here.

(Please accept my personal invitation to attend my upcoming Media Solutions Lab Thursday, January 27 in Scottsdale – info, hotels and a discount await you here).

When Bonneville becomes a seller, everyone is a seller.

But this deal has absolutely nothing to do with the sales and acquisition climate for radio stations.  If other sellers think they are going to get what Bonneville got for their stations, they’ve got another thing coming.

What’s the real deal on the Hubbard purchase of 17 Bonneville stations in four markets? 

Hubbard is not a radio consolidator – only has three stations in Minneapolis, but is a sizeable television operator.

In this article, you’ll learn all the details on this deal including my predictions and insights:

1.  Why Hubbard didn’t buy all the Bonneville stations?

2.  Will Hubbard acquire more radio properties?

3.  How important was Bonneville’s digital platform to the deal.  I’ve got accurate figures on how much Bonneville and the three existing Hubbard stations do in digital billing compared with their total revenue.

4.  Will that lurker Lew Dickey be sniffing around for the remaining Bonneville stations that Hubbard did not buy?  I’ve got a notion on what Dickey will do.

5.  The one thing that makes the purchase of 17 Bonneville stations the smartest radio acquisition since Clear Channel bought Jacor and AMFM.  It’s not what you think.

6.  Did Hubbard overpay or did Bonneville sell at a discount?

This article tells the rest of the story behind the shocking headlines on the Hubbard/Bonneville acquisition and what chances this deal has in setting a precedent for the future buying and selling of devalued radio properties.  It also sorts out the hype from the truth.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

My Media Solutions Lab is Thursday, January 27^th.  Preview the program, search for hotels and get a pre-conference discount by clicking here.

(9 days until my Media Solutions Lab, the one’s the best media people attend.  One day that will change the way you think about radio, music and the mobile Internet here).

Friday almost 50 news people – some with distinguished careers of more than 30 years – were fired by Clear Channel.  

No notice. 

No hints. 

Just terminated for a regional repeater radio news solution for a seriously bankrupt company.

But if you’re looking for a heads-up – the latest on the radio firing scene – I’ve got some details for you right here in this article:

1.  Prospects for firing at Clear Channel, Cumulus and Citadel now that the heat is back on.

2.  Are John Hogan’s heroes safe this time around?  Who is likely to fall victim.

3.  The one place in a radio station that gets owners the most bang for their firing buck  – I’ll name it so you can try to understand why they all have the same strategy.  It’s predictable.

4.  Clear Channel’s End Game:  Is Bob Pittman your friend or a fiend?  Read this and draw your own conclusions.

5.  Want to understand Dickeyology at Cumulus?  I think I’ve got Lew, Jr figured out and I’ll share how I know what he’s going to do next.  Hint:  Lew speaks in code.  Decode it here.

6.  What personnel is in Dickey’s sights?  Some people get the feeling he actually enjoys this part.

7.  The Cumulus End Game and what the hostile take over of Citadel has to do with their employees’ chances of remaining employed.

8.  The Big Mean Firing Machine at Citadel is no longer CEO Farid “Fagreed” Suleman.  Find out who is in charge of doing the dirty work and what I think will happen in the months ahead.

9.  Why Citadel sales cutbacks are different from other radio companies and why it may not matter if you’re one of their sellers.

10.  Scott Shannon – let’s just put it out there – he’s a programmer who may have lost his way and that doesn’t bode well for talent at Citadel stations.  I’ve got a chilling example for you.

This article, based on my experience observing and calling out the major consolidators for poor management, offers my insights on what jobs will be eliminated next and what their CEOs’ end game means to employees and the industry.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

The people I would want to help me with radio’s digital future are already signed up and ready to learn at my January 27 Media Solutions Lab.  One day that will change the way you think about radio, music and the mobile Internet here.

(2 weeks and counting until my Media Solutions Lab – make plans to start your year by understanding our changing industry.  More here).

Some whacky things are happening in radio these days. 

They don’t always get reported, but today we’re going to change all that with Radio’s “Believe It Or Not” – stories thought to be true that you just can’t make up.

In this article, you’ll learn:

1.  Which company allegedly sent one of their very top executives into two separate markets to demand that the morning personalities take a reported 60% pay cut?  I’ve got a tipster who knows the markets and their answers.

2.  Which top three company fired one of its best managers two weeks before Christmas just months after he incurred huge medical bills while his wife was fighting cancer this summer? I’ll give you a clue – the insensitive radio group starts with the letter “C”.  (Ha! Ha!).  Wait until you see what a settlement they left under the Christmas tree.

3.  What’s the new rage to radio consolidators these days?  It’s not personalities.  Not even voice tracking of syndication.  Am I stumping you?  While we’re throwing letters around, it starts with a “b”.  All the details right here.

4.  The major radio group whose ass is being sued for millions of dollars and they respond with this laughable trivia.  I’ll name the company and I have the cease and desist letter for you to read if you can keep from laughing.

This article is about the folly of radio management – fooling around with firing, suing and screwing people while consumers have moved on from radio.  Luckily there are still a handful of good radio operators left.  But this piece is a lesson in how not to run a radio company.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

My Media Solutions Lab is in 2 weeks – Thursday, January 27^th.  Preview the program, search for hotels and get a pre-conference discount by clicking here.

(2 weeks until my Media Solutions Lab in Scottsdale.  If you miss it, you’ll lose another year -- last minute registration here).

Cumulus is still trying to stage a hostile takeover of its larger rival Citadel and is in the midst of employment lawsuits and discontent that could end ugly.

And Citadel continues to lose highly qualified managers at the most critical time of their history.

These two companies deserve each other.

This article focuses on things happening now that you may want to know about including:

1.  The latest on Kristin Okesson’s defense of a $1 million lawsuit filed by Cumulus because she left for Cox.  My view of her chances of winning and prevailing in her sexual harassment action.  And how she’s getting the money to fight the Dickeys.

2.  The latest on a whopping class action lawsuit by some Cumulus California employees that could win them lots of back pay for expenses they allege were not paid to them that were supposed to be.  Better yet, the bonanza that could go to all Cumulus California employees even if they were not part of the present class action suit.  This one has to make you wonder what the Dickeys were thinking.

3.  How to sue Cumulus – that’s right, studying the company’s legal pattern over the past few years I wondered whether it was productive to sue Lew.  I discovered how things always seem to end.  You won’t believe it.

4.  How bad is the Citadel brain drain? Some think of Citadel as another hostile employee workplace but almost to a person they would rather keep the devil they know instead of the Dickey they don’t want to get to know.  Still the brain drain at the executive station management level over the past few years has been dramatic.   We’ll name names.

5.  The chances of victory in employment lawsuits and chances that Dickey will succeed in his takeover of Citadel.

This article is about the self-destructive actions of two of the top radio consolidators and why they are both ready to fall flat on their faces paving the way for competitors to make major inroads. 

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

My Media Solutions Lab is January 27 – two weeks away.  Preview the program and claim a pre-conference discount by clicking here.

(Reserve a seat at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab – info, hotels and a discount await you here).

Stop, already with what I fear is the coming debate on the role of talk radio in the mass shootings in Arizona over the weekend.

This lunatic didn’t listen to talk radio.

Sorry, but if they’re trying to pin these murders on talk radio, they should probably look to new media instead.

I’ve got a better idea.

Why don’t we try to understand the changing traditional and new media landscape so that we can be smarter and not dumb down the issues?

Talk radio being over – done, through – and what is coming next that is so powerful and unstoppable that we’ve seen yet another indication of its replacement:

In this article …

1.  I’m going to name what medium is specifically going to replace talk radio as an opinion leader in a new age of change.

2.  Why the debate about radio causing the vitriol that may have led to this unfortunate mass shootings is more of a fantasy than based in reality. 

3.  Why the opposite is true – talk radio couldn’t hurt a flea and I’ll be candid as to why.

4.  The role of politicians from both sides vis-à-vis radio, TV, print and new media.

5.  What is wrong with talk radio and what can be done to fix it.

6.  The positive takeaway for new and traditional media.  A big opportunity exists.  But no one is filling it.  Want to know what it is?

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

If you want to get the real media significance emblematic of this weekend’s violence, it starts right here, now…

My Media Solutions Lab is January 27^th.  Preview the program, search for hotels and get a pre-conference discount by clicking here.

(Reserve a seat at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab – info, hotels and a discount await you here).

Ted Williams, the unshaven, homeless ex-radio dj who became a YouTube star this past week finally got a job.

But did the radio business – and broader media industry – get the real message?

This wasn’t a freak show or promotional opportunity for media companies and sports teams. I contend it was actually the best learning example we in the industry have seen in decades.

This article drills down to the real lessons:

1.  What has become bigger than radio and even bigger than television?  I’ll name it and explain it.  I’m not going to say the Internet or Apple.

2.  What radio doesn’t understand about today’s audiences and why their ratings are going down.  Is it programming?  That, too.  Radio people are missing the point. This homeless ex-radio jock may have just embarrassed the industry, which is chasing its tail not the audience.

3.  Why radio is misunderstanding new media.  It thinks new media is streaming terrestrial stations and selling spots for $2 a hit.  They may not know it yet – but you will – the unlikely Ted Williams may be able to consult them.  I’ll share with you the one thing radio stations are missing as they try to be both terrestrial broadcasters and Internet streamers in a world they don’t understand.

4.  Why broadcasting as we know it is dead on arrival.  This is the replacement …

5.  Could radio have made Ted Williams the sensation he is all by itself without YouTube?  If not, then what?

6.  While radio is loving this story of unemployed radio voice meets employer, they are missing the point.  Williams, it turns out, is cooler than the medium and is begging the question if the medium is no longer the message, as McLuhan argued, then what is it.  I will share.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

The real lesson of the homeless radioman is not what you think.

It is far scarier.

And it starts here.

Lew Dickey told employees this week he is damn serious about taking over Citadel even though Cumulus is burdened with debt while Citadel is not (thanks to bankruptcy) and that the Citadel board has virtually no reason to be taken over by a much smaller company with a lot of financial baggage.

This article examines:

• Why Dickey cannot back down in his attempt to buy Citadel.

• The best thinking on how he will proceed – how long he will try – and what Dickey is really after.  The Citadel Takeover Playbook.

• How the three main consolidators – Clear Channel, Citadel and Cumulus – will reshuffle their dominance and which one will emerge the most powerful.  I think you’ll be surprised.

• As a consequence, what Clear Channel will look like – a picture that may emerge even within the next 12 months.

• Citadel’s plan to stick it to Dickey

• And what the prospects will be for Cumulus if Dickey should fail to win Citadel after many more months of public haranguing about a hostile takeover.

• Plus, selling without ratings and the truth about the Cumulus seller hiring plan.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,100 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Get the story no one else will tell with our remarkable reliability on what the Cumulus Citadel takeover strategy really is – not what they’re telling you.  And how the big consolidators are ready to change places in a major way.

You’ll only read it here and you’ll get it first.

(With my son, Jerry, of whom I am so proud -- publisher of Modern Home Theater and founder of Audio/Video Revolution on a happy holiday visit)

2011 promises to be the year in which Clear Channel deals with its nearly $20 billion in outstanding debt.

To wrap your arms around just how gargantuan this debt really is, go back to 1996 when the company began implementing its strategy to eventually become radio’s biggest consolidator with over 1,100 stations at one point.

I sat at my desk when I was owner and publisher of Inside Radio flummoxed and had endless conversations with media brokers who were busting their buttons over the huge sale prices of radio stations and how hefty their commissions were.

Remember back then how companies paid individuals bogus fees for simply “introducing” the dealmakers to each other?  Of course, that was just another Wall Street charade for paying millions of dollars to someone for doing nothing.

In my conversations with media brokers, I would ask over and over again, how can Clear Channel (and other consolidators) ever pay back the debt.  You may remember the times were good and radio stations were cash cows.  Who thinks about such silly things as debt in heady times?

But one wise financial expert flat out said the consolidating radio companies could never pay back the debt.  That in the end, they would refinance and then refinance again until they couldn’t do it any more.

About two years ago, they couldn’t do it anymore. 

Money was too expensive and radio was no longer the free cash flow attraction that it was in the 90’s.

Now, within the next 12 months, I expect that Clear Channel will have only two options to avoid defaulting on their $20 billion in debt and none of the options are good.

But don’t let that stop you. 

As I am about to point out, it isn’t going to stop them and they’ve got a cagy way of trying to stay alive that will affect a lot of people in their company.

There is only one proven way to attract the maximum radio audience and yet most of the major broadcast groups are employing the exact opposite strategy.  

(IMPORTANT NOTE:  Just 4 days left to save $200 on my 2011 Media Solutions Lab January 27 in Scottsdale, AZ.  More here.)

If the current holiday season wasn’t a wakeup call for broadcasters, musicians, new media entrepreneurs and marketers, then 2011 will rock their world.

The year 2000 marked the beginning of the Internet age along with the end of the record business as we know it and 2006 began the decline of terrestrial radio with the ascent of mobile media devices and now 2011 promises to be a year of critical change for audiences.

There is no doubt Apple is on a roll and has some surprises for the labels and radio not the least of which could be a streaming music discovery service that would further hurt the radio industry and cede control of the record business further to Steve Jobs.

I am beginning to pick up trends that, while troubling to traditional media, could be useful to those of us who want to remain viable as technology and sociology continue to morph.

Today I am going to touch on 5 of the most important audience trends that are not generally being tracked.

The first one is about a major change in the way young people are beginning to communicate and how that may affect you.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Even under fire from Modern Family’s Cumulus with their unfriendly takeover, Citadel CEO Farid Suleman has somehow found a way to capture the spirit of the season and don a red suit and white beard to play Santa for some Citadel employees this year.

Citadel employees are in shock.

Yes, from that, too!

After all they are shaking in their boots right now at the prospect of Lew Dickey becoming their boss.  Gary Pizzati becoming their handler and Gary Lewis their overseer.  Not to mention Other Brother John doing his imitation of Tommy Smothers (“mom always liked you best”).

Christmas at Citadel is not exactly Miracle on 34^th Street.

Times are tough. 

After enduring cutbacks, bankruptcy and corporate arrogance, Citadel workers thought they could just settle in as survivors and find a way to hopefully do their jobs as the professionals they are.

Then, this.

An actual Christmas bonus!

You heard me right. 

M-O-N-E-Y!

Real money – not play.  But, I am told the Citadel bonuses only go to people who are the chosen few. 

On Santa Fagreed’s list of nice not naughty.

But over at Cumulus, the Little Engine that could take over Citadel in the year ahead, it is coal in the stocking for Dickey victims.

Here is the true story that will either warm the cockles of your heart.

(And one of Fagreed’s grateful employees sent me his letter of cheer for everyone to read).

You've heard of the banking concept called too big to fail?

The proposed merger of Cumulus with Citadel is too failed to be big.

Everyone thinks Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey is forcing a merger with the recently bankrupt Citadel to grow his media empire.

Well, don’t fall for it.

Dickey is trying to save his own neck as I will go on to explain. The last two radio groups anyone would put together is the red ink drenched Cumulus with the fresh from having screwed their investors Citadel.

Two radio groups behaving badly – only a desperate radio CEO could come up with this idea.

And make no mistake about it, Lew Dickey is desperate.

Cumulus has failed to turn around local sales even with the Atlanta-based national sales system that even a dummy can follow. Unfortunately for Cumulus, their salespeople are not dummies – at least not all of them. And those poor suckers hired from other industries with no experience are probably more naïve than stupid.

Face it.

The best part of watching Lew Dickey try to engineer an unfriendly takeover of Citadel is seeing Citadel CEO Farid “Fagreed” Suleman sweat and “Tricky” Dickey beg – in public.

Go ahead, admit it!

But the prospect of Cumudel is a not-ready-for-primetime maneuver born more of necessity on the part of Cumulus than the need of Citadel to sell out for $31 a share.

This battle is a Christmas present to all the screwed employees of radio. It has everything a drama could ask for – greed, jealousy, power and sex. Okay, three out of four ain’t bad.

I feel like I know these two pretenders like the back of my hand and believe it or not I know how the desired merger of Cumulus with Citadel is going to end and what it is going to mean. 

This piece focuses on how the three major consolidators – Clear Channel, Cumulus and Citadel will reduce their number of employees over the next 12 months. It is my best projection and I name percentages and the most endangered positions.

There is a discussion about the mentality of venture capitalists who run today’s radio groups to get an idea of how they think on cutbacks and downsizing and there is a projection of what’s ahead for each group.

Clear Channel: The two biggest areas where personnel will be dismissed over the next year. The changing severance package likely to be offered. I’m predicting the eventual selloff of hundreds of Clear Channel stations due to the inability to pay off $19 billion in debt and how this will impact employment. How much smaller Clear Channel will be next December compared to today expressed as a percentage.

Cumulus: Lew Dickey is not really going to complete an unfriendly takeover of Citadel but he is going to continue his unfriendly takeover of Cumulus. The jobs most likely to see turnover even while Dickey is hiring wet behind the ears replacements. Some of his clusters will be running on empty so we’ll discuss the strategy, as we understand it. Cumulus’ workforce will be reduced significantly over the next 12 months. Don’t count on using the company copying machine to print resumes or much severance pay, for that matter.

Citadel: This odd-duck company is cutting workers for a reason different than Clear Channel and Cumulus. There is also a new influence to reckon with for employees there. This article discusses where the cutbacks are coming from and who will be wielding the axe going forward.

All in all – 2011 will have a deleterious effect on radio as we have known it and I’ll project where it will all end up in the next five years.

If you’d like to access this story, check out the options under "read more".

What kind of screwed up industry is radio when the largest radio group initiatives another of its many rounds of cost cutting while simultaneous signing an early Arbitron renewal contract for half a billion dollars?

A company that values Bob Pittman’s $5 million stake in Clear Channel as entre to his new position as head of entertainment and new media while preparing to initiate more draconian cutbacks that will make your hair curl.

And this from a radio giant that owes $19 billion in debt – due within two years – with no known way to pay for it other than bankruptcy (which means, not paying for it).

Cumulus tried two unfriendly takeovers of Citadel this week.

Local radio is being replaced by syndicated programming and voice tracking.

Owners think new media is streaming a terrestrial station online.

To them, social networking is texting in to win on-air contests.

Something very important is going on right now that portends what will happen in the next 12 months.

There’s new technology breaking.

Another palpable change in consumer media behavior.

And an x factor that not one radio broadcaster sees right now even though it could spell the end to their monopolies.

Direct radio is the future and you don’t have to be a big radio group to get in on it. Just smart enough to know what it is. 

It isn't broadcasting.

Now it’s war.

Mano e mano.

Cumulus against Citadel.

Lew Dickey vs. Farid Suleman in the heavyweight championship of the deal world.

Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has been feeling very impotent lately when it comes to putting his man pants on (to borrow a political term) and doing a deal to acquire stations he keeps promising he will buy.

For all his talk – outright bragging about a billion-dollar acquisition fund for such a purpose -- Dickey has come up limp for years.

But yesterday, it was reported that Dickey tried to engineer not one but two unfriendly takeover bids in recent days against Citadel. Both were rejected in the name of not being good for the shareholders.

Hold that thought. I’ll come back to it.

In other words, radio’s poster child for what Wall Street can do to trash a perfectly good industry launched the “nucular” option. Radio people know that there is no love lost between Dickey and Suleman – two birds of a feather in some ways.

You might ask yourself, how does a twerp of a company like Cumulus go after a mess such as Citadel in this economy?

But first, ask yourself this.

Can you imagine working at Citadel, perhaps the second worst people-friendly radio company (Cumulus is the worst) and hearing the news that Uncle Lew wants you! How more depressing can your job be at starvation wages, mean management and now this?

Happy Holidays.

Published reports in The New York Times say that Citadel received an unsolicited letter from a third party in early November proposing a merger transaction.

The offer was rejected quicker than Farid Suleman would turn down a coach seat on Southwest.

Then on November 29th, Dickey upped his lowball offer.

Rejected again.

Bankrupt companies must be in great demand these days. Or big egos need to be fed. Somehow in the back of your mind are you thinking what I’m thinking that Dickey never really thought Citadel would accept the offer and if they did, he would have said, “oh shit!”

So now we’re left to figure out whether this weak attempt to purportedly buy a main competitor was for vanity or necessity.

It begs the question where would Dickey get the money? You realize investment funds are not exactly flowing around Wall Street these days.

What’s the end game?

Will Dickey try again and can Suleman defend himself against Cumulus if the offers get better?

These are some of the questions we’re going to answer right now. 

No one radio consolidator gets more dimes dropped on them than Lew Dickey’s Cumulus Media.

The company was voted the worst in a poll of thousands of media executives conducted in Inside Music Media a year ago. And I sense things have not gotten any better as Dickey has become Dr. Death to so many promising radio careers.

Don’t get me wrong. For the past four years I’ve been getting tons of email from current and former employees of almost all radio companies giving a revealing look at how they’re operated behind the scenes.

Almost always, what these consolidators say and what they do are in sharp contrast.

What’s always amazed me is from the first day I called Lew Dickey “Tricky”, Farid Suleman “Fagreed” and John Hogan “Slogan” these companies had Inside Music Media blocked from their corporate mail.

That’s fair. Why let your employees read someone who isn’t ever going to put you on a cover or invite you to keynote a convention? They have a right to control what their employees read about them and their companies – at work.

There are others who went down that road as well – usually the ones criticized the most for helping to tank the radio industry.

In spite of it all, these control freaks forgot that almost everyone has a personal email address and wouldn’t you know they simply signed up there to continue reading what I am saying here away from work.

But now, in the spirit of WikiLeaks I got some disturbing news from inside Cumulus that will never be read in the happy talk press. You know, the place where everything is beautiful in radio as long as you don’t talk about what is going on behind the scenes.

Seems like Dr. Dickey has come up with a public option of his own that deleteriously affects the health care plans of his long-suffering employees.

So I am going to out him right here and even do a little document dump – the first of many I am sure -- as Dickey’s employees fight back by shedding light on a company that is far from employee-friendly and for that matter not all that friendly to shareholders.

But where shall I begin? 

If the overpayment of Ryan Seacrest to continue as the face and voice of Clear Channel is representative of the second coming of Bob Pittman to the radio industry, then we’re all in trouble.

Pittman’s first official act was to announce the rehiring of Ryan Seacrest for double the pay he was previously getting -- $60 million for three years.

And if that doesn’t rankle you, then you’re obviously not one of the thousands of Clear Channel professionals who made a lot less and did a lot more before you were fired from live and local radio.

So, Pittman throws lots of Lee and Bain money around in his current role as chairman of Clear Channel’s media and entertainment division.

It seems so easy.

The cutbacks that occurred for years – once over a thousand in one day -- are erased by a venture capital poster boy who clearly doesn’t get it.

Or does he?

Does Pittman know how to run the largest radio group ever put together on the face of the earth or do you?

And does it even matter when Clear Channel is head over heels in debt that can only lead to bankruptcy?

Pittman is likely to be the heir apparent to Mark Mays as Clear Channel CEO when Mays steps down next year so he had better know.

But paying Seacrest more than Glenn Beck and less than Rush Limbaugh shows you how easy it is to play monopoly when the venture capitalists are the bank.

Why?

Because $60 million is chump change to them even if $60,000 is called a living to their thousands fired employees.

This is not a slap at Seacrest who is a good and talented guy, but a criticism of how stupid radio consolidators are when they come up with crazy cutback plans, overpay their CEOs (are you listening Tricky Dickey and Fagreed Suleman?) and are quick to pull the plug on the one thing Apple, Pandora – the entire Internet cannot compete with – live and local radio.

I get that Seacrest will be a busy guy – helping Clear Channel not rehire local talent in markets as he continues to replace them with his syndicated work so to them his salary is a bargain.

I get that Seacrest will do some developmental work with Clear Channel – whatever that is. And in the scheme of things – doesn’t really matter.

But there is another side to this story that may well show you what 2011 is going to be like at many other consolidated radio groups.

Three things.

So, sit down and remove any sharp objects from sight while I lay it all out. 

I’m about to be sick.

Farid “Fagreed” Suleman is going to sell a half billion in bonds to unwitting financial institutions so he can lower Citadel’s debt to a pittance of only $262.5 million.

Stop for a second and think about this.

Radio is one of the few industry’s that remains standing where its biggest leaders are doubling down on debt while innovating nothing and virtually ignoring consumer preferences for mobile media.

Fagreed always manages to take good care of number one – that would be his bad self. Meanwhile he seems satisfied to have seven-year-old news cruisers at KGO in San Francisco. Happy to go without managers, program directors and live talent at many of his stations.

The Wizard of Odds bet that he could learn on the job to run Citadel and he lost.

I mean he won.

While Fagreed never learned how to run radio stations, he did learn how to play stupid Wall Street tricks such as filing for bankruptcy and raising debt for a sketchy company.

So this hopelessly inept radio group leaves its shareholders with nothing, other investors with next to nothing and its big lenders get the company back in lieu of getting their loan payments back.

Then bankruptcy – pre-fixed, or should I use a nice term like pre-arranged – that sounds so much better. And presto out of bankruptcy comes the company The Wizard of Odds bet the ranch on, lost and eventually lived to see another glorious day.

Meanwhile in the real world …

Google is getting ready to spend up to $6 billion dollars for the coupon site Groupon within the next few days.

You know what Apple does – makes consumer products and defies the economy.

News Corp will likely sell MySpace to get out of the way it mismanaged that half billion plus acquisition.

But in radio, it’s not about trying and failing. It’s about failing without even trying.

Let’s take a look specifically at the big three – Clear Channel, Cumulus and Suleman’s latest trick at Citadel. They are all in debt trouble.

But something wondrous is going to come out of their pain – lots of radio stations are about to go back on the market at bargain basement prices.

Let me give you the details and timeline for each. I’m going to give it to you straight – you won’t get so candid a prediction anywhere else.

Let’s start with Citadel.

(Editor’s note: today is the last day to get the $300 discount on my January 27th Media Solutions Lab – learn more here). 

For years now radio executives have been screaming for FM chips in cell phones.

Their twisted little minds figured that just about everyone eight years of age or older keep cell phones in their hands and wouldn’t it be nice to put a radio there, too.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has been leading the FM chip charge but to no avail.

Smulyan argues that radios on mobile devices in Europe increase a station’s total listening. That may be so in Europe, but even there the increase is statistically insignificant.

Mark Ramsey came out with an excellent study this week in which he polled actual consumers who already bought a cell phone and asked them if they specifically looked for a phone that had FM radio.

88% said no.

4% said yes.

So, as we say in Philadelphia, “who don’t know that?”

Why all the fuss about putting FM on cell phones?

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to tell you that young consumers barely even use their telephones as telephones let alone radios. And as Ramsey points out maybe Apple only has one mobile device that is FM ready (Nano) but there really are a lot of cell phones for sale with FM capability.

FM on cell phones is a red herring -- the definition of which is something intended to be misleading or distracting.

Why is the radio industry being played for fools by virtually every group CEO (that is a good question in and of itself) and by the very group that is supposed to represent their best interests – the National Association of Broadcasters?

And one more thing – are we as dumb as they think we are because I can show you how to look at consumers and read exactly what they want which begs the question what do potential listeners want and what does the radio industry want.

They are not the same thing. 

The back story is almost unbelievable. 

I have uncovered something very interesting about Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey that may give you some insight into how this powerful radio consolidator thinks.

When the term family jewels is used – say, to describe the pat downs that TSA is giving travelers these days – it is used to describe a person’s private parts.

In the Dickey family, the family jewel is the media operation that was handed down from father to son and siblings.

That is why it is a bit odd that in a lawsuit that Dickey inflicted upon his former Danbury, CT and Westchester, NY manager Kristin Okesson, Lew Dickey is asking a federal magistrate to in a sense pat his ex-employee down for resigning her job and leaving the company, but hands off of his family jewels.

It is apparent to some that the Dickeys are looking to inflict as much financial harm on this female executive who resigned, went to work for a more respected operator and then filed a discrimination suit against Cumulus.

In essence Dickey wants Okesson to pay him almost a million dollars for the financial hurt she allegedly brought upon his junk.

What he didn’t count on is that Kristin Okesson’s new employer is paying all her legal bills and that for the first time Tricky Dickey may not only lose his lawsuit but regret that he ever filed it.

This is a story of Thanksgiving to anyone who has ever been screwed by an employer who seemingly had all the power and money to get their way.

There are new developments in the Okesson case which read more like a soap opera than a legal action. Closing arguments were heard in Bridgeport on November 9th.

After hearing what is looming over the Dickey empire, Suing Lew will probably try to negotiate a settlement with the person he picked on probably because she stood up to him every step along the way.

Dickey appears ready to lose and wind up with unintended consequences, but until he settles and a gag order is imposed on how much that settlement will cost, this is a public story of vengeance and bad policy.

No one ever leaves Cumulus and lives to tell the story (let alone get costs and damages) but it could happen to Kristin Okesson.

And wait until you hear how this entire lawsuit may backfire in Dickey’s face. 

This is an early warning that 2011 will not be like 2010 or any other previous year since radio or record industry consolidation.

In fact, 2011 will not resemble anything the media industry has ever seen before because several circumstances are driving the owners of big radio and record companies to acts of desperation.

This is important because, if I am correct – and I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t believe it – hold on tight, it’s going to be a rough ride.

In spite of some of the scary things I am going to share with you, there are a few good opportunities that will occur that even a year ago would have been unthinkable.

Maybe some respect for good old mom and pop.

A second chance.

Investment banks are doing something so blatantly telling that it can predict what they are up to as owners of radio companies in the next 12 months. I’m surprised so few have noticed.

What Bob Pittman’s hiring foretells about the change in direction ahead.

And four documented examples that will illustrate how 2011 will be a year like no other in the radio industry.

Oh, and somehow even Randy Michaels may figure into all of this.

Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs’ secret plan to build a news site expressly for the iPad is a cable news killer.

But it could also be an opportunity for radio.

How so?

Not in that if cable news is crippled, more people will turn to radio again. But in a new way.

Cable viewers skew older, but this new iPad venture between the unlikely duo of Jobs and Murdoch will have to attract younger demographics to have a chance.

However, the plans which I am going to tell you about also offer an early warning to radio operators and ex-radio people who are smart enough to follow the lead of something Jobs and Murdoch call the Daily.

Ignore what is about to happen at your own peril. Here is a blueprint, timeline and specific way radio people or ex-radio people can get a jump on what I think will be a huge growth business.  

Read this story today.
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Anonymous tipsters copy and paste internal memos or emails here.  

I’ve got five bold predictions for you in radio, new media and music that I think you’ll want to know.

• Which radio group will start selling stations – possibly as soon as next year – in spite of the fact that station prices will be very depressed and money is hard to come by. Learn why, how much these stations are likely to get plus what type of person is the ideal buyer. You may be surprised.

• The unintended consequence of the new music royalty tax on radio which, as you know, I believe is a foregone conclusion. Here’s my best thinking of when the tax will be settled and when stations will likely have to start paying.

• What’s up with streaming media, an industry that has already been mugged by the music industry royalty tax? However there is a workaround on the horizon. Details follow.

• Apple’s next move. The usual holiday sales should be brisk, but that’s not what I am talking about. There is a game changer ahead that will impact the music industry and terrestrial radio.

• How big will local new media ad sales get? There is evidence that it is surging in some local radio markets, but I’ve got the percentage of all local business that you can expect to go to new media and a time frame.

Read this story today.
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Anonymous tipsters copy and paste internal memos or emails here.  

A lot has been made of the recent appointment of former MTV and AOL head Bob Pittman to a high level executive position at Clear Channel – the presumption being that Pittman’s arrival signals a new day for its radio, entertainment and new media prospects.

But there is a developing back-story that could constitute more than an executive personnel change.

Clear Channel could have a new owner in the not too distant future.

The plot thickens because the wheels may already be in motion so Clear Channel owner Lee and Bain can escape from a huge investment gone badly for them.

This real time scenario is unfolding even as the company claims to be searching for a replacement to departing CEO Mark Mays.

But this is what is likely to happen.

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Cumulus Media just can’t figure out how to sell.

Harvard and Stanford grad and Cumulus CEO Lew “Tricky” Dickey has been beating up his employees for years about their underperforming sales ways.

He’s thinned out their ranks. Told me face-to-face in Philadelphia that maybe it’s not a bad thing to get some fresh blood into the company.

Dickey, who never enjoyed a career as a radio salesman, had a lot of blame to throw around for Cumulus account execs who actually know how to sell.

Sales meetings conducted from the Cumulus headquarters in Atlanta beamed to local stations via Skype. Local sales staffs hate this because it keeps them off the streets and away from clients who do spend money with them. Dickey likes it because he can badger them to sell to new categories like health care.

As the Dickey Empire totally remade local sales, it took key accounts away from the salespeople who attracted and maintained them and dished them off to so-called Key Account Managers who got paid a lower commission for managing the business.

Increasingly more local sales were made through Atlanta to prevent the higher local sales commissions from being paid – a big incentive for a sales profile. Of course, I am being sarcastic here. Nothing throws a wet towel on selling like messing with the seller’s commission.

Lew Dickey held his most recent conference call with analysts where he was snagged for the company’s underperformance in local business by blaming the economy. Truth to be told, many radio groups are doing poorly in local, but Dickey is comfortable simply blaming the recession.

CBS is up over 3% in local for the same period and interestingly enough, President Dan Mason uses a traditional sales approach with account execs deployed in local markets. Could that be something that would interest Lew Dickey?

Of course not.

The smartest radio guy in the industry (at least in his own mind) has yet another play date with local sales that is more like a senior project than a sales strategy.

It’s called Value Alert Notification.

And you won’t believe what it forces sales people to do and how it actually works to kill local sales.

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Nice move.

Hire the man who brought MTV and AOL to prominence and call it a step in the right direction for an outdated radio company to embrace new media.

And why would Clear Channel have to recycle the well-traveled Pittman?

Let me count the ways.

One, Clear Channel owes $19 billion in debt due in two years and has no earthly way to pay it back. That means the company will either be chopped up or sent to bankruptcy – neither of which sounds that bad to me when you look at how other radio companies did when they emerged from bankruptcy.

They did fine. Everyone else got screwed.

Two, go back and read one.

Clear Channel is lucky to generate a few billion a year in profit with its radio and outdoor operations. Not likely that it could repay $19 billion in debt at that pace.

So you do the next best thing.

Turn to unearthly ways to get into digital media and for investment bankers that means hiring one of their own to work with a “management team” so owners Lee and Bain can sell this as a great reason to help refinance that $19 billion in debt.

Or as one of my readers wrote upon hearing of Pittman’s appointment:

“Exactly the kind of call someone who knows nothing about radio would make. The smoothest move since Ted Forstmann tapped Farid Suleman to run Citadel”.

So while others are reading about this game changing appointment of Bob Pittman as chairman of its media and entertainment divisions, you’re likely seeing through the move as one that has more to do with window dressing than substance.

If not, and with all due respect to Pittman, I could have named a hundred executives who could lead the digital way but no – the Clear Channel investment bank owners has to have Pittman who ironically also has experience running the real estate company Century 21 which means it really is all about the real estate.

Now you know that a smart organization doesn’t make a major appointment like this without having replaced CEO Mark Mays who leaves within the next few months. But that doesn’t stop Lee and Bain because whoever that puppet is, the investment bank owners are going to name Pittman as head of media and entertainment anyway.

Who needs to have the new CEO sign off on it?

After all, they are all puppets and Lee and Bain pull the strings.

But beware.

Think John Hogan.

Something big is up. 

For the past few years the big three consolidators have been firing people by the hundreds if not the thousands.

More cuts are happening even now ahead of the holidays (and the end of the year) and the prognosis is for more cost cutting in the year ahead on a continuing basis.

Many employees of Cumulus have told me that they can’t wait to get out – some have set deadlines for themselves in 2011.

Meanwhile Cumulus is hiring.

Hiring inexperienced people who will work for less without radio industry experience.

On the music side, record labels are not hiring.

The labels are beleaguered. EMI is about to fall and I wouldn’t bet the house on the surviving big three labels because, frankly, there is less need every day for a record label in the digital world.

Many of you ask – how can I stay in the media business and not work for people like the Dickeys, Farid Suleman or John Hogan?

Others want to know where the good jobs are and how to get them.

So, let me address these issues.

The trick is keeping a job you like even when you don’t like the people you work for. Never let them push you out by insulting you, terrorizing you (are you listening, Lew Dickey?) or freezing you out by cutting wages, adding responsibilities and adding insult to injury.

The strategy is: don’t react -- respond.

If you can survive poor employers in an industry that you love, then you’ll want to turn your attention to how to build your value while you are looking for the next career.

And that career, by the way, is either in local radio in smaller and medium markets working for non-consolidated operators or larger cities where people are valued (i.e., Bonneville).

In the year ahead great strides will be made in the mobile Internet. Radio and music industry people are ready-to-go for creating mobile content. I’m doing a segment on this at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab – that’s how strongly I feel about the opportunities ahead. 

That’s why you want to survive as long as possible so you can make the move to either an employer who sees traditional media in a future context or make the jump to new media.

In other words, you want to be bulletproof.

Here’s the plan -- what to read and how to prepare for a new way of thinking.  

If you want to know why local sales are down, you can find many reasons – most of them caused by poor decisions made by corporate owners.

Instead of fixing the problems – Clear Channel is now reportedly considering a new way to create even more.

According to Tom Taylor, there is some speculation that Clear Channel is considering revising its sales commission structure in a very unusual and potentially dangerous way. I wish it were a hoax, but Tom’s too good a reporter for that.

All of this nonsense is the best work of Lee and Bain, the two investment bank owners of Clear Channel. The plan is typical investment bank “think” as you’ll soon learn.

The incentive is not on selling more spots.

Not on selling spots in a certain time period such as morning drive.

Not based on any standard that radio sales has ever recognized in well over 50 years. And that’s because the new Clear Channel system is designed to pimp out salespeople because the company can’t give them a product that the marketplace will buy at a fair rate.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how most radio companies – even good ones – are having trouble selling local ads this quarter.

There is a logical explanation.

Take away local personalities and replace them with voice tracking from 1,200 miles away or repeater radio syndication from the home office and you’ve saved money alright, but you haven’t given advertisers and agencies anything to get excited about.

Therefore, local personalities are the best way to get premium rates that drive local billing growth. Okay, so much for that.

Then, owners like Cumulus are reallocating local sales to their home office in Atlanta and therefore the easy business is handled by a national salesperson whose main purpose is not to serve the local client better but to help the Dickeys get away without having to pay the local salesperson’s higher commission.

And finally, local sales is being driven – again – by national centers that dictate who to call on, how to do it, how many calls to make and so on. Therefore, radio selling becomes dialing for dollars instead of building mutually beneficial relationships.

Local sales staffs take their instructions weekly from headquarters and you see how things are working out.

Now the most amazing cockamamie plan of all from the makers of Less Is More.

This new plan could be called Screwy Sales.

Wait until you hear how it works. 

Mickey Luckoff has been out as President and General Manager of KGO/KSFO, San Francisco for about one month now.

Luckoff left with his hands in the air and two fingers holding his nose as Citadel CEO for Life Farid “Fagreed” Suleman finally got to him.

Luckoff stayed on after Citadel bought ABC from Disney hoping that he could keep the station he operated for 35 years together. To quote the Bible:

“What Mickey Luckoff has joined together, let no man put asunder”.

35 years – numerous owners later from ABC to Cap Cities and Disney – and then a catastrophic event.

True, Arbitron’s People Meter has been shorting news/talk stations all over the country probably because the drive-by listening rating service only seems to like hit music stations. Even at that, Luckoff kept churning out the money.

Now in one short month, Fagreed Suleman has managed to do what could not be done in 35 years – the dismantling of KGO.

But before we get to what Suleman plans for KGO, let’s look at Fagreed’s so-called life.

Suleman had to eat his $55 million stock award last week when Citadel attorneys had a little sit down with the judge in a lawsuit brought by investment partner R2 – a lender turned shareholder – that called Citadel’s compensation plan "one of the most egregious frauds by a company emerging from Chapter 11."

In all, over $100 million in bonus shares awarded (mostly to Fagreed, of course) just after Citadel emerged from bankruptcy had to be cancelled.

Stop!

Think about it.

Say you have money invested in Citadel and Suleman and company take a $100 million bonus almost as soon as the bankruptcy court gives Citadel to the lenders. You wouldn't like it, either.

Fagreed doesn’t need any introduction to greed – that’s how he got his nickname. Citadel is still in court defending itself against R2. R2 saying the stock awarded to managers vested over two years in their pre-arranged bankruptcy stipulated options that vested over three years. As The Wall Street Journal reported, “R2 complained the restricted stock would dilute value of R2's shares and others owned by the company's former creditors”.

No problem. Citadel just decided to turn these questionable stock awards into options.

There!

Wasn’t that simple?

What should be of equal or greater concern to the lenders turned owners is that Suleman is systematically wrecking the company.

Look at how Suleman is beginning to dismantle KGO right now. 

Lew Dickey’s nose is growing.

A few days ago on a quarterly earnings call with investment analysts, the Cumulus CEO went from “tricky” to “slicky” when he boldly reported that national and political ad sales were the leading sales categories.

But then a caller asked the ranter from Atlanta for a more responsive answer about why local sales were off – after all, investors should be concerned when radio, a local business, cannot produce growth in local sales.

Lew did his best imitation of Pinocchio.

Dickey said – only when pressed – that local was about 50 basis points short of flat. For those of you who did not graduate from Harvard and Stanford as Lew did, let me translate that – local sucks.

But you’re not going to believe why – and if you do I have The Holland Tunnel all ready to sell you right there in Hoboken, NJ.

Here’s what Captain Lew is peddling to the public and his employees in confidential memos about why a strategic move he imposed on Cumulus is failing so badly. 

Radio stations used to relentlessly compete with each other for the last listener, last ad dollar available and the hearts and minds of their local listeners.

Since consolidation, the recession and live, local radio cutbacks, stations have turned into transmitters and towers of outsourced programming. One wonders if that hasn’t contributed to the steady loss of listeners. Even the People Meter’s hopelessly inflated numbers that also include drive-by listening barely can keep station ratings treading water. 

How important is competition and where has it gone?

I’d like to get into that this morning because I believe it is crucial.

If you are already a subscriber, thank you very much for joining our group and you can click through now to unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get in this piece.

1. Why investment banks want less competition (in their own words) and why radio needs more (in mine).

2. How Pandora has become a major competitor to radio and why radio is ignoring the popular customizable programming service even as Pandora gets ready to double down and be more of a local competitor.

3. What is the curse of buying your competitor?

4. Why do investors hate radio so much today?  No group has been more vocally against terrestrial radio than the investment banks that helped ruin it.

In the upcoming election tomorrow it appears the electorate is angry.

When they get mad at politicians, they vote them out of office.

Increasingly, in the media business, listeners, viewers and consumers of content have many more options than ever. And they have their own ways of voting the media in their life out. 

This morning, I’d like to delve into why our audiences are increasingly angry. And they have options. A lot of them.

If you are subscriber, thank you very much for joining our group and you can click through now to unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get in today’s piece.

1. What it takes to get a good read on audience content preferences in the digital age.

2. Why it pays to take the pulse of consumers all day through Twitter and other means before problems emerge that could cause irreparable harm to your brand.

3. Apple’s secrets to customer success. I have a valuable link for you about how Apple works to please consumers.

4. How to sense when audience sentiment is changing in a world this fast and with so many options.

5. The one thing that audiences insist that you do for them.  Are you doing it?

6. How to avoid making listeners feel they have outgrown their need for the content you provide.

The answers start here.

This weekend, one member of our media network wants to know how to forge a better bond between the radio station, listener and advertiser keeping in mind today’s economy.

If you are a subscriber, thank you very much for joining our group and you can click through now to unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get in this piece.

1. Four elements of a dream promotion (one of them is fantasy of the mind). Know all four before coming up with your next effort or you risk failure.

2. How should you adapt promotions to The People Meter?

3. 9 ready-to-go Dream Promotions. Only subscribers will see them so there is still time to beat your competitor to the air with one.

4. Low cost, no cost and advertiser friendly dream promotions.

5. One involves taking over the radio station.

6. Another will make your listeners beg you – I mean that – beg you to play more commercials. (Read and see why I am not kidding).

7. A dating promotion built around matching musical tastes – all the details.

8. Giveaway free jobs (I’ve done this one and it works).

All these and five more start here. 

The NAB isn’t waiting for the elections to take place in a few weeks.

Not waiting to win a consensus of members.

CEO Gordon Smith, a former U.S. Senator and future lobbyist somewhere other than radio, has given the green light to complete a deal that would saddle radio stations with $100 million in new music taxes very soon.

In an arrogant and defiant mood, Smith will use his own NAB board as hostages to provide cover.

How serious is the threat this time and what are you not being told. I’ve prepared a thorough intelligence report for you this morning.

If you are a subscriber, thank you for joining our group and click through to unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get in this piece.

1. The real odds that this much talked about performance royalty tax will become a reality for radio stations – and when.

2. NAB CEO Gordon Smith’s motive. Why sell out your members -- most of whom oppose this tax. You won’t believe why Smith is doing this.

3. What percentage of an average station’s bottom line will the new NAB Tax on Radio represent? And remember, the performance royalty tax on radio comes right off the bottom line.

4. The chances of the $100 million tax not going up -- with examples from other countries that have already given in to the music industry.

5. Why the radio tax is chump change to the music industry. The real goal of musicFIRST and why bringing radio to its knees is so important to them. What the music industry is really after.

The answers start here.

In the next 12 months or less, a lot of things will change in the radio industry.

Now that radio has largely become a national repeater network of non-local content to save costs and eventually make more money for their investment bank owners, monumental change is ahead.

I’ve got some predictions for you here – and my readers who have been following me for a while now know that I never back away from a prediction.

If you are a subscriber, thank you for joining our group and click through and unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get.

1. The number one threat to radio audiences. I name it and no, it is not the Internet. You’ll never guess. If you guess, write to me, I’d be interested to know.

2. I’ve got the line on what will happen with regard to the record industry’s attempt to win a royalty tax from radio. And a timeline.

3. Of Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey, Clear Channel President John Hogan and Citadel CEO for Life Farid Suleman one of them is not secure in their job.

4. I know – and you will, too – where Howard Stern is going after the end of the year.

5. How much longer radio lay offs will be going on. I’ll pinpoint one moment in time and name the group I expect to make the most cuts.

6. Even if radio gets the mobile industry to enable an FM chip, here’s what top radio executives missed – a golden opportunity bigger than FM radio on a cell phone. Can you guess?

7. The outlook for radio managers, salespeople and talent in the mobile Internet. And what that opportunity is.

The answers begin here. 

Every time Apple gets the whole world to focus on their new product announcements, it makes me realize that, unlike the media business, Apple doesn’t reinvent things as we try to do.

They invent new things.

This morning I am going to suggest that maybe this is the right time to move beyond reinvention to actually inventing new things. But different skills will be needed and we will have to fundamentally change the way we think.

If you are a subscriber, click through and unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access the story, let me tell you what you will get.

1. Why the obsession with reinvention and why it never works.

2. How record labels could have invented a prosperous future in partnership with their old buddies, the radio industry, if only they could have …

3. How reinventing radio actually made things worse. I’ll cite 3 great examples from Cumulus, Citadel and Clear Channel

4. My three principles of “How to Invent” – what I use when I brainstorm with media groups.

5. How to know what can actually be invented in an existing company.

6. Overcoming the hurdle of rules and budgets.

7. How to assure success.

8. Plus, Apple COO Tim Cook’s magic words expressed this past week that will actually make us wake up and have the courage to attack our own brands in the name of inventing the future.

Inventing starts here. 

I’m often asked to show new options for terrestrial radio stations that could increase audience and improve revenue. I am going to share such a concept with you this morning.

The Non-Commercial Commercial Radio Station as I envision it is one piece of a blueprint that includes seven strategic points.

If you are a subscriber, click through and unlock the content.

If you haven't subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get:

1. The challenges and opportunities of eliminating or reducing commercials as a way to increase revenue

2. How many spots you can get away with. I’ll name the number.

3. What compelling programming you’ll need to emphasize in order to get the best results. Elements that listeners crave.

4. How to lure listeners into paying for memberships to certain content that you can create.

5. The killer app – how to monetize a radio station with more money than you could bring in playing just commercials as your main source of revenue. I name some sample categories.

6. The Zen of a new age radio station – what must it possess or else reducing commercial loads is a waste of time.

7. The right way to do mobile content. Tie-in to on-air personalities or create new personalities for mobile? The real advantage to being a radio station in the digital age (and playing commercials or voice tracking is not what I have in mind).

The game plan begins here.

Randy Michaels is out as CEO of Tribune Company according to The New York Times.

It is ironic that Michaels was brought down by another newspaper since he has a history of bad relations with independent publications he can’t control. The Times blistered Michaels and the frat house manner in which he ran Tribune in a recent article that put pressure on the Tribune board.

Michaels got away with it when Sam Zell was principal owner. But Zell is out and now so is Michaels. The Tribune board has had enough of the under performing CEO and his loyal band of radio people.

Randy always called his body of work “the noise you can’t ignore”. He used that catch phrase at several companies he ran. Unfortunately, the noise caught up with him.

Will Farid Suleman, John Hogan or Lew Dickey be next?

It took The New York Times to get Tribune Company to rein in the objectionable behavior that has poisoned the atmosphere at the troubled newspaper, television and radio company.

Last week Lee Abrams, the chief innovation officer at Tribune, recruited by CEO Randy Michaels, got snagged for sending out inappropriate videos not suitable for the workplace including one that was degrading to women.

He quit or had to quit – you can split the difference.

Degrading to women is a theme that has happened over and over again in Michaels’ career.

But this time, it was the affable Abrams who took the fall. Randy had no other choice. It was either Lee or me – and Michaels chose me.

How about this for chutzpah (shameless audacity; impudence):

Michaels, the same Randy Michaels who enables this type of sexually graphic culture, called his pal Abrams’ email: “in extremely bad taste”.

Whoa!

And what has gotten into Randy Michaels? Randy even said it was "the kind of serious mistake that can't be tolerated” according to a story in none other than The Chicago Tribune.

But then again, you can’t believe what you read in the papers these days or can you?

So Abrams took the fall for Michaels.

Randy Michaels acts like he has never had a poker playing, cigar smoking, lewd bash with these very employees on the hallowed ground of the Tribune Building and like that, everything goes away.

Not so fast.

I’ve got the video for you that got Abrams fired.

You can decide whether you believe Lee was sincere in his apology when he said he sent it "in hopes of inspiring them (employees) to reconsider print and broadcast convention”.

Here is the rest of the story with the most important 4 things Michaels, Abrams and his frat house crowd missed that you don’t want to miss.

Why?

Because this kind of mismanagement is going on in other media companies. And you don’t want to be unwittingly contributing to your own downfall. 

It’s one thing for Citadel employees to complain about CEO Farid “Fagreed” Suleman signing a $43 million new contact right after the company emerges from bankruptcy.

It’s quite another thing when a hedge fund – that’s right, hedge fund – gets itself all hot and bothered over a mere pittance of $110 million in stock.

That hedge fund, R2 Investments, has petitioned a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to stop the awards that are planned for 2011 and 2012. R2 is outraged. Says Citadel committed a “shocking display of corporate greed and dishonesty” and “one of the most egregious frauds by a company emerging from bankruptcy under chapter 11.”

Greed?

It sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

R2 is mad because while radio people can’t understand how Suleman took Citadel into bankruptcy and then out again without missing a beat or a dollar, you can’t do that to a hedge fund. They want theirs.

What’s theirs?

How about $55 million in stock grants – mostly to Suleman but also to his puppet board of directors who reportedly received $1 million each to make Farid’s giant compensation go down a little better for them.

On the surface, R2’s lawyers say the usual stuff – Farid’s actions diluted its holdings in the company and alleges that the awards are equal to each shareholder writing a check of 7.5% of their stock’s value and giving it to CEO for Life Suleman and the board.

A hearing is scheduled for November 3, but I already know how it will work out for Citadel, R2 and Citadel employees.

Here are the three options. Let’s see which one you like.

It’s only a little more than two months before Christmas and you know what that means?

Scrooge-like radio consolidators are getting ready to give themselves the gift that keeps on giving – a lower payroll through next year and beyond.

We’re already seeing ominous signs by these bellwether radio groups that indicate they are already starting to relieve themselves of additional talent.

This couldn’t come at a worse time.

Radio execs are distracting the press, the public and advertisers touting yesterday’s announcement from Microsoft that the new Window’s Phone 7 Operating system will include the FM radio capability they have been screaming about. But that means before the holidays, radio will be firing a lot more people on and off-the-air while a host of phone manufacturers are making FM available on Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and a number of other new phones.

Think of it.

More ways to hear FM radio with fewer people to do FM radio.

How insane is that?

Let’s look at the radio groups most likely to go on a firing spree this holiday season and I’ll end with 5 specific ways how you (personally or as a station) could hurt them really badly if you’re competing against these shortsighted bean counters. 

Cumulus Media is apparently looking ahead a few months to when debt payments are once again due.

Cutting executive pay, perks or stock is apparently off the table.

Firing numerous people in a systematic way in a manner so dramatic that it leaves a five-station cluster with only 3-4 people on site locally to run it.

Now comes word about the new Cumulus “Firing Squad” from inside accounts that in some cases have reportedly left up to 14 people out of work in a single day.

How it is reportedly being done under the radar and how Cumulus reaps great savings by having a small handful of roving managers oversee their local radio licenses.

But there are also unintended consequences.

Here’s a report from a Cumulus employee:

I guess it’s impossible to quit Farid Suleman, the Citadel CEO for Life.

Legendary and well respected KGO/KSFO, San Francisco President/GM Mickey Luckoff had it up to here with Suleman’s meddling on Monday when he in essence said you can’t fire me, I quit.

The next day, Sillyman and his circus clowns pulled off one of the most embarrassing stunts even in the pitiful age of post-consolidation. When you hear the details it will make you realize why radio is in the mess it is in right now.

I’m going to bring it all back alive right here with the inside story of class vs. crass that led to one of American radio's best managers being locked out of the station he ran for 35 years.

Yesterday, KGO/KSFO President & General Manager Mickey Luckoff finally got the monkey off his back that has been hounding him for the past three years.

Luckoff fired his boss -- Farid "Fagreed" Suleman, CEO of Citadel.

I’ve got the inside story for you on what happened and why – and why now?

After all, the newly non-bankrupted Citadel Broadcasting needs KGO and KSFO in San Francisco to continue to print money – the better to fund Suleman’s new deal.

You won’t believe the details on their relationship and what it was like for Luckoff to go from ABC management to Mickey Mouse management. You’d think previous owner Disney would have been the Mickey Mouse operator but it turned out it may have been Citadel.

Luckoff spent 35 years as the driving force behind KGO’s news/talk format working for ABC, Capital Cities, Disney and Citadel. He has won tons of awards. Raised millions for lots of good causes. Attracted and kept some of the greatest radio talent on-the-air.

When I spoke with Mickey yesterday I told him he should get an anti-nausea award for not getting sick to his stomach watching Fagreed mismanage the company.

The 74-year old Luckoff is upbeat. He’s getting married at the end of the year. Will write a book about his experiences. It’s all good now that he has ended his long national nightmare.

In a moment you’ll know the proverbial rest of the story. And when Luckoff wrote his resignation letter (you won’t believe it). Plus, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’ve compiled a list of eight reasons why Luckoff left his employ after three and a half decades.

So here is the inside story you won’t be reading in the happy talk press this morning:

I love Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

You do, too, from what you tell me because I have adapted the Ripley format to the sideshow currently going on in the business you and I love so much – radio.

On the real Ripley website you can find video of a couple being married by a robot.

A three year old Chinese girl who drinks liquor and smokes after surviving a car accident and a coma.

And a violinist who actually plays the instrument during brain surgery.

But I’ve got all that beat this time with what radio consolidators are up to – real life stories that are hard to believe but true.

In other words, Radio’s Believe It or Not.

• A Station That Requires Recycling Trash Over Programming

Here’s an inside story you won’t find in the happy talk press.

The Dickey family is channeling its mean genes in what appears to me to be a retaliatory strike against a manager who had the audacity to – well, quit and get a better job with Cox.

Kristin Okesson left the Dickey Dynasty as manager of the Danbury, CT and Westchester, NY clusters. Let’s do what they do before you see the next episode of an HBO original series – recap.

Previously on Entourage (Lew, John, Gary Pizatti) …

The Dickeys took Okesson to U.S. District Court in Bridgeport and in a court opinion handed down on April 22 of this year, the judge interpreted the employment contract at issue largely in Okesson’s favor. She wasn’t ordered to stay away from previous Cumulus customers in Danbury.

The judge did prohibit Okesson from helping a fellow employee to spring from his imprisonment and was told not to solicit Cumulus employees directly. She also had to return some items in dispute that were alleged to be confidential.

And that was it.

Until now.

Predictions are just teasing unless they turn out to come true.

The Clear Channel demise

From the radio group that brought you sales meetings with spy cameras comes the latest innovation in Harvard educated CEO Lew Dickey's arsenal of weapons.

It is called Hifiring.

That's the art of hiring people at the very same time the company fires an equal or greater number of employees.

Late yesterday afternoon The Wall Street Journal reported what you and I already knew which was Citadel CEO Farid "Fagreed" Suleman is preparing to file for bankruptcy by the end of the year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays -- now that The Journal reported it, it must be true.

Even as you read this Citadel is seeking lender approval of a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

CBS Radio President Dan Mason had to spend some money to hire TV personality and former radio dj Carson Daly to do morning drive at KAMP in Los Angeles.

Amp -- a newer version of Clear Channel's CHR market leader KIIS.  Kiss will now pit Daly against Kiss Ryan Seacrest the first week in January.

It's good.  It's local.

But wait.

Citadel CEO Farid Suleman is as arrogant as ever!  He did an interview with Inside Radio that was published Monday and admitted making no mistakes. It's the economy -- not him.

And while Farid said every option was on the table regarding their debt payment that Citadel is coming up empty on January 15th, he referred to the bankruptcy option as the word.