Clear Channel accepts buyout bid

Accord­ing to the New York Times, Clear Chan­nel Com­mu­ni­ca­tions has accepted a buy­out offer from a pri­vate invest­ment group.

Clear Chan­nel dom­i­nates the Hon­olulu radio mar­ket. The com­pany owns sev­eral pop­u­lar FM and AM radio sta­tions in Hawaii, includ­ing KSSK, Hot 93 and Star 101.9 – see this list.

As the Times arti­cle points out, some crit­ics believe that Clear Chan­nel has made broad­cast radio a dull medium, thanks to the company’s restric­tive playlist poli­cies. con­ser­v­a­tive talk shows, and a cookie-cuttter busi­ness model that favors stan­dard­iza­tion over localization.

The Times also points out that the com­pany and its major owner, the Mays fam­ily, have been loyal donors to the Repub­li­can party. The Demo­c­ra­tic major­ity in Con­gress may put the brakes on the deal.

As part of the buy­out, Clear Chan­nel will sell all 42 of its tele­vi­sion sta­tions, and approx­i­mately a third of its 1500+ radio sta­tions. The radio sta­tions that are on the block are in small mar­kets, but it remains to be seen how the buy­out will affect the Hon­olulu media market.

See this press release for addi­tional information.

Tagged as: Hawaii, Honolulu, media, Oahu, radio, television