The company that owns eleven Alabama radio stations in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa---including
the oldest radio station in Alabama, and which is home to Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus and other talk-radio hosts,
has filed for bankruptcy.
Citadel Broadcasting filed today...the Sunday before Christmas! The company says it owes $2.4-Billion and has assetts of $1.4-Billion.
In
Birmingham, the company owns WAPI, WJOX, WSPZ,WUHT,WMM and WZRR.
In
Tuscaloosa: WBEI,WDGM,WFFN,WTSK,WTUG.
WAPI-AM (1070AM) in Birmingham was the first station in the state. The call-sign stood for
Alabama
Polytechnical
Institute, Auburn University's original name. It started broadcasting in September of 1922.
Many of the stations owned by Citadel are, like WAPI, News-Talk and Sports-Talk formated.
Yup... read about that online - before the printing presses had it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yup, knew about WAPI being named after API - Dad & Mom graduated from there.
Now, it's time for commentary.
"Cry me a river."
Some company got too big for their britches, and they filed for bankruptcy.
It's poor corporate management, to be certain.
And what happened to the ownership rules?
Instead of concentrating power in the hands of a few, ownership rules distributed & divested power among many. More people making money, rather than concentrating it among their corporate stockholders.
Isn't THAT part of the American way?
Whenever corporate takeovers occur, people (that'd be FAMILIES) are put out of work.
How good is THAT!?!
So I say "BULLY" for Citadel Broadcasting's bankruptcy!
Those stations will NOT go dark.