Crains New York - August 20, 2012 - (Page 4)

IN THE WOR-AM purchase turns NYC MARKETS into battleground of radio war by Aaron Elstein Clear Channel vies with Cumulus for national dominance BY MATTHEW FLAMM Clear Channel’s acquisition last week of WOR-AM from familyowned Buckley Broadcasting Corp. turned the city’s oldest radio station into a key piece in a New York-based chess match between industry giants. Clear Channel owns the most radio stations in the country, and its top two hosts, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, are syndicated via its Premiere Radio Networks. They air in New York on WABC-AM. But last year, Cumulus Media became the nation’s No. 2 radio operator in a deal that brought WABC into its portfolio, raising the possibility that Clear Channel’s biggest names would be booted off the New York airwaves in favor of Cumulus hosts. Mr. Limbaugh’s contract with WABC expires next year. Industry analysts say the threat of losing its perch in the nation’s biggest market spurred Clear Channel to action, because syndicated shows need a New York presence to attract national advertisers. Clear Channel says that purchasing the 90-year-old WOR allows it to beef up its New York holdings, which include five FM music stations. “Having WOR allows us to compete in New York even better than we do today,” said John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, a division of CC Media Holdings.“For our syndication business, WOR is a nice thing to have, but it’s not the reason we bought it.” Cumulus, meanwhile, has been looking to its syndicated talk programming as an area of potential growth as radio stations battle for listeners with digital newcomers like Pandora and Spotify. The company Fight may bid up Yankees’ radio rights in 2013 has been inserting its talk hosts into its stations wherever possible. It has also positioned former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s syndicated show as an even-tempered alternative to The Rush Limbaugh Show. The Mike Huckabee Show launched in April. Cumulus argues that the established talk shows have turned off listeners in the 25- to 54-year-old bracket, the category favored by advertisers. To attract a younger audience to the talk format, the company is embracing shows that are less confrontational and didactic. “We want to expand the audience for talk radio,and we’re going to make programming moves that achieve that objective,” said Chief Executive Lew Dickey in an interview.“Our research indicates that many 25- to 54year-old listeners have drifted away, and we plan to re-enfranchise them.” The face-off could also add to the bidding war for the Yankees’ radio rights, which is expected to erupt next year when the Bombers’ contract with WCBS-AM expires. Radio experts say there’s a downside to syndication giants fighting over New York.“There’s a fear you’re going to end up with a lot of syndicated [programs] that are great for the national network but not really great for New York radio,” said Robert Unmacht, a partner with iN3 Partners, a media advisory firm. WABC has Don Imus’ morningdrive-time show,a local hit that’s also a national show. It also recently went national with Geraldo Rivera’s show. Mr. Hogan said that WOR will have a mix of local and national programs. “The important thing is creating new content,” said Joel Hollander, head of media investment firm 264 Echo Place Partners. “One of these companies is going to have to come up with the next Rush Limbaugh and the next Howard Stern.” LISTEN to a discussion at CrainsNewYork.com/podcasts A QB sack? O ne of Wall Street’s major players in last decade’s housing mania has waved the white flag in a battle with securities regulators. Thomas Priore, CEO of ICP Asset Management and a former Harvard quarterback, has agreed to a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which two years ago charged him with defrauding clients by improperly pocketing “tens of millions of dollars” in fees and undisclosed profits by inflating the value of mortgage-related bonds his firm had sold them. The SEC also said ICP awarded itself “massive, risk-free, undisclosed profits” by directing brokers to cancel trades made weeks earlier and rewrite the orders so that Mr.Priore’s firm was the buyer. A handful of Wall Streeters have been charged criminally with inflating the value of complex mortgagerelated securities.Two Credit Suisse employees, for instance, pleaded guilty earlier this year to overstating the value of mortgage-backed securities on their books to hide losses. A spokeswoman at the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan wouldn’t comment on whether Mr. Priore is the subject of a criminal investigation. In any case, 10 days after SEC staffers notified Mr.Priore in March 2010 that they intended to file fraud charges, he sold his Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., house for $1 to trusts controlled by himself, his spouse and a third person.At the same time, he sold his residence in Chappaqua, N.Y., to the trusts for $10. The SEC contends the transfers were done to limit the amount of money it could collect from Mr. Priore. In an answer filed in court, Mr. Priore’s wife said the sales were made “pursuant to ongoing estate planning.” Gearing Up for Your Next Corporate Event or Holiday Party? Crain’s New York Business Special Section Corporate Events & Holiday Parties 2012 Expert Tips Advice Vendor Options And More Issue Date: September 10, 2012 Close Date: August 23, 2012 The agreement’s existence was disclosed in a Manhattan federal court filing earlier this month. Its precise terms couldn’t be learned. An attorney for Mr. Priore, Nathan Kitchens, declined to comment, and the SEC, whose commissioners must still approve the agreement, also wouldn’t comment. People like Mr. Priore were important middlemen during last decade’s housing bubble, when the name of the game for banks was to sell off mortgages as quickly as they wrote them. Mr. Priore’s role was CDO manager, which meant that he helped select the mortgages that investment banks pooled to create the complex bonds (known as collateralized debt obligations) and helped parcel them out to institutional buyers. By 2008, Mr. Priore’s firm managed $25 billion in assets, according to Bloomberg News, up from $5 billion two years earlier. When the housing bubble popped, the SEC said, Mr. Priore’s firm “repeatedly” cheated customers by causing some to overpay for bonds acquired from other ICP clients. In one instance, ICP sold a client $22 million worth of mortgage bonds at a price of $75 each, even though earlier in the day it had bought the same bonds for another account at $63.50. For advertising opportunities, please contact Trish Henry at thenry@crainsnewyork.com or (212) 210-0711. bloomberg news 32% THE PERCENTAGE of this year’s class of Harvard Business School graduates who landed Wall Street jobs, according to Harvard alum and former banking analyst Raphael Soifer. He says his 47 years of research suggest that any time the number is higher than 30%, it’s a signal to sell stocks. 4 | Crain’s New York Business | August 20, 2012 patrick mcmullan http://www.CrainsNewYork.com/podcasts

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - August 20, 2012

Crains New York - August 20, 2012
Contents
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Opinion
Alair Townsend
From Around the City
Report: Real Estate
Real Estate Deals
The List: Top Airlines
Classifieds
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - August 20, 2012