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SUN STAFF Timothy J. Mullaney
Published on September 20, 1996
© 1996- The Baltimore Sun
Benchmark Communications of Baltimore yesterday closed a
deal to buy its sixth radio station in two weeks, agreeing
to pay $4.1 million for WSCQ-FM in Columbia, S.C. The adult
standards station will be Benchmark's fifth property in that
market.
Benchmark, like most radio companies, has been on a buying
binge since the new telecommunications law dropped limits
on how many stations a single company can own and loosened
rules on how many stations a single player can own in one
market.
This month, Benchmark said it would pay nearly $15 million
for four stations in Jackson, Miss., the nation's 118th-largest
radio market, and paid $1.9 million for a station in Shreveport,
La.
``There are fewer radio stations in southern markets,'' Benchmark
general partner Bruce R. Spector said. ``This makes us the
first operation in the market to have three FMs. It affects
both revenue and expenses. It's easier to save if you can
operate them all in one building with one staff. The more
subtle effect is on the revenue side.''
Having a lot of stations in one market helps each station
sell more advertising, he said, because it allows the owner
to cover a wide range of formats in one market. Also, a profitable
group of stations gives an owner the room to risk programming
changes at weaker-performing outlets, he said.
That basic logic has led to deals as big as the $3.9 billion
purchase of Infinity Broadcasting Corp. by Westinghouse Electric
Corp.'s radio unit. Benchmark is one of several companies
attempting the same consolidation play in smaller markets,
where they don't have to compete with giants, said James H.
Duncan Jr., publisher of Duncan's American Radio Inc. in Indianapolis.
``The strategy throughout the industry is to build your portfolio
within each market to the extent the law allows,'' Duncan
said. ``In the top 10 markets, it takes enormous amounts of
money, even billions.''
Benchmark, which owns WWFG and WOSC on Maryland's Eastern
Shore, concentrates on southern markets that it says are smaller
but growing faster than major markets like New York, Chicago
or Detroit. The company now has 33 stations in nine markets
and annual revenues of about $45 million.
Pub Date: 9/20/96
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