Not Unexpectedly, Citadel, Owner of WBAP and KSCS, Files for Chapter 11

Robert Wilonsky December 20, 2009 11:54PM

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Citadel Broadcasting owns 224 radio stations across the U.S. -- three in Texas, all in Dallas-Fort Worth. They're not unfamiliar brand names: the historic WBAP-AM (News/Talk 820) and KSCS-FM (96.3), which, for a good long while in the 1990s, was the top station in the DFW and, like, WBAP, remains a strong player. Platinum 96.7, which spins the oldies, is also a Citadel property.

But today, not unexpectedly, Citadel announced that, three years after it went broke buying Disney-owneds, it was filing for bankruptcy protection and turning over control of the company to the creditors to whom the Vegas-based chain, with $1.4 billion in assets compared to $2.5 billion in debt, owes almost $2.1 billion in loans (knocked down to $762.5 million after the parties cut the deal). For a week, Citadel's local managers and on-air talent elsewhere have insisted nothing will change, day to day, come bankruptcy. Maybe Hal Jay will update his blog.

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Robert Wilonsky

Contact: Robert Wilonsky