“The End of Local Radio”? Reports Say Clear Channel May Be About to Go All “Robotics.”

Clear Channel owns and operates six radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market: KDGE-FM, KDGE-FM, KEGL-FM, KFXR-AM, KHKS-FM and KZPS-FM. But several times this morning, Friends of Unfair Park have sent this piece from Time Out Chicago that says at any moment, any or all of them could lose their local voices. Because at this very moment, says here, Clear Channel has begun a massive reduction in force that will result in what one analyst calls “the end of local radio.”

At its most drastic, according to Inside Music Media’s Jerry Del Colliano, Clear Channel could see the elimination of all program directors and become a company “operated by robotics with nothing local, little live and everything cheap.” It’s all designed to shed expenses as the company faces $18 billion in debt that it cannot repay.

I’ve left messages for Kelly Kibler, the market manager for Dallas; I will update if and when she provides further word. But today’s news follows a massive restructuring that took place only two years ago.

Update on Thursday at 4:40 p.m.: A rep from Kelly Kibler’s office just called to say “there are no plans for a reduction in force in the Dallas office.”