Mpower
January-11th-2006, 02:43 PM
from www.dcrtv.com
CC's Zier To Run Snyder's Red Zebra - 1/11 - On Wednesday afternoon, Clear Channel announced that Bennett Zier (right), head of its Washington/Baltimore radio operations, is leaving the company to become CEO of Red Zebra Broadcasting, a group being launched by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. According to Radio And Records, Snyder, who recently seized control of the Six Flags amusement park chain, reportedly wants to build a media empire and is putting Zier in charge of sniffing out radio, television, and internet opportunities nationwide. R&R adds that while rumors have been swirling that Snyder is jockeying to buy Mega Communications' three-station DC area radio cluster, Mega has denied that a deal is in the works. A well-placed DC radio source tells DCRTV that Mega's stations are a "pathetic collection of signals." Also, DCRTV hears that the domain name of redzebraradio.com was registered to the Redskins on 1/9. DCRTV also hears that Zier was known as "Blue Zebra" by some at Clear Channel. "He jumped off the Clear Channel bridge before he was pushed," we're told. Another source says: "The staff will be told at a 2 PM meeting. Clear Channel wanted Bennett out as of today but he got them to let him stay until Friday. After that, CC's senior VP for the area will come in and run things until a new person is selected." For about two weeks, DCRTV has been exclusively reporting rumors that Snyder is negotiating to purchase three radio stations from Mega - Spanish language WBZS (92.7 FM), WBPS (94.3 FM), and WKDL (730 AM) - to start a sports talk format and move the team from CBS/Infinity's WJFK-FM. The current line of thinking is that WBZS and WBPS will flip to English language sports talk and will carry the Skins in 2006, possibly with the addition of Clear Channel's SportsTalk 980 (WTEM), while WKDL will remain Spanish language with possible Spanish coverage of the Skins. Stay tuned.....
CC's Zier To Run Snyder's Red Zebra - 1/11 - On Wednesday afternoon, Clear Channel announced that Bennett Zier (right), head of its Washington/Baltimore radio operations, is leaving the company to become CEO of Red Zebra Broadcasting, a group being launched by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. According to Radio And Records, Snyder, who recently seized control of the Six Flags amusement park chain, reportedly wants to build a media empire and is putting Zier in charge of sniffing out radio, television, and internet opportunities nationwide. R&R adds that while rumors have been swirling that Snyder is jockeying to buy Mega Communications' three-station DC area radio cluster, Mega has denied that a deal is in the works. A well-placed DC radio source tells DCRTV that Mega's stations are a "pathetic collection of signals." Also, DCRTV hears that the domain name of redzebraradio.com was registered to the Redskins on 1/9. DCRTV also hears that Zier was known as "Blue Zebra" by some at Clear Channel. "He jumped off the Clear Channel bridge before he was pushed," we're told. Another source says: "The staff will be told at a 2 PM meeting. Clear Channel wanted Bennett out as of today but he got them to let him stay until Friday. After that, CC's senior VP for the area will come in and run things until a new person is selected." For about two weeks, DCRTV has been exclusively reporting rumors that Snyder is negotiating to purchase three radio stations from Mega - Spanish language WBZS (92.7 FM), WBPS (94.3 FM), and WKDL (730 AM) - to start a sports talk format and move the team from CBS/Infinity's WJFK-FM. The current line of thinking is that WBZS and WBPS will flip to English language sports talk and will carry the Skins in 2006, possibly with the addition of Clear Channel's SportsTalk 980 (WTEM), while WKDL will remain Spanish language with possible Spanish coverage of the Skins. Stay tuned.....