Jesus saves (money): The recent turmoil in the Denver radio scene, recapped in this space last week, shows no signs of diminishing. On September 18, Camarillo, California's Salem Communications, which had officially purchased KALC-FM (known as Alice) way back on August 24, sold the station to Indianapolis's Emmis Communications, new owners of the Peak, for $98.8 million. Spokeswoman Tricia Whitehead won't spell out how much profit this pact netted Salem, noting that Alice was one of eight outlets purchased from mega-corp Clear Channel for a lump sum. But since said total was $185.6 million, you don't need to be Alan Greenspan to realize that Salem came out of the deal smelling sweeter than a honey factory on a hot day.
Yet a tidy influx of moola likely wasn't the only reason this arrangement was reached. Salem specializes in Christian programming; of its four other Denver properties, three fit this description, while the fourth, KNUS, offers up conservative talk that's otherwise compatible with its sister stations. Alice's signature, on the other hand, is randy sex talk as delivered by the likes of Jamie White and Danny Bonaduce. Some observers thought Salem would overlook this contradiction because of Alice's popularity and allow jocks to talk about peters to pay Paul. But the contrast between smut and sanctimony was just too sharp to ignore over the long term. In a statement released in conjunction with the sale announcement, Salem president and CEO Edward Atsinger III emphasized that he wants to "broaden our clusters by adding new formats," yet the approach about which he seemed most enthusiastic was a new mix of contemporary Christian music dubbed "Fish" -- and no, I am not making that up.
Michael Miller
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Peak general manager Joe Schwartz, who will serve in the same capacity at Alice, insists that the purchase isn't a defensive maneuver against Clear Channel: "This was a great opportunity to buy another station in Denver, and that's all it is," he says. But there's no denying that Clear Channel has gone after the Peak like Australian sharks would like to have chewed on triathletes, responding to the station's "'80s and Beyond" slogan by altering the catchphrase of KTCL, its designated pitbull frequency, to "'80s, '90s and Beyond." Moreover, the Alice purchase allows Emmis (in which Liberty Media, controlled by ex-TCI kingpin John Malone, holds a significant stake) to put some heat on KISS-FM, Clear Channel's new supplier of contemporary hit radio.
Schwartz doesn't swear on a Bible that he'll leave Alice unchanged after he takes the reigns about thirty days from now via a local marketing agreement, but he comes close. "We plan to do some research in the market to see how Alice is doing and if there are any adjustments we should make," he says. "But we're not expecting much, if anything. Basically, Alice is a tremendously successful radio station, and to contemplate a format change would be silly."
Like pretty much everything else in Denver radio these days.
