Radio Consolidation Wave Hits Kycw

The radio station at 96.5 on the FM dial will change hands for the third time in two years.

Infinity Broadcasting Corp. of New York, the nation's biggest radio-station group owner, is selling KYCW-FM, known as "Young Country," to EZ Communications Inc. of Fairfax, Va. EZ already owns two FM stations here.

The $26 million price tag is more than double the $11.2 million the station was sold for two years ago, when Shamrock Broadcasting sold it to Alliance Broadcasting. At that time, it was KXRX, an album-rock station. Last fall, Alliance sold the station to Infinity in a $275 million deal involving KYCW and six stations elsewhere. That transfer was approved by the Federal Communications Commission just last month.

The KYCW announcement comes just days after a comparable transaction was announced involving two other Seattle stations.

Both deals are due in large part to widespread consolidation of radio ownership after recent relaxation of federal rules, most notably by the massive telecommunications bill signed into law today by President Clinton. Until a few years ago, a licensee could own just one AM and one FM station per market.

Last Friday, Park Communications said it will sell modern-jazz KWJZ-FM (98.9) and business-news-talk KEZX-AM (1150) for $26 million to Sandusky Radio, the owner of nostalgia-hits KIXI-AM (880) and adult-contemporary KLSY-FM (92.5). The result is a four-station cluster - two FM and two AM.

After federal approval of the KYCW purchase in a few months, EZ will be the first company to have three FM properties in Seattle. EZ now owns country KMPS-FM-AM (94.1, 1300) and classic-rock KZOK-FM (102.5).

With multiple stations in one city, overhead can be consolidated, programming can be complementary, and marketing and advertising sales can be coordinated.

For example, EZ now will own two of the three country-music outlets in town. The third outlet is the simulcast pair known together as "Kickin' Country" - KCIN-FM (106.1) and KRPM-AM (1090) - owned by Heritage Media Corp.

Typically, when one firm owns two stations of the same format in one market, the stations target different age groups or genders.

KMPS had consistently been the top-rated radio station in Seattle until KYCW arrived in 1994. With three country stations competing for the same audience, KMPS lost some ground, but it still dominates the country format.

KYCW was Infinity's only Seattle station, and the economics of owning just one radio signal in a big market are increasingly unattractive.

In selling KYCW, Infinity is indicating it won't be seeking to own a cluster of Seattle stations - at least not now.