By SCOTT FYBUSH
Most of the Boston cluster Entercom and CBS have to divest will go to iHeart Media under an agreement with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division announced Wednesday afternoon.
iHeart will acquire WBZ (1030), WRKO (680), WZLX (100.7) and WKAF (97.7), swapping away clusters in Richmond and Chattanooga to Entercom in exchange.
Entercom will send the fifth divestiture, WBZ-FM (98.5 the Sports Hub), to Beasley, which will in turn swap AC WMJX (106.7) to Entercom.
As the dust begins to settle, then, the new competitive balance in Boston will look like this:
iHeart: Top-40 WXKS-FM (Kiss 108), rhythmic WJMN (JAM’N 94.5), country WBWL (101.7 the Bull), classic rock WZLX (100.7), rhythmic AC WKAF (97.7), news-talk WBZ (1030), talk WRKO (680), plus two existing iHeart AMs, WXKS (1200) and Spanish AC WKOX (1430). iHeart intends to place 1430 WKOX in a divestiture trust to sell.
Entercom: Sports WEEI-FM (93.7), sports WEEI (850), rock WAAF (107.3), top-40 WODS (103.3), AC WMJX (106.7), AC WBMX (104.1)
Beasley: Modern rock WBOS (92.9), rhythmic WBQT (96.9), sports WBZ-FM (98.5), country WKLB (102.5), classic hits WROR (105.7)
But is this the final alignment – or is this just how Entercom satisfies the Justice Department and gets the CBS deal closed (now slated to happen by November 17)? Could iHeart yet trade off some of the signals it’s getting from CBS and Entercom in Boston and elsewhere?
Updates to follow…
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