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Paxson turns off radio
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June 23, 1997: 3:27 p.m. ET
Media company sells 46 radio stations to raise cash for television expansion
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a move to help finance Paxson Communications Corp.'s recent television acquisitions, the company announced Monday it will sell off its radio stations, along with some other interests.
Paxson said it will sell its 46 radio stations (mostly in Florida), 6 radio news and sports networks, two minor league sports teams and billboard division to Clear Channel Communications Corp. in a cash deal worth $693 million.
Clear Channel, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, currently owns or programs 169 radio stations (including the pending Paxson acquisitions) and 19 television stations.
Paxson has been on a buying binge lately, most notably acquiring New York City's WBIS+ TV station from Dow Jones & Co. and ITT Corp., for $257.5 million in May. Just last week it bought The Travel Channel, a cable network serving about 20 million subscribers.
The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based company currently is the nation's largest owner of television stations, with 55 in markets serving 58 percent of the nation.
The television acquisitions are part of company founder Lowell "Bud" Paxson's plan to create a national network, and he said he is not finished yet.
"By the end of this year, we'd like to be at 63 percent," Paxson said on CNNfn's "Biz Buzz."
"To do that, we probably have to buy about four or five more stations. By mid-1998, we'd like to be at 70 percent reach of all U.S. television homes. This transaction gives us all the money to pay for all those 55 stations and leaves us with $214 million in cash and only $338 million in debt."
Paxson's plan inverts the usual method of creating a national network. Rather than worrying about programming, he will sell time on his network to almost anyone who wants to pay for it. There's no shortage of takers, he said. (204K WAV) or (204K AIFF)
He appears to have good instincts. In the case of New York's WBIS, Paxson said he has already sold most of its air time even before the appointed takeover date of June 30.
"We want to be the 24-hour time mall. We want the programmer to come into our store, our time mall, and buy an hour, buy six hours, buy whatever they want, and then resell it and make a profit." 
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