Radio Stations

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it has completed the sale of 41 of its radio stations to Entercom Communications Corp. The $700.4 million cash deal effectively marks the end of Sinclair's run as a radio-station owner.Cockeysville-based Sinclair decided to shed its radio holdings in order to focus on television. In recent years, the company has waged an aggressive campaign to buy up television stations nationwide, becoming one of the largest and most prominent television broadcasters in the country.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it has completed three deals in a growth spurt that has turned it into one of the nation's largest owners of radio and television stations.In the biggest of the three deals, Sinclair purchased Max Media Properties LLC of Virginia Beach, Va., owner of nine television stations and eight radio stations, for $252 million in cash.The newly acquired properties include two TV stations in the top 75 markets: WKEF, an NBC affiliate in Dayton, Ohio, and WSYT, a Fox affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y. Smaller-market television stations in the deal are in Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and South Carolina.

A legislative oversight committee gave final approval yesterday to a $500,000 assistance package for the owners of a chain of radio stations, dismissing suggestions that the financing was a Glendening administration attempt to curry favor with a media outlet.The Legislative Policy Committee voted 15-7 to approve the financial package for a company controlled by the principals of Radio One Inc., which owns four stations in Baltimore and three in Washington.The company is moving its headquarters from Washington and is using the state funds to help pay for its purchase of an office building in Prince George's County.

Jeff Burgess walks into his Bakersfield, Calif., broadcast studio (his bedroom), checks the transmission equipment (his PC), sits in the studio chair (blue vinyl, purchased used for $2) and searches his CD library (cardboard boxes on the floor). He adjusts the microphone on the announcer's deck (built by a local carpenter for a 12-pack of beer) and speaks the words that can be heard, potentially, by millions around the world. "This is Destroy Radio!" At best, maybe 300 people actually hear Burgess.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. announced yesterday that it completed the sale of six St. Louis radio stations to Emmis Communications Corp., a move that closes the final chapter of the Cockeysville company's run in the radio business. The stations, which fetched $220 million in cash, will pump about $175 million after taxes into Sinclair's coffers. Sinclair plans to use the funds to pay bank debt and continue its stock repurchasing plan, through which it has bought back 6.3 million shares this year, said Patrick Talamantes, the company's chief financial officer.

Baltimore's public radio stations seem to be giving the people what they want -- at least enough to keep the bean counters in Washington happy.That's the news from Tom Thomas of Station Resource Group, a public-radio think tank that helped draw up minimum qualifications for radio stations that receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.Public radio stations that don't meet those qualifications in the next two years could have their government funding cut off.But the three here in Baltimore apparently have little to worry about.

Cathy Hughes, co-owner of a chain of black-oriented radio stations, told listeners yesterday that she would return a controversial $500,000 state loan to her company to protest moves in the General Assembly to expel state Sen. Larry Young."

Turn the radio dial these days and hear show host Troy Duran talking up buying opportunities in stocks of little-known companies that mine gold, uranium and more obscure minerals like molybdenum. Or hear Bob and David Hanson on another program saying that now is the time to buy that vacation home or investment property. But Duran is not an investment professional, and the Hansons aren't impartial experts. Their shows are paid advertisements. Increasingly, this is the sound of talk radio.

Nick Mangione has a plan for Baltimore radio, and with his recent purchase of WWLG, it's now two-thirds complete.His goal, Mangione says, is to own three radio stations, one that's all talk, one that's all music, one that's all sports. As owner of WCBM-AM (680) for the past 10 years, he's long had his talk station; WWLG-AM (1360), with its big-band and easy-listening format, gives him the all-music component.The sports station, he promises, will happen "soon we're negotiating for one right now."

If you're looking to buy a radio station here in Charm City, now's the time.WBAL-AM (1090) and WIYY-FM (97.9), whose parent company has decided to get out of the radio business, aren't the only local stations up for sale. Last week, as part of a deal allowing two of the nation's largest radio operations to merge, WOCT-FM (104.3) found itself on the market.WOCT, also known as the Colt, whose mix of music from the '70s and early '80s failed to attract as many listeners as operations geared toward music of earlier and later decades -- namely, WQSR-FM (105.