Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 95

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Last March, the DALE Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting SMITH owner of 45 stations in 12 markets, announced it would buy KEYI (Oldies 103.5 FM) from Clear Channel, along with stations in Denver and Phoenix, for $127 million. Plans were to bring Latin rhythms to Austin sometime this summer. But here we are, deep into July, and the same old oldies are blowing through the scorching July heat. When AMFM and Clear Channel merged last year, it was clear the new behemoth would have to sell stations in top markets to meet FCC regulations. In Austin, that meant something had to go.

And KEYI got the boot. Unfortunately for the Hispanic Broadcasting and for Austinites hip to Latin tunes, the Department of Justice pulled the plug on the deal. Clear Channel owns equity in the HBC, and that, according to Justice, was a conflict of interest. "We hoped that the Department of Justice would reach a decision on the merits as opposed to, in our view, creating a new rule and applying it retroactively to the Hispanic Broadcasting CEO McHenry Tichenor Jr. said after the ruling.

Now, Cincinnati-based Secret Communications has stepped in to buy KEYI. Secret's president and CEO Frank Wood a former executive of Jacor Communications, which was acquired by Clear Channel last year has owned and operated stations in nine markets since 1994, most of them with mainstream rock formats. This is Secret's first Austin station. "Buying a stand-alone in Austin doesn't make a lot of sense," said Rob Balon of Benchmark Market Research. "But Wood's a good operator.

he would bring 20 years of broadcasting experience. But it's one station up against clusters of already successful Wood could not be reached for comment, so for now the fate of the station remains a secret. But his statement to the digest Radio and Records Today conveyed hard-line practicality. "Occasionally a deal pops up and I see opportunity," he said. "This was an economic opportunity." Despite restrictions imposed by Congress last April, the FCC began accepting applications for low-power FM radio licenses as part of a Jan.

20 decision to grant air space to community groups. The small, 100-watt frequencies could provide signals to small neighborhoods in crowded commercial markets. More than 700 applicants from community-based organizations governments in Alaska, California and 10 other states submitted the necessary documentation late last month. The second filing period begins in August, but Texans won't be eligible to apply until early next year. KVET's not talking, at least when it comes to the mysterious extended leave of midmorning host Paul Pryor.

The popular Austin radio personality, whose history of substance abuse has plagued his career, remains off the air. Listeners tell me that Bob Cole has turned defensive on the air when asked about Pryor. Regardless of the situation, many of his devoted fans hope he returns soon. Bluff or blow? Howard Stern, heard in Austin on KJFK (98.9 FM), is making noise, this time against Infinity Broadcasting and WXRK, the New York city station where his wildly popular show originates. His contract ends soon and the self-anointed "King of All Media" has ruffled feathers, threatening to cut ties with his current bosses.

Stern, angry with his L.A. affiliate's editing, also slams WXRK management for its ongoing criticism of his irreverent and often obscene humor. "Let the Howard Stern imitators take over and do my material for the next 50 years," he said. "My level of dissatisfaction has gone through the roof." They're loaded. A recent Bloomberg survey of the 500 largest U.S.

companies found AMFM's Steve Hicks topping out among radio execs. The vice chairman made more than $16 million last year, including a $752,000 salary, a million-dollar bonus and $14.8 million in stock. Radio Ink, a radio industry journal, placed Hicks in its "Most Powerful Executive" ranking. As it sees things, "He is usually 10 steps ahead of the pack." Hicks recently joined Mall.com, where his earnings should continue to grow. He'll chair the board of directors for this online shopping and entertainment portal.

Infinity's Mel Karmazin and Clear Channel's Lowry Mays each made more than $12 million, including salaries and bonuses. Other top executives include Cox Radio's Bob Neil, Hispanic Broadcasting's McHenry' Tichenor Jr. and Viacom's Sumner Redstone. Classical music program host Dan Welcher pointed out an error in my June 29 column about KMFA (89.5 FM). I quoted him saying, "KMFA's good for background music, and that's all it's good for." In fact, he was referring to the music of Vivaldi, not KMFA in general.

You may contact Dale Smith at 14. July 13, 2000 Ant Austin American-Statesman COnS a.