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Citadel scores $100M Memphis buy

Al Kaneb's Barnstable Broadcasting is exiting Memphis with a $100M check from Citadel Broadcasting after 19 years in the market.

The deal is the first major sale of 2004, following a 2003 which saw only two radio sales of $100M or more. Memphis is a new market for Citadel, where it will take over the cluster of WGKX-FM, WSRR-FM, WRBO-FM and WJZN-FM in the sale brokered by Kalil & Co.

"Memphis is a significant strategic acquisition for Citadel as it is a top 50 radio revenue market and also completes our Tennessee regional cluster, where Citadel currently owns radio stations in Knoxville, Nashville, Tri-Cities and Chattanooga," said Citadel CEO Farid Suleman.

RBR observation:

This deal instantly makes Citadel one of the big players in market #48, and it apparently had to outbid quite a few others to capture this hefty cluster. The other big players in the market are Clear Channel, Infinity and Entercom - - and the latter two have only two FMs and one AM each. It sure looks like more consolidation is likely in Memphis.

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