Headliners of the first half of 2002:
Farid goes his own way

Part 1 of 5

"Who will be the headliners in 2002?" We asked that question in RBR's first print issue of this year and plastered 46 photos of radio notables across our front page. Many of those faces were, indeed, the newsmakers thus far in 2002—with half a year and lots of news yet to go.

Farid Suleman (pictured above) wasn't among those January photos. After all, who could have guessed that after two decades building radio companies in the shadow of Mel Karmazin (pictured left), Suleman would strike out on his own, taking the helm of Citadel Communications? Although less than a year had passed from Forstmann Little's $2B buyout of Citadel's public shareholders, Suleman and Ted Forstmann went right back to Wall Street with a $575M IPO. That stock offering hasn't yet been priced, though, and after the beating radio stocks have taken lately, that IPO may not be coming to market anytime soon.

Meanwhile, back at Viacom (N:VIA), the headlines focused on strained relations between President Karmazin and CEO Sumner Redstone (pictured left). That battle is apparently on hold--a truce in place until next year--and more recently, amid reports of mega-mergers where two plus two worked out to three or less, Karmazin and Redstone have been lately drawing praise for a string of big acquisitions that have actually worked and improved earnings. What a concept.

Who else made news in the first half of this year? Can you remember what happened? Check back each day this week and refresh your memory of the Headliners of the First Half of 2002.

Have a news story you'd like to share? [email protected]

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