The FCC has given Clear Channel the green light to take the company private, according to media reports:

The broadcaster, Clear Channel Communications, is being taken private by a group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners for $39.20 a share. Shareholders already have approved the transaction. A formal announcement will probably be released next week.

The buyout still needs approval from the Justice Department.

In Chicago, Clear Channel owns WGCI-FM, WGRB-FM, WKSC-FM, WLIT-FM, WNUA-FM, and…

Edison Research has named Chicago the #1 market for radio listeners:

But nobody who has ever been connected with Chicago radio will be surprised. This is a market where radio has always been taken very seriously and held to a certain standard.

The article by Sean Ross does a nice job celebrating what we in Chicago already know to be true. This is a fantastic radio market, with tremendous talent working at great stations.

Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown details the coup that WPWR-TV scored by securing the rights to air this Thursday night’s Bears vs. Redskins game:

On a normal night these days, WPWR is happy to have a program that draws 2 percent of the television audience in the Chicago market. For Thursday’s Bears game, the station is hoping to reach 24 percent of Chicago households watching their TVs.

Brown also recounts the fiasco that is the NFL Network shutting out the…

The Tribune Company cleared one of the last regulatory hurdles needed before the company became private. The FCC granted a permanent waiver of cross-ownership rules that would have restricted the Trib from owning a newspaper, WGN-TV, and WGN-AM in Chicago.

The 3-2 decision came on party lines, with the Republican commissioners approving and the Democratic commissioners dissenting.

The ruling will allow Sam Zell to close on his acquisition of the Trib by the end of 2007.

Weeks before it was supposed to go on-line in some of the nation’s largest radio markets, Arbitron has decided to delay the roll-out of its personal people meter (PPM) system.

In a release, Aribtron’s chief exec and president said:

… over the past three weeks, feedback from our customers, the Media Rating Council and other constituencies has led us to conclude that the radio industry would be better served if we were to delay further commercialization of the PPM in

…

One of the great TV newsmen in Chicago history passed away last night. John Drury, who had been battling Lou Gehrig’s disease for several years, passed away at his home in Wheaton at the age of 80.

Drury anchored and reported for WBBM-TV, WGN-TV, and WLS-TV during his long career in this city.

A number of media outlets are offering their tributes: Ch.7, Ch. 2, Trib, Sun-Times,  Ch. 5.

Here’s Feder’s take:

John Drury,

…

Everyone expected it, and now it’s come to fruition. The heritage call letters WCKG will no longer be attached to 105.9 FM in Chicago. Beginning this weekend, the new Fresh 105.9 will be know by the call letters WCFS, for “Chicago’s Fresh.”

Dave Robbins, vice president and general manager of WCKG, said response to the new format so far has been “amazing.”

“We feel the station is dialed in musically,” he said. “Having been
involved in many

…

Rob Feder is speculating this morning that the Tribune’s WGN-AM, the top-rated news/talk station in city and a Chicago institution, may be on the auction block.

As reported here, there’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about media cross-ownership, and the Tribune has been in the center of the bullseye, with its portfolio of print and broadcast properties.

Feder claims that FCC Chair Kevin Martin would like to see WGN-AM spun-off as a condition of the Tribune’s sale…