Digital "RadioIQ"

Deals may be near on media biz with Susquehanna Radio and ABC Radio on the trading block and if you wonder why the continued escalation in stick values and seemingly-amazing prices being paid for radio properties isn't making sense to you, consider this: perhaps you are thinking simply in terms of cost efficiencies of combining operations and eliminating marketing budgets. And, I must say that I agree with you if you are feeling that there simply isn't enough potential cost savings there to fund what is happening right now over the long-term. Luckily for the broadcast business, there is a lot more to it than that.

Yes, there is also the prospect of increasing radio's share of ad revenues at the expense of other media, rather than wasting time trying to take small change out of another radio station's pocket. But, there is even more upside potential involved.

AM and, especially FM, spectrum value can only increase in the future as digital technology opens up a plethora of potential uses.

Some very smart people feel that, no matter whether, in the future, they are in the radio business as we know it today or NOT, tomorrow's digital world means that the unique properties of radio and TV bandspace will make them extremely valuable!

It's a great time for those of us who know what business we are in .. entertainment and information.