Taking Three For the Team

Redskins' Dan Snyder To Expand Media Holdings With Area Radio Stations

(By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is nearing the purchase of three area radio stations as part of a broader plan to expand his media holdings, sources close to Snyder said yesterday.

The stations, which would carry Redskins games starting next season, have signals that are too weak to broadcast across the entire Washington area, but Snyder intends to buy more stations to expand his reach, sources with knowledge of the deal said.

Snyder's intention to buy three stations owned by Florida-based Mega Communications -- WBPS-FM of Warrenton, WBZS-FM of Prince Frederick in Calvert County and WKDL-AM of Alexandria -- will be announced next week. Terms of the prospective deal have not been disclosed.

In addition to the Redskins, Snyder wants other live sports programming for the stations. In recent weeks, he has had discussions with the Washington Nationals, to try to win rights to their games, local broadcasters said. The baseball team, however, is expected to sign with Bonneville Broadcasting, which intends to put Nationals games on two stations, WTWP-AM and FM, that it is programming in conjunction with The Washington Post.

Snyder yesterday moved a step closer to becoming a radio station owner by hiring Bennett Zier, one of the area's leading radio executives, to be chief executive of his newly formed media company, Red Zebra Broadcasting.

Zier, 49, resigned earlier this week as regional vice president of radio giant Clear Channel Communications. He oversaw eight FM and AM stations that broadcast in the Washington area, including sports-talk station WTEM-AM. In all, Zier has had responsibility for 32 Clear Channel stations in an area stretching from Baltimore to Charlottesville.

Snyder's desire to own radio stations follows several developments within his expanding business empire. For the past five seasons, Redskins games have been carried by WJFK-FM, under a $50 million contract that ranked as one of the richest in the radio business. However, WJFK's owner, CBS Radio, lost money on the deal and balked at renewing at a similar or higher price when the contract ran out at the end of the regular season.

Rather than trying to sell broadcast rights in an uncertain market, Snyder began exploring an outright purchase of a local radio station last month.

The Mega-owned stations broadcast Spanish-language pop music. But their signals are relatively weak, especially at night, when the AM station is required under FCC regulations to cut back its transmission power to a mere 25 watts. As configured, the three signals barely reach FedEx Field, the Redskins' home in Landover. They also are all but inaudible in prime Redskins territory -- parts of the District, and Montgomery and Fairfax counties.

Snyder has several options. He could buy more stations, or purchase airtime on a station that would broadcast the games to unserved areas. One local radio executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested that a likely candidate for a Redskins "time buy" would be Clear Channel's WTEM.

Apart from the Redskins, Snyder hasn't determined what the stations' format, or formats, will be. Zier will conduct research to figure that out.

In an interview yesterday, Zier offered no programming specifics, but said: "We will have a fully efficient cluster of stations. We will cover the market." Snyder's media group also could include TV stations and Internet ventures, Zier said.

Snyder also sees radio as a promotional vehicle for the Six Flags amusement park chain. As the largest shareholder of the 29-park chain, Snyder won approval from the company's other shareholders to become its chairman in December. He has named an associate, former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro, as Six Flags' chief executive.

Snyder's spokesman, Karl Swanson, yesterday declined to comment on Snyder's media plans.

Zier has been one of the most successful executives in Washington radio, but he leaves a mixed record behind at Clear Channel. His stations -- which include rock giant DC101, soft-rock WASH-FM and country king WMZQ-FM -- have been strong bottom-line performers. But Clear Channel is widely known in the radio business for its tight cost control, and Zier often had to cut back rather than expand his stations' programming initiatives and innovations.

Clear Channel's Washington-area group, for example, has eliminated its local news department. A week before Christmas, Clear Channel shut its public affairs department and dismissed Jerry Phillips, who had produced and hosted community-oriented programs on local radio for 35 years. On Sept. 11, 2001, as the region was gripped with confusion and panic during the terrorist attacks, Clear Channel's local stations resorted to airing the audio portion of WRC-TV's coverage.

On the AM side, Clear Channel's three area stations -- WRC, WTEM and WTNT -- rely heavily on syndicated fare heard across the country, such as Don Imus's morning program. The FM stations have some distinctive personalities, such as Elliot Segal of DC101's "Elliot in the Morning" program. Zier has been instrumental in nationally syndicating some of his hosts, such as Glenn Hollis's "After Hours" program from WASH-FM and Steve Czaban on WTEM.

Zier said yesterday the name Red Zebra was chosen after a 10-minute conversation with Snyder. Zier had suggested "Blue Zebra" -- an old e-mail handle of Zier's -- but Snyder countered that blue was a Dallas Cowboys color. They settled on a more Redskins-friendly shade.