Sloan Broadcasting Sold
Ken Thompson
By Tiffany Kjos
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
The music stays the same with the sale of a radio empire led by KIIM-FM, but
a man who has helped shape the industry in Tucson will step aside after 45
years.
"It's business as usual. I just won't be there," said Jim Slone, founder of
Slone Broadcasting Inc. and Slone Radio LLC.
Slone sealed the sale of his five stations Thursday with a national radio
giant that has local roots: Las Vegas-based Citadel Communications Corp.,
founded in Tucson in 1984 and now owner of 143 FM and 66 AM stations in 44
cities. Citadel bought Slone Radio, which employs about 60 full-time and 20
part-time workers, for $61 million in cash and $2 million in Citadel stock.
Along with country KIIM-FM, Tucson's top-rated adult station, Slone's
stations are KHYT-FM, KOAZ-FM, KCUB-AM and KTUC-AM.
Slone said the first thing he plans to do now is go thank the woman, Leola
Randolph, who gave him his first job in the business at a radio station in
eastern New Mexico. She now lives in a nursing home in Lubbock, Texas.
Then, he said, "I'm going to loaf. I think I'll be real good at that. I want
to be the loaf king."
Slone's children will continue to work for the organization. Jamie Slone is
contracted to remain general manager for up to two years, Fred Slone will
continue as national sales manager, and Mary Slone Wambach will maintain her
position as half of the popular Max and Mary morning show on country station
KIIM-FM.
"The way we operate is we run it very autonomously as a local business,"
said Citadel CEO Larry Wilson. "Jamie will be calling the shots."
James A. Boyle, a radio analyst with First Union Securities in New York
City, said Citadel is a premier mid-market operator. Boyle said he would
expect no major changes in a Citadel takeover.
"Since radio is so people-and- management intensive, you can't do that if
you disrupt successful management operations," he said.
The sale follows a nationwide trend of large corporations buying independent
and family owned stations. Slone held out for years, vowing not to sell
unless his children agreed to it.
"I had always said I would never sell my stations as long as my children
didn't want me to, and I was true to that," Slone said.
Citadel's Wilson, born in Coolidge and a 1972 graduate of the University of
Arizona College of Law, started Citadel in Tucson in 1984. In 1988 he sold
his two Tucson stations, then KAIR 1490-AM and KJOY 94.9-FM. He said he has
wanted to return ever since.
Slone Radio is one of four major radio groups in Tucson. The others: Journal
Broadcast, Big Broadcast, Clear Channel and Lotus Communications.
"I think if you're just in one market and you're up against markets all over
America, they've got an idea bank that's a lot bigger than yours. They can
buy things cheaper," Wilson said.
Julie Davey, a partner at the media buying firm Dark Horse Media, said the
local broadcast industry has expected a Slone sale for some time.
"We've been saying in this office for years that this was going to happen.
It was a matter of when. We knew the price was going to be extraordinary for
them to sell, because they love the business," Davey said.
Slone came to Tucson in 1963 as a disc jockey at KHOS 940-AM. He started in
radio 45 years ago as a freshman in college.
He grew up 35 miles from the nearest town, Portales, N.M., and recorded four
records as the lead singer with a group called The Shy Guys.
He did not intend to get rich, Slone said, but is grateful for his career in
what he calls an "exciting and joyous" industry.
"Al Gore stole my line when he made his concession speech, and I thought it
was a wonderful line: 'It's time for me to go.' And I thought, 'Al, that's
what I was going to say to the staff when I was leaving the station.' "