Citadel Broadcasting

History

The company was founded in 1984 in Phoenix, Arizona by Larry Wilson as Citadel Associates Limited Partnership. In 1990 it was renamed Citadel Associates Montana Limited Partnership for the purpose of owning and operating stations in Montana that were formerly owned by CALP. A year later, Citadel Broadcasting was officially incorporated and in 1984 it acquired all of the radio stations owned by its predecessors. Within a decade, Citadel expanded to 26 states. Within that time period, it absorbed all Bloomington Broadcasting radio holdings and 11 stations from Dick Broadcasting Company and also acquired three radio stations from Slone Broadcasting, Inc. and Slone Radio, LLC. In 2000, Liggett Broadcasting sold its radio stations in Michigan, New York, Minnesota, South Carolina, Ohio, and California to Citadel, with Bob Liggett becoming a member of Citadel's Board of Directors. In 2001, Larry Wilson sold Citadel to private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company for $2.1 billion. By that time, the company had grown to 205 stations in 42 markets.

In January 2005, Citadel yanked Howard Stern's syndicated radio show from four of its stations, with Stern saying it was because he was talking too much about his impending switch to Sirius Satellite Radio. Stern then began to make fun of Citadel's chairman and CEO, Farid Suleman. Citadel Broadcasting launched an online subsidiary called Citadel Interactive in 2005, and a year later launched Right Now Radio under Citadel Interactive's operation. By June 2007, scores of Citadel stations could be streamed online.

Purchase of ABC Radio

On February 6, 2006, Forstmann Little and The Walt Disney Company agreed to merge Citadel with Disney's ABC Radio. Shares representing 57% of Citadel were distributed to shareholders of The Walt Disney Company following the company's acquisition of 22 stations from ABC Radio.

16%: Former Citadel shareholders exclusive of Forstmann Little or shareholders in Disney