Emmis Broadcasting

On July 1, 1987, WFAN in New York introduced a new concept: 24-hour sports radio. The station has suffered poor ratings through its first seven months of operation, but its parent company, Emmis Broadcasting of Indianapolis, maintains that it is committed to the all-sports concept. Emmis also owns highly rated KPWR-FM in Los Angeles, a station using Emmis' more conventional format of urban-dance music.

On July 1, 1987, WFAN in New York introduced a new concept: 24-hour sports radio. The station has suffered poor ratings through its first seven months of operation, but its parent company, Emmis Broadcasting of Indianapolis, maintains that it is committed to the all-sports concept. Emmis also owns highly rated KPWR-FM in Los Angeles, a station using Emmis' more conventional format of urban-dance music.

Owner George Argyros said Saturday that he has had serious discussions about selling the Seattle Mariners to a group of Indianapolis businessmen but that even if the deal should go through, the team would remain in Seattle. He said the group is headed by Jeff Smulyan, owner of Emmis Broadcasting Corp., and includes Indianapolis real estate developer Michael Browning.

Coming Aboard: Jeff Wyatt, formerly Power 106 programming director and regional vice president of programming for Emmis Broadcasting, is the new afternoon drive personality at KIIS-FM. Wyatt also hosts the syndicated "American Dance Traxx" carried on more than 200 stations worldwide. . . . Veteran KRLA newsman Richard Beebe, who first joined the station in 1959, is back as the morning anchor.

There's a new subject on the syllabus this fall at USC: What are the legal and policy implications of changes in the communications industry? To answer that question, the university last week established the USC Center for Communications Law and Policy at USC Law School. The Annenberg School for Communication and the Annenberg Center for Communication will also sponsor the new interdisciplinary center.

Another bit of airwave history died Friday when WNBC-AM, once the New York flagship station of the NBC Radio Network, signed off after 62 years on the air. Its 50,000-watt, clear-channel 660 slot on the AM dial was promptly taken over by all-sports WFAN. WFAN is owned by Emmis Broadcasting, which bought WNBC-AM and four others from General Electric--NBC's new owner--for $121.5 million.

A co-owner of the Seattle Mariners flew an Indianapolis teen-ager to Seattle for cancer treatment today. Businessman Jeff Smulyan offered a ride in his Learjet to 16-year-old Shaun O'Neal, his mother and his sister after learning Tuesday of the teen-ager's need to travel to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. O'Neal is to undergo a bone marrow transplant from his sister, Nicole, 21.

Indianapolis-based radio station owner Emmis Broadcasting Corp. has agreed to pay $307 million in cash and stock to buy four television stations from New York-based SF Broadcasting, which is owned 50-50 by USA Networks Inc. and News Corp.'s Fox. The stations are in Honolulu; New Orleans; Mobile, Ala.; and Green Bay, Wis. In a separate deal, Emmis will buy two stations from privately held Wabash Valley Broadcasting, also based in Indianapolis, for $90 million.