WCRB's parent company exploring a sale
WCRB, the radio station that has been broadcasting classical music in Greater Boston for more than 50 years, is exploring a sale, its board of directors said yesterday.
''It has become increasingly difficult to operate a small group of radio stations in light of general industry consolidation," said Mary L. Marshall, chairman of Charles River Broadcasting Co., the privately held Waltham company that owns WCRB-FM (102.5) and four other stations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
National advertisers prefer dealing with radio giants such as Clear Channel Communications Inc., which has more than 1,000 stations across the country. Marshall said WCRB has been attracting fewer national advertising dollars, but she declined to specify amounts.
Given new digital technology, it may soon be possible to fit two separate broadcasts of programs over WCRB's existing air space; one possibility is that a new owner would continue broadcasting classical music on one channel and other programming on another, Marshall said.
Charles River Broadcasting said it has hired Media Services Group as a broker to explore the sale of some or all of its radio and tower properties, which include WFCC on Cape Cod and WCRI in Rhode Island. No asking price has been set, Marshall said.
In a trust document he drew up before his death in 1991, Theodore Jones, who started WCRB's classical format, expressed hope that the station would continue to air classical music. The trust owns a majority of Charles River Broadcasting's voting shares, said Marshall, who is also a trustee. The Boston Symphony Orchestra owns a small percentage of company stock. In trust documents, Jones' hope to keep the classical format at WCRB was expressed as a wish, not a command, she said.
But she said Charles River Broadcasting would make operating a classical format on at least one of WCRB's future digital channels a ''condition of the sale out of respect for Ted."
Requiring a new owner to continue WCRB's format exclusively could reduce its value because of classical music's limited popularity, an industry executive said.
Woody Tanger, chief executive of Marlin Broadcasting LLC, which owns a classical station in Hartford and an Internet radio station called Beethoven.com, said an investment group he led sold a Miami classical station in 2000 for $100 million.
The buyer later changed the station's format. If the sale had required the buyer to stick with classical music, the price would have been ''significantly less," said Tanger, who plans to meet today with WCRB's representatives to explore buying the company.
''We would make any effort possible, within reasonable economic parameters, to acquire and operate WCRB with a specific commitment to continue classical music," he said.
According to BIA Financial Network Inc., a Virginia firm that advises the telecommunications industry, WCRB had estimated 2004 revenue of $8.4 million, down from $8.6 million in 2003.
By comparison, BIA estimated that WBZ-AM (1030) had estimated 2004 revenue of $35 million.
Noting that such cities as Houston and Atlanta don't have big classical music radio stations, BIA vice president Mark Fratrik said: ''Classical music is not a popular format."
Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com. 
