Federal Communications Commission FCC 07-41
1
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
Re:  Applications of Citadel Broadcasting Company for Consent to Renewal and for 
Assignment of Licenses; and of Shareholders of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation and of 
the Walt Disney Co. for Consent to Transfers of Control, Memorandum Opinion and 
Order and Notice of Apparent Liability.
I support this Order to approve the transaction between Citadel Broadcasting Corporation 
(“Citadel”) and ABC Radio because, in certain important respects, it addresses broadcast media 
issues about which I have been very concerned.  
Citadel has reached an agreement in principle with the Commission to settle our ongoing 
investigation into alleged pay-for-play practices. The allegations against Citadel stemmed from 
documents and materials that the New York Attorney General’s Office and Red Wolf 
Broadcasting Corporation supplied to the Commission.  I endorse the approach taken in the draft 
Consent Decree because, while Citadel does not admit to any violation of FCC rules, Citadel has 
shown leadership in reaching an amicable resolution of these serious allegations.  In the course of 
our discussions, Citadel has agreed to a significant fine, and to implement meaningful business 
reforms that will track all transactions with major and independent radio labels, make those 
exchanges more transparent to the public, and train programming employees to conduct business 
in a manner more consistent with federal sponsorship identification laws, thereby helping set new 
ethical standards for the entire radio industry.  In addition, Citadel has made commitments above 
and beyond the draft Consent Decree to add significant airtime for local and independent artists, 
and to adhere to rules of engagement designed to improve the ability of emerging artist to get 
heard on the airwaves.
Another reason I support this Order is because of Citadel’s commitment to comply with 
our media ownership rules and to make special efforts to increase diversity of ownership.  One of 
the positive results of this merger is that Citadel is losing its grandfathering rights with respect to 
eleven stations in seven markets in which its attributable radio interests exceed our local radio 
ownership limits.  I am pleased that Citadel decided to resolve this issue by creating a non-
attributable trust for the purpose of divesting the merged entity of these non-compliant stations.  
Equally important, Citadel is committed to taking positive steps to seek qualified women 
and minority purchasers.  While the Commission has yet to recognize “socially and economically 
disadvantaged businesses” as regulatory classification, I am encouraged that members of the 
broadcasting community, such as Citadel, are aware of the lack of women and minority 
ownership of broadcast properties and are taking active steps to address the problem. 
I would like to thank my colleagues, particularly Commissioner McDowell, for working 
to develop language that addresses some of our mutual concerns about diversity of ownership.  I 
firmly believe that the Commission needs to do much more than just “encourage” greater women 
and minority ownership of broadcast properties.  We need to develop regulatory measures to 
facilitate ownership and access to capital.  The time is long overdue for this Commission to 
address the plight of the majority of the U.S. population in a non-partisan, straightforward and 
honest manner.  I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue making progress on 
diversity, as we have attempted to do in this transaction.