Clear Channel cutting 1,850 jobs

The parent of Clear Channel Communications Inc. told workers Tuesday it is cutting 1,850 jobs as the nation’s largest owner of radio stations grapples with the economic meltdown.

The cuts represent about 9 percent of the company’s total work force and affect staff throughout the company, in radio, outdoor advertising and corporate offices.

Clear Channel operates six stations in the Spokane market: KCDA-FM, KISC-FM, KIXZ-FM, KKZX-FM, KPTQ-AM, KQNT-AM. It was unclear Tuesday how the cuts would affect workers at those stations.

The advertising market has been soft, especially for radio stations.

In the third quarter, the company lost $86.1 million before discontinued operations compared to a profit of $253.4 million. The just-concluded quarter included $148.8 million in merger-related expenses and other one-time items. Revenue fell by 4 percent to $1.7 billion.

The steepest drop was in radio advertising, down 7 percent to $844 million.

Private equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP formed CC Media Holdings to acquire Clear Channel in July for $17.9 billion.

Clear Channel operates more than 800 radio stations reaching more than 110 million listeners in 50 states.

SAN FRANCISCO

Google scraps newspaper ad sales

Google Inc. is giving up on selling print ads for the ailing newspaper industry, ending a two-year-old attempt to extend its dominance of Internet marketing into another medium.

The retrenchment announced Tuesday is part of a cost-cutting campaign aimed at boosting Google’s profits as the deepening recession eats away at Google’s bread-and-butter business of selling ads on its own Web site and thousands of other Internet destinations.

Emboldened by its online success, Google set out in November 2006 to help newspapers that have seen their revenue evaporate as more advertisers shifted their spending to the Internet to connect with the Web’s growing audience.

Under the program, potential advertisers were allowed to bid online to fill unsold space in the participating newspapers, leaving it up to publishers whether to accept the offers.

But Mountain View, Calif.-based Google concluded that its online expertise wasn’t paying off in print, prompting management to pull the plug on its newspaper program effective Feb. 28.

The decision affects about 800 U.S. newspapers, up from the 50 publications that had initially enlisted Google’s help.