Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 15, 2008 at 16:03:27:
Sean Hannity may be poised to bolt, in 57 days.
Just about the last thing Citadel wants is to lose Sean Hannity out of the ABC Radio Networks lineup. He's not only a monster biller, he's the kind of 800-pound gorilla that helps your affiliate people get other programming on the air. T-R-I has talked before about the one-year change provision in Hannity's contract, and here's the Cliff Notes version of what I think the situation is: Sean has the freedom to leave, starting one year after a sale/change of control. Citadel's going to argue that last Summer's mid-June deal with Disney for the 22 radio stations and the network wasn't a change of control, but a "merger." Where might Hannity stray to? One interested party should be Fox (for whom he does his "Hannity & Colmes"). Another is Clear Channel/Premiere. Also Jimmy de Castro at the Content Factory in Chicago (who promised to make Dan Patrick his own brand). But how about Tribune? Sean Compton just left Premiere to go work with Randy Michaels at Tribune. You might think it's ironic that Hannity's deadline comes just weeks after Compton exited Clear Channel/Premiere - when Compton had helped put the Hannity show on numerous CC stations. But I have the sneaking sensation that Compton might bring his interest with him to Tribune. As for CC/Premiere: Sean would probably love to drop into the noon-3pm slot should Rush Limbaugh ever decide to go smoke cigars fulltime. So Citadel's got an interesting 57 days ahead of it.