More Group radio sales wing to link with Katz

The radio sales arm of poster company More Group is preparing to link up with Katz Radio Sales following the &£14.3bn merger of their parent companies in the US.

More Group parent Clear Channel Communications has swallowed AMFM, formerly called Chancellor Media, creating a major media force with about 830 radio stations, more than 425,000 billboards and 19 TV stations.

AMFM also owns Katz Media, parent of the UK-based Katz Radio Sales which handles sales for 80 local radio stations including Scot FM, Essex FM and Choice FM.

Clear Channel, which has a stake in Golden Rose, the owner of Jazz FM, is expected to fold its sales operation Clear Channel Radio Sales into Katz later this year. The name of the new sales house and who will run it has yet to be decided.

Simon Lynds, president and chief executive of Katz Radio Sales, was unavailable for comment.

Jonathan Bass, development director of Clear Channel International, says the new sales house will bid for additional contracts from other UK stations.

He adds: “We want to invest in winning radio sales contracts in other European countries, such as France or Ireland, where foreign ownership rules prevent us buying a radio station.”

Bass, who has just struck a CCI deal to buy 50 per cent of a Norwegian radio group, says Clear Channel will bid for the second London digital multiplex licence with its partners Talk Radio and Ginger Media-owned Virgin Radio. The company lost the bid for the first licence to a joint venture between Capital Radio and EMAP Radio.

Pierre Lasisz, president of More Group Europe, has been appointed president of Adshel, a new post in charge of global operations in Europe and Asia.