iheartmedia inc. holding company clear channel communications inc. iheartcommunications inc. subsidiary type private 70 % 1 public 30 % 1 traded as otcqb ihrt industry mass media founded 2008 iheartmedia inc. holding company 1972 iheartcommunications inc. subsidiary headquarters san antonio texas united states key people bob pittman chairman ceo 2 products radio broadcasting outdoor advertising revenue us 6.318 billion 2014 3 operating income us 1.081 billion 2014 3 net income us 793.761 million 2014 3 total assets us 15.097 billion 2013 4 us 16.292 billion 2012 4 total equity us 9.889 billion 2014 3 owner bain capital thomas h. lee partners number of employees 20 800 dec 2012 5 divisions iheartmedia sans inc. suffix ; formerly clear channel media and entertainment clear channel radio et al. subsidiaries broader media llc iheartcommunications inc. iheartmedia and entertainment inc. iheartmedia capital i llc clear channel outdoor holdings inc. website iheartmedia.com pages home.aspx iheartmedia inc. formerly cc media holdings inc. is an american mass media corporation headquartered in san antonio texas . it is the holding company of iheartcommunications inc. formerly clear channel communications inc. a company founded by lowry mays and b. j. red mccombs in 1972 and later taken private by bain capital llc and thomas h. lee partners through a leveraged buyout in 2008 . as a result of this buyout clear channel communications inc. began to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of cc media holdings inc. 6 7 on september 16 2014 cc media holdings inc. was rebranded iheartmedia inc. ; and clear channel communications inc. became iheartcommunications inc. 8 9 iheartmedia inc. specializes in radio broadcasting through division iheartmedia sans inc. suffix ; formerly clear channel media and entertainment clear channel radio et al. and subsidiary iheartmedia and entertainment inc. formerly clear channel broadcasting inc. ; the company owns more than 850 full power am and fm radio stations in the u.s. making it the nation s largest owner of radio stations . additionally the company leases two channels on sirius xm satellite radio and has expanded its online presence through the iheartradio platform . 10 11 12 iheartmedia inc. also specializes in outdoor advertising through subsidiary clear channel outdoor holdings inc. the name clear channel came from am broadcasting referring to a channel frequency on which only one station transmits . in the u.s. clear channel stations have exclusive rights to their frequencies throughout most of the continent at night when am signals travel far due to skywave . the company s new name is intended to reflect its growing digital business . bob pittman chairman and ceo of iheartmedia inc. explained we have a company that s doing progressive stuff and yet we re named after am radio stations . 13 since 2008 iheartmedia inc. has struggled to pay down more than 20 billion in debt the company acquired from its leveraged buyout . various media outlets including bloomberg news reuters radio ink and iheartmedia s hometown newspaper the san antonio express news claim that either bankruptcy or a major restructuring is likely and may come as early as 2016 . 1 14 15 16 contents 1 history 2 clear channel sale 2.1 setbacks and cost cutting 3 businesses 3.1 radio 3.2 outdoor advertising 3.3 television 3.4 live events 3.5 music charts 3.5.1 music rating 3.6 news and information 3.7 worldwide 3.8 vertical real estate 4 corporate governance 4.1 top executives 5 programming on iheartmedia radio stations 5.1 format lab and hd2 formats 5.2 iheartradio 5.3 alternative stations 5.4 urban urban ac and rhythmic stations 5.5 smooth jazz 5.6 dance and edm 5.7 news talk stations 5.8 sports talk stations 5.9 adult standards 5.10 adult contemporary 5.11 contemporary hit radio 5.12 country music 5.13 oldies and classic hits 5.14 rock 5.15 spanish 5.16 religious 5.17 specialties 6 iheartmedia syndicated programs 7 criticism of iheartmedia 7.1 market share 7.2 september 11 2001 7.3 live music recordings 7.4 indecency zero tolerance 7.5 concerts 7.6 production of local programming 7.7 lack of local staff during emergency 7.8 rejection of advertising images 7.9 censorship 7.10 use of paid actors posing as callers 7.11 iheartmedia and rock radio 8 see also 9 references 10 further reading 11 external links history edit former clear channel logos clear channel communications purchased its first fm station in san antonio in 1972 . the company purchased the second clear channel am station woai in 1975 . in 1976 the company purchased its first stations outside of san antonio . kxxo am and kmod fm in tulsa were acquired under the name san antonio broadcasting same as keez . stations were also added in port arthur texas kpac am fm from port arthur college and el paso texas kelp am now kqbu am from john walton jr. . in 1992 the u.s. congress relaxed radio ownership rules slightly allowing the company to acquire more than 2 stations per market . by 1995 clear channel owned 43 radio stations and 16 television stations . when the telecommunications act of 1996 became law the act deregulated media ownership allowing a company to own more stations than previously allowed . clear channel went on a subsequent buying spree purchasing more than 70 other media companies and individual stations . in a few cases following purchase of a competitor clear channel was forced to divest some of its stations as it was above the legal thresholds in some cities . in 2005 the courts ruled that clear channel must also divest itself of some border blaster radio stations in international border cities such as the alternative rock radio station xetra fm 91x in tijuana baja california san diego . in 1997 clear channel moved out of pure broadcasting when it purchased billboard firm eller media 17 which was led by karl eller . in 1998 it made its first move outside of the united states when it acquired the leading uk outdoor advertising company more group plc which was led by roger parry ; clear channel went on to buy many other outdoor advertising radio broadcasting and live events companies around the world which were then re branded clear channel international . these included a 51 % stake in clear media ltd. in china . 18 in 1999 the company acquired jacor communications a radio corporation based in cincinnati . 19 r. steven hicks and hicks muse tate & furst began capstar broadcasting in 1996 and a year later had become the largest owner of radio stations in the country with 243 stations in all . in august 1997 capstar and hicks muse tate & furst announced plans to acquire sfx broadcasting with the resulting company owning 314 stations in 79 markets and ranking as the third largest radio group by income . 20 a year later chancellor media corporation and capstar broadcasting corporation announced a merger that would result in chancellor media owning 463 stations in 105 markets when the deal was completed in second quarter 1999 . hicks muse tate & furst owned 59 percent of capstar with 355 stations in 83 markets and was the largest single owner of chancellor which had 108 stations in 22 markets with 15 percent of the stock . 21 chancellor media later became amfm inc. which was acquired by clear channel in a deal announced october 3 1999 and valued at 17.4 billion . the resulting company would own 830 radio stations 19 television stations and over 425 000 outdoor displays in 32 countries . 22 23 24 in 2005 clear channel communications split into three separate companies . clear channel communications was a radio broadcaster ; clear channel outdoor was out of home advertising ; and live nation was live events . 25 the mays family remained in effective control of all three and held key executive roles in each with mark mays as ceo of both radio and outdoor and randall mays as chairman of live nation . on november 16 2006 clear channel announced plans to go private being bought out by two private equity firms thomas h. lee partners and bain capital partners for 18.7 billion which was just under a 10 percent premium above its closing price of 35.36 a share on november 16 the deal values clear channel at 37.60 per share . 26 27 the new ownership of clear channel also announced that all of its tv stations were for sale as well as 448 radio stations that were outside of the top 100 markets . 28 all of the tv stations and 161 of the radio stations were sold to a providence equity partners a private equity firm on april 23 2007 pending fcc approval . 29 30 on july 24 2008 clear channel held a special shareholder meeting during which the majority of shareholders accepted a revised 36 per share offer from bain capital and thomas h. lee partners . 31 32 the company announced on july 30 that it would offer shareholders either 36 in cash or one share of cc media class a common stock for each share of clear channel common stock held . 33 in early 2010 it was announced that the company was facing bankruptcy due to its crippling debt . 34 after 21 years mark mays stepped down as president and ceo of clear channel on june 23 2010 . 35 mays will remain as chairman of the board a position he has held for a year prior . the board engaged egon zehnder international a leading executive search firm to lead the search for a new ceo . 36 on october 2 2011 robert w. bob pittman was named ceo of clear channel . 37 38 on january 6 2014 clear channel announced a marketing partnership with robert f.x. sillerman s sfx entertainment whose original incarnation was coincidentally sold to clear channel and spun off to form live nation which will see the two firms collaborate on electronic dance music content for its digital and terrestrial radio outlets ; including a beatport top 20 countdown show which will air on some of iheartmedia s major market contemporary hit radio stations a national talent search and an original live music series which will include two concerts in the style of its jingle ball events around halloween 2014 . the partnership will expand upon iheartmedia s existing edm oriented outlets such as evolution . iheartmedia staff including john sykes believed that the deal particularly the beatport countdown show would help provide a higher level of national exposure to current and up and coming edm artists . 39 40 41 in 2016 one of the company s directors julia b. donnelly left the board of iheartcommunications and will be replaced by laura a. grattan a director at thomas h. lee . grattan named to the board of managers of iheartmedia capital i llc the direct parent of iheartcommunications as well as the board of directors of iheartmedia inc. the indirect parent of iheartcommunications . 42 clear channel sale edit on friday november 17 2006 clear channel announced that it was going private and selling off almost one third of its radio assets according to the washington post and dhm . the buyers led by bain capital partners and thomas h. lee partners agreed to pay 26.7 billion for the company . 26 in a separate transaction also announced on november 16 2006 clear channel said it would seek buyers for all of its television stations and 539 of its smaller radio stations presumably because the private equity buyers are not interested in owning television or small market radio . over a hundred stations have already been assigned to aloha station trust llc upon the consummation of the merger . the television stations were ultimately sold to newport television . 43 on september 25 2007 the shareholders approved of the buyout allowing clear channel to proceed with being taken private ending 35 years as a public company . 44 setbacks and cost cutting edit due to the credit market