Wall Street bankers, Mel Karmazin and, presumably, his parents love Farid Suleman, the Citadel Communications CEO who last week vaulted into radio’s upper echelons with a $2.7 billion deal for Disney’s ABC Radio.
Radio industry insiders, former underlings and some of Suleman’s new colleagues, however, view him less adoringly.
“Farid is well-respected, but not necessarily well-liked,” said a banker who has crossed paths with Suleman. “He’s a numbers guy, not a chummy guy.”
Nor does he have to be, says Karmazin, who spent 16 years with Suleman at Infinity before leaving for Sirius Satellite Radio.
“[Farid] never had difficulty attracting talent to the company, and I’m not aware of anyone who had a problem working for him,” Karmazin said. “So some people wouldn’t want to have a drink with him. So what, there’s a lot of people like that.”
Suleman, a Tanzanian-born 53 year-old, readily agrees with this assessment of his personality.
“It’s not a productive use of mine or anyone else’s time to constantly be socializing,” said Suleman who comes off as likeable and unpretentious. “I don’t do industry things well. I don’t hang out and go to dinners. I feel I can accomplish a lot more by focusing on my business.”
Suleman hasn’t yet mapped out a plan for his expanded network, but he’ll need to marshal all his faculties to grow Citadel in a stagnating radio climate.
The ABC Radio deal transforms Citadel, controlled by private-equity firm Forstmann Little, from a second-tier player into the third-largest radio power behind Clear Channel and CBS Radio in terms of station count (243), revenue (estimated at $900 million next year) and audience reach.
It also gives Citadel a national footprint with a presence in New York and Los Angeles, and the ABC news network, talk shows with Sean Hannity, Tom Joyner and Paul Harvey and other shows. But the deal comes at a time when advertising trends make clear that terrestrial radio’s heady growth days are over. Revenue from national advertising dropped 2 percent last year, while local advertising grew by just 1 percent, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.
And, according to CIBC World Markets analyst Jason Helfstein, over the last three years ABC Radio’s rating in the all-important 18- to 34-year-old demographic are down 18 percent.
Those statistics foreshadow the migration of some 9 million listeners, and top talent including Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey, to satellite radio.
All these factors, combined with Suleman’s reputation as a ruthless cost-cutter, have got ABC Radio employees jittery about job security.
“People around here very anxious right now,” said one ABC Radio insider.
Though Suleman claims no layoffs are planned, he said he has no problem “redeploying costs” away from areas (or people) that are underperforming.
That includes himself as well. As Suleman, who has never had a formal employment contract, notes: “This isn’t my company. Teddy Forstmann owns it, and I can leave tomorrow if I don’t perform.” [email protected]
Amped up
Citadel Communications’ deal to buy ABC Radio boosts its presence nationwide – particularly in major metro markets such as New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles.
KEY – NUMBER ON STATES (CODED BY SHADING, SIZE, or STYLE): Total Citadel stations (prior to ABC Radio deal)/New stations acquired in ABC Radio deal
NM 6
PA 17
LA16
NV 4
AL 11
ID 6
NY 16/2
SC 11
TN 21
CO 5
IA 5
MI 17/3
IN 3
AK 10
CA 8/4
WA 7
AZ 5
MA 7
CT 4
OK 8
ME 13
NH 4
RI 6
UT 8
WASH., D.C. 0/3
GA 0/2
IL 0/2
MN 0/3
TX 0/3