MADISON UPLOADS TO CEO
AT CLICKRADIO

Secure-cache digital radio service ClickRadio today announced the appointment of radio and record industry veteran John V. Madision to the post of CEO. At the same time, the company announced the appointment of fellow radio gunslingers R. Steven Hicks and Bobby Lawrence to the company’s board of directors. The moves increase ClickRadio’s executive headcount by one and brings the size of its board to six, thus inching the company ever closer to the level of corporate bloat enjoyed by that Platonic ideal of all bottom-line-driven, uberconsolidated radio conglomerates, Clear Channel.

Madison will be responsible for managing the company’s day-to-day operations while building ClickRadio’s user base, advertising revenue, distribution channels and strategic partnerships. He takes the CEO reins from ClickRadio co-founder David Benjamin, who served as interim CEO. Benjamin will retain his other titles of Vice Chairman and Senior Vice President for Entertainment Services.

Madison, who has logged more than 25 years in the radio and record industries, was most recently Senior Vice President of Regional Operations for AMFM.

"John was an obvious choice to lead this company," Benjamin said in a statement. "His leadership skills, key industry relationships and intimate knowledge of the radio and music business will significantly expand ClickRadio’s reach and range of opportunities. And besides that, he knows all kinds of wacky Morning Zoo bits that really make me laugh."

New ClickRadio directors Hicks and Lawrence also have high-powered backgrounds: Hicks is Chairman of Capstar Partners, LLC, a private investment company. Before forming Capstar, he was Vice Chairman of AMFM Inc. Lawrence is a former President and COO of Jacor Communications who began his radio career with Clear Channel’s Randy Michaels at Taft Broadcasting in the mid-1970s.

"In setting out to turn a start-up into a worldwide media company, I couldn’t ask for better support on our Board than from Steve Hicks and Bobby Lawrence," said Madison in a statement. "They were pivotal players in building what quickly became the largest and most prosperous radio businesses in the world, including Hicks Communications, SFX Broadcasting, Capstar Broadcasting, Chancellor Media, AMFM and Jacor Communications. Steve and Bobby bring a depth of knowledge and experience to ClickRadio which will be invaluable to the company. What’s more, they share my morning-drive sense of humor and love for kooky hijinks, which is always a plus."

In other news, ClickRadio has made a deal with the World Wrestling Federation to be its "official digital radio network." As part of the deal, ClickRadio has created "WWF Rocks," a special ClickRadio channel dedicated to the kind of headbanging, stuff-breaking rap-rock that wrestling fans love. The channel, which is to be the first of many for the WWF, was developed in conjunction with WWF Records, run by music biz vet Ron McCarrell.

Another component of the WWF deal is an agreement between ClickRadio and Kmart to sell ClickRadio/WWF "starter kits" (CD-ROMs with lots of software to make ClickRadio work and play headbanging wrestling music) at the retailer's stores. The kits will be priced between one and two dollars, and 400,000 of them will be in Kmart stores by August 1. Or was that one or two kits, priced at $400,000?