End of Liberty

In the windy world of radio, few announcers have flown as high as Gordon McLendon, 31. Five years ago Announcer McLendon started a Dallas radio station with one big drawing card: daily broadcasts of major-league baseball games. He paid the major leagues only $1,000 a year for the privilege of broadcasting play-by-play accounts received on a teletype from the East, put the games on the air with dubbed-in sound effects of cheering crowds and the crack of bat against ball. His formula worked; soon other stations in the West and Midwest were clamoring for the broadcasts. McLendon joined them to his Liberty Broadcasting System, by last year had a network of 458 stations, second only to Mutual.

But for all its size, Liberty never made much money: only $20,000 before taxes in 1949, $50,000 in 1950. The big reason: McLendon was so eager to build his empire that he ignored sound programming, often paid more to service his stations than they paid him in affiliation fees. Last summer, in need of money, McLendon sold 50% of Liberty to Texas Oilman Hugh Roy Cullen for $1,000,000.

Then big-league ball clubs threw McLendon a curve. They complained that

Liberty was cutting minor-league attendance by piping big-time baseball to the backwoods, and jacked their fees from $1,000 to $225,000 a year. Most of them prohibited Liberty from broadcasting games anywhere in the Northeast or Midwest, or in any town where a minor-league game was on. At the news, McLendon's empire began to crumble. He lost more than 100 stations and $500,000.

McLendon then filed a damage suit for $12 million against the big-league ball clubs under the antitrust laws. Two months ago, with losses running to $66,000 a month, he went back to Oilman Cullen for more money. Cullen lent him $175,000 and told him that was all. Last month, with .losses "getting a little silly," McLendon suspended all Liberty network operations. Last week in a Dallas court, three creditors filed bankruptcy proceedings against McLendon.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.