Indie 103.1’s future unsettled

Fans of Indie 103.1 will have to stay tuned to learn the fate of the station. A spokeswoman for Entravision Communications Corp., the Santa Monica-based owner of the station, said Thursday that the company is “evaluating its options” for the station and will likely continue to do so through April 1.

That date is circled on the calendar because it will bring to an end Entravision’s business partnership with Clear Channel, the radio titan that has been selling ads for Indie 103.1 since the channel launched 14 months ago. The station simulcasts from Newport Beach and Santa Monica under the tandem call letters KDLD-FM and KDLE-FM.

A revision of federal regulations is forcing the divorce; Clear Channel owns eight stations in the Los Angeles market and the changed policy will count the Indie arrangement as a ninth holding, which exceeds the market cap set by law.

Radio industry insiders are speculating that the loss of the partner may prompt Entravision, a primarily Spanish-language media company, to shed the adventurous rock format.

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Geoff Boucher