Very sad ...

From Tom Taylor:

Clear Channel makes Ryan Seacrest the $60 Million Man

Clear Channel gets even more of Ryan Seacrest.

This was a renewal John Hogan simply had to get - Seacrest is the linchpin of top-rated and top-billing CHR KIIS-FM, Los Angeles, the star of the syndicated daily "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" that airs on many Clear Channel (and other) stations, and the anchor of Premiere's weekly "American Top 40." So is $60 million over the next three years worth it to Hogan? You bet. The New York Times reports the expanded contract goes beyond just the Pentagon-size numbers. (Seacrest's expiring three-year deal is worth perhaps $35 million.) Seacrest will help CC develop new on-air and digital content. He'll joint-venture with Clear Channel for a potential new "record label, music publishing business and live concert series", says the Times. (Don't you see echoes of Dick Clark's career here? Seacrest has studied the hero of "American Bandstand.") And the highly entrepreneurial Seacrest has the rights to sell some advertising in his shows and (says the Times) to "embed his own marketing partners into the programming." So Clear Channel successfully renews Ryan Seacrest, while another signature talent is leaving terrestrial radio in a month -