LOWRY MAYS,
1935-2022

Lowry Mays, whose Clear Channel Communications became a radio behemoth in the early days of media deregulation and who dove deep into the concert business and TV ownership, died Monday at the age of 87.

Clear Channel, which started in San Antonio, Texas, in 1972 with a single station, would own more than 1,200 radio stations, 40 TV stations and a billboard company by the end of the 1990s. In the early 2000s, it was also the world's largest producer, promoter and presenter of live entertainment.

The chairman of Clear Channel for more than 30 years, Mays and his partner Red McCombs acquired more than a dozen Texas stations in the ‘70s, going public in 1984. The company bought its first TV station in 1988 and following Congress’ overhaul of ownership rules in in 1996, went on an unprecedented buying spree.

Clear Channel purchased Jacor in 1998 in a $3.4b stock swap, adding 450 radio stations. A year later it bought AMFM in a deal valued at $17.4b in stock and $6.1b in debt. The debt would later lead to a bankruptcy reorganization.

In 2000, Clear Channel jumped into live entertainment with the $4.4b acquisition of Robert F.X. Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment. The division was spun off in 2005 and became Live Nation.

Mays handed the day-to-day operations of Clear Channel to his son Mark Mays in 2005 after suffering a stroke.

The company was eventually renamed iHeartMedia and pared down to 850 radio stations as the new owners spun off the billboard company and sold the TV stations.

Mays was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004. A business school at his alma mater, Texas A&M University, is named after him.