CBC to End Aahs Programming

MINNEAPOLIS —  Children’s Broadcasting Corp. said Monday that it has notified its affiliate radio stations that it will no longer distribute its Aahs World Radio programming after Jan. 30.

The move was forced by competition from Walt Disney Co. and its ABC Radio Network unit, said CBC President and Chairman Christopher T. Dahl. A lawsuit filed by the Minneapolis-based company against Disney/ABC is expected to go to trial early next year.

Aahs became a national network of children’s programming in October 1992. At its peak, it had 32 affiliate stations reaching about 40% of the country.

Dahl said CBC had received cancellation notices from several important affiliates since June, when it announced the sale of all 13 of its radio stations to Global Broadcasting Co., also because of the Disney/ABC competition. The $72.5-million sale is expected to close in January.

Although CBC had planned to continue its Aahs programming through its affiliates, the cancellations forced the company to change its plans, Dahl said.

“As difficult and painful as this decision was to make, and as much as we continue to believe in the children’s radio market CBC has pioneered, we were simply not in a position to take any other course,” he said.

CBC sued Disney/ABC in September 1996 after ABC ended its relationship with CBC.