• by April 14, 2008

Veteran radio and cable executives Steve Lehman and Andy Schuon have lined up a powerful roster of top CBS and Emmis stations for the May 5 launch of gossip blogger Perez Hilton's twice-daily "Radio Perez," the first offering from their new "C" Student Entertainment venture.

The stations, which all program some type of pop-music format, include the top three markets--Emmis' Hot 97 (WQHT) in New York, Emmis' Power 106 (KPWR) in Los Angeles, and CBS' B-96 (WBBM-FM) in Chicago--and seven of the top 10.

Those stations, plus CBS' Movin' 99.7 (KMVQ) in San Francisco, will all run individualized live morning feeds, plus a recorded afternoon segment. Other big markets--including Dallas, Houston, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Seattle--will get recorded shows twice daily. Each segment will be three minutes long.

Hilton's demographic is primarily 18- to-34-year-old women, and "C" Student Entertainment is looking to sign up advertisers to reach that demo. Two minutes of daily adjacencies are available.

Schuon said the company's future plans include local radio, mobile, Internet and satellite--but the Perez show is strictly terrestrial radio for now, including international distribution. At present, "C" Student Entertainment will consist of just two employees: Schuon and Lehman. With their executive backgrounds at radio giants such as Premiere Radio Networks and Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio), Schuon said it took just two phone calls to get the initial station lineup set.

Since the initial stations were signed up before the company's existence was even announced, Schuon said he and Lehman are now being "inundated" by other stations wanting to pick up "Radio Perez." The two partners are also dealing directly with potential advertisers. And they plan to launch additional shows, although Schuon noted, "we're not talking to other personalities yet."