Clear Channel management pair leaving for Omaha, Neb.

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Clear Channel Communications in Springfield owner of KGBX 105.9 FM, KGMY 100.5 FM, KTOZ 95.5 FM, KXUS 97.3 FM and ESPN 1400 AM is losing two longtime managers in one move.|ret||ret||tab|

The husband-and-wife management team of Mitch and Donna Baker is being promoted to Clear Channel's Omaha, Neb., market. Their last day here is Aug. 22.|ret||ret||tab|

Donna Baker, vice president and market manager of Clear Channel's five Springfield stations, is taking the same role in the Omaha market, which is twice the size of Springfield's. Mitch Baker, local operations manager here, will become assistant operations manager in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.|ret||ret||tab|

The Bakers have each been at the Springfield stations for 13 years; Mitch Baker was the second employee hired when the stations were owned by Sunburst Media, Clear Channel's predecessor. San Antonio-based Clear Channel purchased the stations three years ago.|ret||ret||tab|

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Timing|ret||ret||tab|

The Bakers said this is not the first time a promotion has been offered to them, but it was the first they could seriously consider.|ret||ret||tab|

"We had decided once our son graduated, we would at least be open to maybe looking at something," Donna Baker said. "The week he graduated, my boss called me."|ret||ret||tab|

Their son Chris, a Kickapoo High School graduate, begins classes at Southwest Missouri State University this fall, so the Bakers say they'll be back often.|ret||ret||tab|

"We really love the Ozarks, but it's a perfect situation for both of us," said Donna Baker. "It's unique anyway that the market manager and the operations manager are married, but to find a situation that we can move to twice the market size it was just the perfect next step for us."|ret||ret||tab|

Donna Baker will replace former Omaha market manager Tracy Gilliam, who is moving to Los Angeles.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're extremely excited to have someone of Donna's caliber ready to step into the (Omaha) position," said Clear Channel Senior Vice President Jay Meyers in a company statement. Meyers oversees the station's Plains/Northwest Division. Baker will continue to report to Meyers from Omaha.|ret||ret||tab|

A national search is under way for the Bakers' replacements, and the company expects to name their successors this month.|ret||ret||tab|

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New challenges|ret||ret||tab|

The Clear Channel stations in Springfield and Omaha are similar, Donna Baker said, because both are market leaders. But Omaha has a larger metropolitan population 577,000 and has a higher Arbitron market rating. Clear Channel's Omaha market ranks 74th overall, whereas Springfield is 144th, Baker said. A new responsibility is management of a concert venue in Omaha.|ret||ret||tab|

While the market is larger, Baker's staff will remain the same with about 70 full-time and 20 part-time employees.|ret||ret||tab|

Baker will confront a familiar competitor in Journal Broadcast Group, which has eight radio stations in the Omaha market, according to Journal's Web site. Clear Channel has four Omaha stations, with a contract to purchase a fifth, Baker said. |ret||ret||tab|

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