Clear Channel Outdoor Digital Billboards to Provide AMBER Alert Messages in Southwest Region
El Paso and Albuquerque Added to AMBER Alert Readiness Program
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE:CCO) today announced the successful conclusion of AMBER Alert systems tests on two of its digital billboard networks servicing the El Paso and Albuquerque markets, expanding the reach of this important law enforcement tool to Clear Channel Outdoor's Southwest region. Clear Channel's partnerships with the El Paso Police Department and the Albuquerque emergency broadcast network affiliate 770 KKOB-AM will enable law enforcement to display on Clear Channel Outdoor's digital billboards both text information and any available photographs when a child has been abducted. The billboards are located in high-traffic areas of both cities.
"Digital billboards have proven to be invaluable community services, providing vital information within minutes of its availability," said Paul Meyer, Global President of Clear Channel Outdoor. "Clear Channel Outdoor's policy is to make its digital technology available to establish emergency messaging protocols, like the programs in El Paso and Albuquerque, in all cities where we have deployed digital networks."
The El Paso Police Department will have the ability to update information remotely when an AMBER Alert is active. As part of its agreement with Citadel Broadcasting Corp.'s talk radio flagship station, 770 KKOB-AM, the Albuquerque division of Clear Channel Outdoor now has the ability to update missing child information, including photographs, to the customized system developed solely for the purpose of communicating AMBER Alert messages, which override the commercial advertising schedule. Up-to-the-minute broadcasts will reach hundreds of thousands of people instantaneously in each of these markets.
"We are committed to using the best resources available to respond quickly and effectively when a child has been abducted," said Chief Richard Wiles of the El Paso Police department. "Based on this successful test, we are confident that Clear Channel's digital billboard network will ably assist us in raising AMBER Alert awareness."
Clear Channel Outdoor has successfully joined AMBER Alert networks in Akron, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Tampa.
AMBER is an acronym for "America's Missing: Broadcasting Emergency Response." AMBER Alert programs have helped save the lives of 192 children nationwide. The program began in Texas in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters teamed up with local police to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children, in memory of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Arlington, TX, in 1996.
About Clear Channel Outdoor
Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE:CCO) is the world's largest outdoor advertising company with over 973,000 displays in more than 60 countries across 6 continents. In the United States, the company operates over 167,000 advertising displays and has a presence in 49 of the top 50 Designated Market Areas. It also operates airport, rail, taxi and mall advertising businesses worldwide. Its Spectacolor (U.S.) and DEFI (international) divisions are the global market leaders in spectacular sign displays, including in New York's Times Square. Clear Channel Adshel is the company's international street furniture division, which operates over 3,500 municipal advertising contracts worldwide. More information may be found by visiting www.clearchanneloutdoor.com.
Source: Clear Channel Outdoor
Released November 12, 2007