Monday, November 28, 2011 | Edited by Daniel Moores

What Stations Are Doing: LivingSocial Brings Its Daily Deals to Radio with Clear Channel Partnership Looking to cut through some of the clutter of the daily deal market, where more than 700 vendors now offer consumer coupons, Clear Channel Radio is connecting with LivingSocial. Local stations will pick which deals to highlight and personalities will promote the deals on-air. Clear Channel will get a cut of the commission. Listeners are directed to station websites to buy the deal. LivingSocial hopes the alliance will help the company catch up on sector leader Groupon -- as well as cut its marketing expense. "Radio stations are a primary means for people to find entertainment and learn what's going on in their communities," LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy says. "This matches perfectly with LivingSocial's mission to help people find great deals and values around them." Over the summer, the site began using radio to reach potential customers. That could be one reason why the company -- which told Inside Radio earlier this year it wasn't interested in working with radio -- has now inked a deal with the biggest group. In addition to daily deal announcements, Clear Channel will feature other offers across its media platforms, including LivingSocial Escapes and Adventures packages. Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan says, "LivingSocial's variety of entertaining deals combined with Clear Channel's impressive reach will help listeners find great local values all across the country." (Source: Inside Radio, 10/18/11)