According to reports, Emmis president Paul Fiddick and other executives have spent the last 10 days in the country looking at potential acquisitions.
It is not known how much money Emmis, a public company, has to spend, but it has confirmed it is ready to offload its US television stations. It had revenues of $161.8m (£92.4m) during the three months from March to May this year.
A takeover of Chrysalis would be a major acquisition in the UK radio market, bringing with it the Heart, Galaxy and LBC station brands and digital radio interests, but it is a potentially tricky one as well.
Its co-founder and chairman Chris Wright, the holder of a stake of more than 25%, is believed to be reluctant to sell. The company is in buying rather than selling mode as it tries to keep up with the expansion of rivals GCap and Emap, and has made so far unsuccessful attempts to buy Guardian Media Group's radio assets, which include Smooth FM, with an offer of £120m.
In addition, Chrysalis has music and book publishing divisions, which Emmis would need to find a buyer for if it does not want to retain them.
The Local Radio Company has built up a portfolio of 27 local radio stations, including Dune FM in Southport and Spirit FM in Sussex, since its creation in May 2004.
Emmis is not a total newcomer to the UK radio industry, having mounted a joint bid for the new Manchester FM licence, which was won by Xfm.
It linked up with the UK's Atlantic Radio, which is run by radio consultant Martin Farmer, to form Emmis Atlantic Radio, of which it owns 75%. The joint venture is now one of the bidders for the Solent FM licence to be awarded by Ofcom.
Emmis was established in 1979 and operates radio stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and many mid-sized American cities. Its international division operates in Hungary, Slovakia, Belgium and Argentina.
The company also owns a chain of TV stations in the US and has produced regional magazines since 1988.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
.jpg)
.jpg)