Audacy Stock today

[CTListener]

You just applied a woefully ignorant point of view to a couple of billion people worldwide, unless you mean hardcore radio and tv preachers who are even obnoxious to this Christian.

I've read the New Testament. I know what it says. And I have yet to find a Christian who gives a non-Christian an icicle's chance in you-know-where of a pleasant afterlife if they don't accept the basic premise of Christianity. Some are apologetic and say they wish there were a way for the "unsaved" to make it in, but nope, that's what the "good book" says.

Anyway, it's probably well past time to cease discussion on this topic here or elsewhere. I'm far too quick to take the bait, I admit. Nothing more on this from me, promise.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Religious radio can broadcast what it wants, within the relevant broadcasting rules. EMF or whoever are free to run a station and do that. It brings comfort to the people who are religious who choose to listen to it, it would be churlish of me to want to deny them that.

As a non-religious listener, I have the freedom to choose to spin my dial elsewhere and not listen to religious programming, and I exercise that freedom.

If all I had on the dial was 15 religious stations and no other choices, then I would complain about it. But I don't think there is anywhere (outside of extreme theocracies, at least) that is in that situation.

 

[davideduardo]

I've read the New Testament. I know what it says. And I have yet to find a Christian who gives a non-Christian an icicle's chance in you-know-where of a pleasant afterlife if they don't accept the basic premise of Christianity.

Strange, but after nearly 7 decades of life in 9 states and the DC, living in 5 countries and working in over 20, I've never found that kind of Christian.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

If Audacy does declare bankruptcy, would it invalidate contracts Audacy stations have with professional (and in a couple of cases, collegiate) sports teams?

For instance, here in Boston, Audacy's WEEI-93.7 has radio broadcasting rights to the Boston Red Sox baseball team. In New York, Audacy owns radio rights to both of the city's MLB clubs (Yankees and Mets), the NFL's New York Giants, the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, and Rutgers University sports. Except for the Mets and Rutgers (which are heard on Audacy's WCBS-880), these teams are heard on Audacy-owned WFAN-660/101.9.

If an Audacy Communications bankruptcy does invalidate these deals, the teams involved might get much less money from radio broadcast rights going forward. And with several MLB, NHL, and NBA teams' local television future in doubt (thanks to the impending shutdown of several AT&T Sportsnet regional cable sports networks and the potential bankruptcy of Bally Sports parent Diamond Sports), several MLB, NHL, and NBA teams could face a very big hit in revenue (while a potential invalidation of radio rights of NFL teams whose games are aired on Audacy-owned radio stations could affect team revenue, NFL teams get far more money from national TV deals than they do from local radio and preseason TV broadcast rights).

 

[davideduardo]

If Audacy does declare bankruptcy, would it invalidate contracts Audacy stations have with professional sports teams?

Not for the kind of bankruptcy that is based on debt relief and reorganization.

 

[TheBigA]

If Audacy does declare bankruptcy,

Keep in mind that the trigger for bankruptcy won't happen until November 2024.

In January, Audacy amended its Receivables Purchase Agreement with its lenders to lower the minimum liquidity Audacy is required to maintain to $25 million. On Nov. 17, 2024, $632 million of the company’s debt will come due.

Last week, David Field said the company's liquidity was at $145 million. They're not about to declare bankruptcy.

 

[Larry]

If Audacy does declare bankruptcy, would it invalidate contracts Audacy stations have with professional (and in a couple of cases, collegiate) sports teams?

Part of a bankruptcy filing could include Audacy’s request to cancel certain contracts including with sports teams but a bankruptcy filing wouldn’t automatically invalidate contracts.

 

[TheBigA]

Interesting side note is that Salem Media stock dropped under the $1 threshold today. This comes after they announced lackluster results for 2022:

Salem Media Group, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2023 Total Revenue of $63.5 Million

IRVING, Texas, November 13, 2023--Salem Media Group, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2023 Total Revenue of $63.5 Million

finance.yahoo.com

This follows the pattern of other media stocks. SeekingAlpha has a warning that 163 stocks in the communications sector have high risk of performing badly.

 

[Kent]

There is none. In fact we've already seen major advertisers who once used radio in the 90s stop using radio and never return. One example is Levis. They were a regular advertiser for country radio in the 90s. Not any more. People still buy Levis. The company has the money to advertise, and they do. But not on radio. A major loss for radio is retail. At one time, every city had a local department store. Not any more. They were either bought up or run out of business by WalMart. So yes, I agree. There's no evidence advertisers will ever come back, because we already know a lot of them didn't come back after 2008.

As we've discussed before, I have recently seen and heard ads for Levis and Walmart. Those have been on online radio. Walmart has never bought local radio, but it does buy online. That's a significant reason companies like iHeart, Cumulus, and Audacy have put so much of a focus on digital. Customers and potential customers seem to want to go there. Margins, however, are a problem, if you can make any money off of digital at all.

Your point does, however, hold up as a lot of radio advertisers didn't come back after the Great Recession. Those that didn't stay in business at all are gone forever, and, while a dollar of an old business might be the same as a dollar from a new one, not all customers got replaced, and many of the ones that did were replaced by operations that don't use radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Customers and potential customers seem to want to go there.

What I've noticed is that WalMart and others use online advertising to draw customers to their own online stores. That very direct connection is missing from radio advertising.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Interesting side note is that Salem Media stock dropped under the $1 threshold today. This comes after they announced lackluster results for 2022:

Salem Media Group, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2023 Total Revenue of $63.5 Million

IRVING, Texas, November 13, 2023--Salem Media Group, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2023 Total Revenue of $63.5 Million

finance.yahoo.com

This follows the pattern of other media stocks. SeekingAlpha has a warning that 163 stocks in the communications sector have high risk of performing badly.

Salem may have a rough path ahead, as the bulk of their holdings are in aging demos.

 

[TheBigA]

Salem may have a rough path ahead, as the bulk of their holdings are in aging demos.

And mostly AM stations. But what caught my attention is how expenses increased by 5% and just about everything else, from broadcast to digital to publishing, decreased. That's not a good sign. Obviously the increase in expenses can be attributed to inflation. That's what we've been talking about with regards to other broadcasters. But the fact that they don't make up for it in other ways is a problem.

 

[Kelly A]

Salem may have a rough path ahead, as the bulk of their holdings are in aging demos.

That's why something you may not hear via AM radio, is they're actively involved in hosts being on social media, videos and podcasts. If you'd like to hear an interesting expose' on Salem, and right wing radio, listen to The Divided Dial:
On the Media: The Divided Dial | WNYC Studios | Podcasts

 

[tbolt909]

No station is being FORCED to sell to EMF. They are merely going after stations that are being put up for sale. And how is EMF different from when IHeart was Clear Channel and they were buying stations right and left?

I never said anyone is forced to sell to EMF. One of my posts has been deleted by the moderator. I said EMF is a business and Religion is their product. You're right, EMF is no different from any other group. However, if someone tried to a Nationwide format on Druids, Wiccans, or Satanists there would be howls of protest...

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Super-serving the sliver can be very profitable.

The only group of radio operators that is significantly profitable is Salem

Interesting side note is that Salem Media stock dropped under the $1 threshold today. This comes after they announced lackluster results for 2022

Well that went down in flames fast.

 

[davideduardo]

What I've noticed is that WalMart and others use online advertising to draw customers to their own online stores. That very direct connection is missing from radio advertising.

Yet many of us disable most ads and, particularly, pop-ups.

With new regulations restricting third party cookie data collection, this will be wildly affected this year (although it affects cookies on station websites, too).

 

[davideduardo]

Well that went down in flames fast.

It's still quite profitable and has manageable debt. Most of its focus now is on religion-based websites and services.

It did not "go down in flames". It lost a few pennies a share... less than 5% decline. Stocks do that all the time.

The market, due to SVB and Credit Suisse, is extremely volatile and risk-adverse. Some are even putting huge amounts into plain old cash in safety deposit boxes!

 

[CassChopper96]

CBS didn’t sell its radio properties to (then) Entercom in order to get back into radio later

it was a joke

 

[cc333]

Would there be any harm in breaking these companies up into smaller, more regional subsidiaries or independent entities? As was pointed out earlier, GE did something like this, and there's now a chance that the core company (the one still known as GE) might actually become profitable again.

It seems that, if things keep on this way, radio to continue to decline to the point that most, if not all stations will become purely internet based and terrestrial radio (analog or digital) will be dead.

I don't like that future, but it seems inevitable unless someone can fix it.

Given the steady rate of decline over the past 20+ years, it seems nobody has found a way to fix it yet.

c

 

[TheBigA]

Would there be any harm in breaking these companies up into smaller, more regional subsidiaries or independent entities?

The difference is that GE made that decision on its own. You're suggesting someone else would break the company up.

Certainly that's an option, and Audacy could sell off stations or groups of stations, as Cumulus did. But they did it for different reasons than what you're suggesting.

There are two problems radio has: Declining listener base and declining advertiser base. Breaking companies up won't solve either of those problems. It will make radio content more expensive at a time when there is less money to pay for it.