Breaking News: IHeart absolute Bloodbath across US Today

[Deus Ex Machiato]

Did any of us see that coming in the 1980s and 90s when Clear Channel was, with the help of financing, buying up stations and small ownership groups? I didn't.

A few people saw some things coming, at least in the 90s after the Telecom Act hit the industry like a nuke from space. I remember when the station I worked for got gobbled up and at least one veteran talent who refused to sign his new contract was shown the door. Then the faxes flew fast and furious (remember faxes?) welcoming new properties to the "Clear Channel family of stations." I joked that one day we'd get a fax from corporate saying "we'd like to welcome the Moon to the Clear Channel family..." and that got a laugh. I also remember the foreboding when the business manager (of a station that used to hand out cash to the employee of the month at staff meetings) sent out a memo sternly instructing us to conserve paper clips. Turns out the nickname "Cheap Channel" was dead on.

The other interesting thing that happened that year was that I was at a morning show conference and one of the panels featured the aforementioned Kidd Kraddick (who was a terrific guy and a real visionary, RIP Dave) and he did a little presentation on this new "internet" thing and warned that if radio wasn't careful, it was going to eat our lunch. It didn't happen exactly the way he predicted, but...well...here we are.

As far as blame, goes, I think it can be spread around to a lot of places including basically everyone ensconced in corner offices who didn't listen to people like Dave and others....insisting for too many years that nothing was wrong and ignoring disruptive events like Napster upending the record industry. Radio was not alone in this. I remember sitting in a meeting with a local TV executive in the late 90s who brought out stats that showed that OTA viewing still dominated the market and that all this talk about broadcast media being in danger was just a lot of talk.

Change is hard. Unfortunately this week a whole lot of iHeart employees are going to have to deal with change imposed upon them by forces beyond their control. Been there, done that. I hope they can land on their feet.

 

[BostonRadioListener]

You can believe whatever you want to believe. Meanwhile you're doing so using the internet, which has destroyed hundreds of businesses, including broadcasting.

The "convenient narrative" is a fact. There is nothing any broadcaster can do that will cause the public to shift from its digital devices to radios. That isn't a convenient narrative. It's a fact. As I said, it affects everyone, not just iHeart. It affects WMEX. How many live & local DJs do they have?

It’s a declining business that earns $686 million for greedy IHeart. We should all be in such “decline”!

That’s what IHeart EARNS after it pays everybody and everything —paying salaries, utilities, every penny of rent…everything…except ONE littie bill:

Then they pay 1 final bill: debt interest.

Then guess what’s left? Almost nothing.

 

[BostonRadioListener]

Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler have been kicking the same financial can down the road for well over a decade. While iHeart occasionally manages to eke out a quarterly profit, the business model remains fundamentally broken under their shell game. They have excelled at one thing above all else, enriching themselves.

iHeart employees continue to be treated as expendable tools in the executives' shed, strategically disposed of in the company's power rotation of layoffs to hit the cost-reduction numbers needed for Bob and Rich to get their multi-million dollar performance bonuses and contract extensions.

These guys steered the company straight into bankruptcy and instead of being ousted, they not only kept their jobs but have continued to pad their wealth. Meanwhile, the company remains buried under a mountain of debt, surviving as an executive piggy bank while local radio talent (the ones with actual talent), pay the ultimate price.

---

Pittman has been playing a con game for decades. He’s the worst of the worst.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

It’s a declining business that earns $686 million for greedy IHeart. We should all be in such “decline”!

That’s what IHeart EARNS after it pays everybody and everything —paying salaries, utilities, every penny of rent…everything…except ONE littie bill:

Talk about a "convenient narrative" detached from reality.

$686 million is what iHeart reported as "adjusted EBITDA". That excludes a lot of bills. The acronym is "Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization." This is not a GAAP item, meaning that iHeart can manipulate it so long as it is reconciled to their GAAP metrics.

One big item that is excluded is "restructuring costs", which were about $78 million. That's largely employee severance from last year's layoffs. Another, larger item excluded is impairment. iHeart's balance sheet includes the estimated value of their FCC licenses and other assets. The company wrote those down by $214 million in 2025.

Interest is the largest item, but is nowhere near $680 million or whatever number you made up.

 

[Motown]

Talk about a "convenient narrative" detached from reality.

$686 million is what iHeart reported as "adjusted EBITDA". That excludes a lot of bills. The acronym is "Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization." This is not a GAAP item, meaning that iHeart can manipulate it so long as it is reconciled to their GAAP metrics.

One big item that is excluded is "restructuring costs", which were about $78 million. That's largely employee severance from last year's layoffs. Another, larger item excluded is impairment. iHeart's balance sheet includes the estimated value of their FCC licenses and other assets. The company wrote those down by $214 million in 2025.

Interest is the largest item, but is nowhere near $680 million or whatever number you made up.

People can hate and bash and complain all day long about radio companies. It is certainly difficult when you have been laid off. No question. The reality is income will continue to decline while expenses continue to go up. Audiences contain to dwindle so advertisers will pay less to reach their target audience as long as they see value. Cutting costs is the only answer to the situation. That means people unfortunately. Although difficult, how else do you significantly cut expenses without reducing people?

 

[TheBigA]

That’s what IHeart EARNS after it pays everybody and everything

That's for the whole company. Not just broadcast radio. The broadcast radio division lost over $100 million in revenue last year irrespective of debt. The audience for traditional, locally hosted radio isn't enough to retain all local hosts. That's a simple basic fact. There's no reason radio can't take advantage of the same technological advances all of us use in everyday life. Other than this need to hold on to the past.

 

[sacredcod]

I am not someone who knows a lot about the behind the scenes. This thread has been helpful. It is obvious iHeart and the other major radio companies are in worlds of debt that they may never be able to repay. People are not listening and if they are it is not translating into money to pay the bills. From what you are saying local owners are not buying like they had been. What happens now is my question. This seems too big to turn around. I hope I am wrong.

 

[TheBigA]

What happens now is my question. This seems too big to turn around. I hope I am wrong.

The public isn't going back to transistor radios. That's the simple reality. The generation that grew up with the internet doesn't have this need for live & local talent. They listen to music radio for the music. Those who like talent with music have no problem streaming it from other places. So broadcast radio has to adapt and change with the audience. At the same time, the owners have to build new businesses and revenue streams that utilize the content they have in ways people can use on devices they have.

As far as the talent, they need to work on building their own fan bases. They should think of themselves as recording artists, creating content for their fans. That way, if they lose their radio job, they have a fan base that will seek them out.

What we're seeing in radio is also affecting TV. Linear real-time media consumption is declining. There's no such thing as "must see TV." So all the layoffs you're seeing now in radio will be coming soon to your TV stations.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

I have noticed in the last few months that in certain time slots, they aren't even running ads in the usual ad breaks, but run long promos for their own podcasts instead.

 

[TheBigA]

What happens now is my question. This seems too big to turn around. I hope I am wrong.

I'll add this to what I said previously: I don't see a long term future for radio as a music delivery service. That's my general view. There are formats of music that are working just fine right now. There seems to be a view among non-commercial radio that they see a future in music for them. That would be for classical and AAA formats. But I think several genres of music are declining on radio because the music has become less consensus and more individual. That's a music issue more than a radio issue, but it obviously affects radio.

If the music industry gets its wish for a new artist and label royalty, that will have a major impact on the future of music on the radio. That may be weighing on iHeart's decisions to centralize their music formats.

Where I see the future for radio is in news, talk, and sports. That's where the investment is going. There's where local talent is most useful. That's where the content can also be fed on digital platforms.