• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

680 The Fan Signs 10-Year Braves Deal

secondchoice said:
A bankruptcy would allow Crestview to walk away with a huge tax break.
Click to expand...

And completely destroy the brands they own. The fact is that $2 billion isn't insurmountable. They can fix it if they get their costs under control. They haven't done that yet. And changing the format of one station in one market isn't going to solve their debt problem. Let it go.

secondchoice said:
Cumulus tried All News without deep pockets and failed. Sometimes admitting failure and moving on is the best thing.
Click to expand...

They have. It's not all news any more.
 
TheBigA said:
And completely destroy the brands they own. The fact is that $2 billion isn't insurmountable. They can fix it if they get their costs under control. They haven't done that yet. And changing the format of one station in one market isn't going to solve their debt problem. Let it go.



They have. It's not all news any more.
Click to expand...

Thanks for correcting me, 106.7 is not all news. The spoken word format they replaced it with has failed too. When 104.7 off the same tower and antenna, with much less power bills twice what 106.7 bills with a lot less on air talent to pay: that is a sign of miss-management. Insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. This lost revenue ($7 million) is just in one cluster (their former headquarters!). How many other Cumulus clusters have under-performing stations? I am not saying there are billions of dollars of revenue but if you can increase you total corporate profit by 2% just with one move why not?


I wonder how Cumulus will cut costs without negativity effecting income. They already have a 40% annual employee turnover.*

IMHO They will have to do a voluntary bankruptcy or restructuring by 2020 when the 1.9 billion bonds assuming they came pay the $600 million high yield bonds due in 2019.

If someone had around 1.5 billion and could buy most of the debt @ 60%, they could either make 40% over 3+ years or play hardball in Bankruptcy court and end up with a company that has an (EBITDA) of $261 million which would yield around 10%.


* http://realmoney.thestreet.com/arti...ias-clouded-debt-picture-has-no-silver-lining
 
secondchoice said:
How many other Cumulus clusters have under-performing stations? I am not saying there are billions of dollars of revenue but if you can increase you total corporate profit by 2% just with one move why not?
Click to expand...

Huh? One station can't increase total corporate profit by 2%. And a bankruptcy isn't going to change programming.
 
Failing some (unknown) revelation or 'gimme' from the upcoming regime, they're toast. Their debt is selling for 66 cents on the dollar when someone buys it. Competent employees - the few left - are bailing as quickly as they can find employment. Third quarter lost 50+ cents a share. Without a drastic paradigm change in the terrestrial broadcast industry they're headed for liquidation... and that won't return what's owed. The new CEO was given chickens--- at a time when there's no market for chicken salad.
 
TheBigA said:
That's not really true. First of all, where are they going to go? iHeart? Secondly today the stock was up 13%. They're in play.
Click to expand...

Penny stocks are always volatile. Could be interest in a buyout, could be day-traders trading on whispers, could be someone doing a pump-and-dump.

I'm no bankruptcy lawyer, but I'm wondering at this point if the investors in CMLS are putting together a prepackaged BK where they can get a bunch of the debt discharged and buy back the assets (and written-down debt) for pennies on the dollar, and then sell them off to discharge the debt and get their buy-back money back. Interestingly, since we're talking Cumulus, this is what Citadel did (well, at least the prepackaged BK part). Creditors like prepackaged BKs because they tend to get a greater percentage of their debt back than letting the company go broke on its own.

https://www.kirkland.com/sitecontent.cfm?contentID=218&section=5&subitemid=586&itemid=767

Citadel Broadcasting Corporation — Kirkland represented Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, the third largest radio broadcaster in the United States, with 224 radio stations in the nation's leading markets and the distributor of news and talk radio programming to more than 4,000 station affiliates, in its prenegotiated Chapter 11 cases in the Southern District of New York. At the time of its filing Citadel had more than $2.4 billion in indebtedness. Citadel's Chapter 11 case, which was completed in just under six months, culminated in confirmation of a plan of reorganization that eliminated $1.4 billion in indebtedness following a heavily contested confirmation hearing and valuation dispute.

How much is Cumulus Media Networks worth? Could a bunch of marginal AM stations be shut down for a tax writeoff?
 
jabba17 said:
Interestingly, since we're talking Cumulus, this is what Citadel did (well, at least the prepackaged BK part).
Click to expand...

Citadel's bankruptcy was a result of the financial crisis of 2008, and its primary investor, Forstmann Little, pulling out. Neither is the case now.

Regardless, it has nothing to do with the programming of stations in Atlanta.
 
secondchoice said:
Some are leaving the industry. I did. Financially best move I made. Also my wife hated the moving which is even a better reason!
Click to expand...

That sounds like a personal decision that has nothing to do with the general financial situation of a specific company.

How did their debt situation affect your decision? Was your salary cut? Probably not.
 
TheBigA said:
Huh? One station can't increase total corporate profit by 2%. And a bankruptcy isn't going to change programming.
Click to expand...



2% increase by using simple math and hard-nosed management.


The Fish is billing around twice what 106.7 is billing. That would be around $14 million. $14 million - $7million =$7 million. $7 million added to $261 million equals $268 million 7 divided buy 268 equals 0 .026 which I rounded down to 2%.

The hard-nosed part of the equation is reducing the staff to 4 full time announcers, a news reader for AM drive, and some part time folks. There might even be an 80’s and 90’s greatest hits format on a satellite feed that even cut out all the local talent expense until the format gained traction. Voice tracking is always an option.

Citadel's bankruptcy and The True Oldies Channel happened the same time. Part of a plan.
 
TheBigA said:
That sounds like a personal decision that has nothing to do with the general financial situation of a specific company.

How did their debt situation affect your decision? Was your salary cut? Probably not.
Click to expand...

I had a contract. There was a force majeure clause. It got ugly.
 
secondchoice said:
Citadel's bankruptcy and The True Oldies Channel happened the same time. Part of a plan.
Click to expand...

Not even close. Citadel bankruptcy happened in December 2009, and Cumulus dropped the True Oldies Channel in 2014 after Scott Shannon left the company. Five years apart. If you're talking specifically about Atlanta, it was a year later in November 2010. But they didn't go to news until 2012.

The Fish and 106.7 are two very different stations. No way flipping 106.7 to 80s hits will attract the money they get at The Fish. When you look at the 80s format around the country, it isn't among the top billing. In fact its billing tends to underperform its ratings.
 
Last edited:
IIRC 106.7 was Y106 (Country) from the mid 80’s till around 2000 then “Eagle 106.7” (classic country) still a Disney station. Then Citadel (well on their way to bankruptcy) in 2008 put on True Oldies allowing them to get rid of a lot of 106.7's staff

I believe that is close.

IMHO 106.7 will never be successful in the spoken word format. Any music format that attracts folks under 55 should work better that what they are doing now.

BTW: Late in 2010, 106.7 changed to "106.7 Atlanta's Greatest Hits", dropped Scott Shannon and The True Oldies Channel feed, and shifted from oldies to classic hits playing 70's & 80"s. I believe they were doing better with it before all news then news talk.
 
Last edited:
Your history is close, but the flip to Oldies was not done to cut staff. Citadel CEO Farid Sulaiman apparently did not understand the purpose of flankers and asked the staff why they chose to have 2 country stations.

The format flip was made to correct what Farid thought was cannibalization. They started with True Oldies and slowly replaced it with local shifts.

The move to All News was made by the Dickey's. CNN Radio had shut its doors, and Cumulus could hire some top news people on the cheap. Also, Lew and John were hoping to take enough from WSB to knock them out of first place.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom