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Audacy Cuts ✂️
- Thread starter MVB13
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It was called the Mainstay Station Trust.
Remember that it was not the company that owned CBS Radio that got the shares in what is now Audacy... it was their shareholders. Shareholders of CBS Radio's parent got the option to receive partial shares in the radio spin-off, which then were automatically given shares in Entercom. The CBS shareholders got 72% of Entercom.
Going back over the history of the former CBS core stations, they were sold to Group W in 1995, then went to Infinity, then to Viacom and then back to a Redner/Viacom company and then to Entercom all in 22 years.
But if Sheri Redstone (or her family’s company) owns 79% of Paramount/CBS then they have a lot of Entercom shares. Note 79% is from August 2020, it might be different now.
I wonder if any of them still hold those shares.
I mean, Les Moonves isn't running CBS anymore for quite a few reasons. Dumping the radio stations the way he did is clearly one of them.
I really hope you're pulling our collective legs.
Fair question. There’s no guarantee that Audacy will be like Citadel or other now defunct radio companies like many claim. Audacy will be fine. They’re trimming the fat
If they still make money, no
If Les didn’t do what he did with CBS radio another CBS, ceo would’ve done the same thing
will there be a possible merger with a smaller rivals in any case
They're trying to avoid the same fate Citadel encountered. Basically, they are hoping selling off of assets and transmitter land will be enough to bump their stock back up to $1/share to avoid delisting.
But the shareholders had the option of getting CBS shares or getting more of the parent shares, I believe the Redstones did not convert to radio shares, but can't find anything to confirm that... or not.
Plus they have delayed payments on loans, and there is concern about default when major payments are due.
If you were following the news, you'd know they have been in serious financial trouble for over a year. Inability to meet debt service and a number of troubled stations. While the stations are profitable on a cash flow basis (EBITDA), when debt service, depreciation and amortization are factored in, they are not profitable.
That goes back to the cliche that one needs to put in money to make money. New York's Country is a less common situation where they kept programming along with the music, when they moved the format to HD2/3. Most cases are like Alt, where they simply move the music format to the HD2/3 and cut all other programming. My theory is the following:
- Listeners are told that the station they liked wasn't financially viable to remain as is, but go out and buy a HD Radio, car with a HD radio, or go onto the Audacy app to hear the music without any of the shows that also drew them to the station. There are people who state that HD Radio is growing and/or beginning to thrive. I just don't agree. Then with streaming, streaming the likes of Alt out of New York is inferior, as it's music, some commercials, and the Alt 92.3 HD-2 station identification. Why stream that, when I can stream the music from another source (Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora), or I can go to the likes of another Alt station (ie. Alt 98.7 from LA) where I can hear the music with programming. To the listener, the HD2/3 as a streaming resource is inferior to other options. With New York's Country, the listener still gets a product that is (more) unique to the station, giving the audience a greater reason to follow. That investment helps retain a larger audience, which attracts sponsors.
- I have to also acknowledge that of all the HD2/3 that you mention in New York, Country is the one format that Nationally is still attracting larger audiences. It was flipped in New York, but still has one plus stations across many markets. Alt on the other hand is struggling Nationally. It makes sense to clear New York with specific national shows on New York's Country, while not clearing Elliot on Alt.
- Then complete the issue with the common finding from many of the insiders on here, which is that formats like Alt are struggling to gain a consensus amongst listeners as to what they want. Just because Alt is now on HD2 doesn't mean that identity crisis of the format went away. Country doesn't have that identity crisis amongst its fans.
I theorize that without the large install base for HD Radio, along with multiple competing platforms and mediums, I don't see HD Radio as something that will survive. Had it been rolled out in large numbers a decade earlier, I would have a different outlook on it, but it was launched in the same general era of the launch of the smart phone, which brought streaming to a whole new level. Streaming on desktops/laptops already existed prior to HD Radio. The smart phone simply expedited streaming's rise to dominance.
Then financially, cellphone manufacturers and providers alsa ensured that streaming would dominate. Ten years ago, users could buy Android models with activated FM radio. To my knowledge, the iPhone never had it; yet I never owned an iPhone, so I'm not 100% certain. Then, I theorized that it would be nothing for later models to include HD Radio. I failed to recognize that 1.) They would have to pay royalties to include HD Radio, 2.) FM radio is free, where streaming uses data, and 3.) With companies making their own streaming apps, it was more probable that they would push streaming over an inferior OTA signal cutting in and out. Instead of seeing HD Radio added, we saw the expediting of streaming.
Just my lone outsider take on this interesting thread.
HD will survive mostly because it is the required licensed station support for hundreds and hundreds of FM translators all over the US. An FM with an HD channel can then obtain a translator and become a new service with 250 watts and, in many cases, very high antenna locations.
Those HD channels with translators do not count against an owner's market station limit, so it's like having an extra FM. In many markets, a translator can cover most or all of the market area.
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