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Audacy Filed For Bankruptcy

Deus Ex Machiato said:
...but I'm thinking more about the traffic manager or sales assistant who did nothing wrong yet suddenly have to start looking for a job right away to put food on the table, while Field collects a paycheck likely worth millions even though he failed.
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The stations are going to keep operating with, probably, minor changes. Without the huge debt, the company was profitable and there is no reason to change most things internally.
 
tbolt909 said:
Boo hoo for the Wizard of Wall Street. Field came in from Goldman Sachs. I'm sure his relationship with his Pop will survive.
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The issue here was debt that became overwhelming due to the decline in ad sales in the pandemic and the pseudo-recession we are still in. Neither David nor all the lenders anticipated such a "perfect storm" despite using highly sophisticated "best to worst" models.
tbolt909 said:
Many of the Audacy employees will get other jobs, but most likely not in Radio...
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Who said anything about the Audacy station staffers being fired? As I just mentioned, the station group is profitable on an EBITDA basis and its only issue was the debt payments.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The issue here was debt that became overwhelming due to the decline in ad sales in the pandemic and the pseudo-recession we are still in. Neither David nor all the lenders anticipated such a "perfect storm" despite using highly sophisticated "best to worst" models.

Who said anything about the Audacy station staffers being fired? As I just mentioned, the station group is profitable on an EBITDA basis and its only issue was the debt payments.
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If you read my post, I included Big A's comment. He made the remark about employees getting other jobs. Bankruptcy will certainly mean more "Synergies" = Job cuts. Thriving companies don't go bankrupt. The Travel industry came to a screeching halt during the Pandemic, but it has recovered nicely. Radio has other problems that cannot be blamed on COVID...
 
tbolt909 said:
If you read my post, I included Big A's comment. He made the remark about employees getting other jobs. Bankruptcy will certainly mean more "Synergies" = Job cuts. Thriving companies don't go bankrupt. The Travel industry came to a screeching halt during the Pandemic, but it has recovered nicely. Radio has other problems that cannot be blamed on COVID...
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But, again, the issue at Audacy was not operations, it was debt service. The debtors-in-possession group that has taken over is not going to do anything that would reduce the profitability of the assets.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The stations are going to keep operating with, probably, minor changes. Without the huge debt, the company was profitable and there is no reason to change most things internally.
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How can it be profitable if the ads are drying up? Where is their future revenue coming from.
 
Don CT said:
How can it be profitable if the ads are drying up? Where is their future revenue coming from.
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Advertising is not "drying up". The recent period of very high inflation made major national advertisers hold back on big campaigns, but the ad market is not dead.

In fact, according to Advertising Age, all sectors are predicting that the rest of 2024 will be on the upswing.

Back to the thread topic: Audacy had a slight decline in EBITDA (Broadcast Cash Flow) last year, but it is projected to be up this year. In neither case could it or would it have been able to pay its huge debt. But on operations, it is profitable: more comes in than goes out.
 
Sad to see my local AC station (WSPA-FM) on the market. Since EMF and RTN already have their main formats in the market, I’m guessing WayFM or VCY will snatch it up - or the southern gospel network located nearby (TheLifeFM).
 
FWIW, when I speak "Audacy app" into my Xfinity remote, the TV understands perfectly every time, even with my Boston accent, which causes me to pronounce "Audacy" and "odyssey" the same.
 
TheBigA said:
Audacy is starting to fix some of the mistakes they made. They're shutting down their podcast brands and putting it all under Audacy:

Audacy Sunsets Cadence13 And 2400Sports Brands In Favor Of Unified Audacy Podcasts.

They could have saved themselves almost $100 million, had they not bought these two companies.
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This move is just a consolidation of branding.

Per the article you linked:
Insiders say no operational or staffing changes will be part of the rebranding. The transition has been under way for nearly a year as show art has begun to feature the Audacy logo, rather than that of Cadence13, and show credits and press announcements no longer mentioned either of the brands that are being retired. And going forward, the sports-focused 2400Sports studio will now be billed as “An Audacy Sports Podcast” both in its artwork as well as its marketing materials to ad buyers.

“Consolidating our owned and operated podcasts under the Audacy umbrella enables us to deliver a single value proposition to the advertising community, streamline our portfolio narrative and build further equity in the Audacy brand,” Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley said in a memo to employees on Thursday, obtained by Inside Radio.
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I'm frankly surprised the unified branding did not occur sooner.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The stations are going to keep operating with, probably, minor changes. Without the huge debt, the company was profitable and there is no reason to change most things internally.
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A lot of the Audacy stations have already broomed out their best talent. WBBM and WWJ for example, do not have anywhere near the talent pool they had a couple years ago. The internal changes have already occurred.
 
Voicetrack of Reason said:
A lot of the Audacy stations have already broomed out their best talent. WBBM and WWJ for example, do not have anywhere near the talent pool they had a couple years ago. The internal changes have already occurred.
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A lot of them were in their 70s. Yes they're experienced, but also ready for retirement.

They went bankrupt. A bankrupt company can't afford to retain the staffing it once had.
 
TheBigA said:
They went bankrupt. A bankrupt company can't afford to retain the staffing it once had.
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But the bankruptcy was due to high debt service, not operations which were profitable. Profits were down due to the pandemic, and that made them unable to service debt. But there is no reason to make significant staff changes now.
 
DavidEduardo said:
But the bankruptcy was due to high debt service, not operations which were profitable. Profits were down due to the pandemic, and that made them unable to service debt. But there is no reason to make significant staff changes now.
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Not even showing older, more expensive, less adaptable employees the door? I thought that was standard operating procedure among media companies.
 
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