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Audacy stock price
- Thread starter RadioGuy1864
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And in the larger groups... taking Pittman as an example... do you think he actually makes the decision on changing a station in Columbus, GA from AC to Urban AC? (Which they really ought to do with WGSY, by the way)
Of course they don't. These people are focused on revenue, expense, BCF, and shareholder relations. Other people who the company hires to program and be GM of markets are the ones responsible for minutia like formats and whether this song or that song is played on a station.
This whole notion that a CEO of a publicly traded company gets involved in what formats are on which stations, is beyond silly.
Everyone loves to focus on the expansion disasters because they're the low hanging fruit. At the same time they overlook the expansion successes. Saga does a good job quietly running 100 or so stations. Townsquare has figured it out. Beasley has managed expansion well, absorbing Greater Media without self destructing or ruining some very successful stations. Bonneville continues to stick to their game plan, as does Hubbard. So it CAN be done.
At one time, Entercom was one of those expansion successes. Until they lost their way. They allowed the situation change their approach, rather than taking a successful model and applying it to CBS. I think that's part of the story of their current stock price. Entercom HAD a great system before they bought CBS. Then they went off the tracks.
The southeastern cities that grew and had extreme sprawl were especially hit with AM stations as they had fewer allocations and just grew outside of the coverage area. Atlanta is an example of a market where there’s one, maybe two viable AM signals for the whole market.
Regarding Entercom, prior to the CBS deal they were doing well without having to significantly cut expenses when companies like Citadel, Cumulus, and iHeart were struggling from expansion. It seems like when they got CBS, they tried to run the company more like CBS than the old Entercom, and it’s been discussed here that CBS wasn’t exactly the most efficient operator.
I don't see it that way. CBS wasn't a company that sought to cut expenses either. That's probably why CBS was anxious to sell its radio stations. My take is that Entercom lost its way completely. They've been unable to launch new brands, such as The Block in NYC. They screwed up some successful brands by cutting costs. They've obviously lost the confidence of the investment community.
I believe the investment community lost interest in (mainly) pure radio companies years ago. So goes the same with TV-centrist companies.
Heard a report on the radio just yesterday, that Nielsen reported video streaming viewership has surpassed cable TV viewing. Wall Street analysis, banks, and venture capital investment firms all pay attention to that sort of statistic.
Does a CEO of a publicly traded company care about a one-off format change in a tiny market? NO. That is not at all what I would consider to be a "strategically important product decision" at the corporate level.
Does he or she care about a format change on a flame thrower FM signal in a top 10 market? In some cases, absolutely! I guarantee you Bob Pittman would be up in arms if one of his employees were to decide to kill off Z100, Lite 106.7 or KIIS without informing him or his COO of the rationale for the decision beforehand.
CEO's and certainly COO's also are likely involved, at least with regard to budgetary and resource decisions, with format vertical strategies at the corporate level.
To suggest leadership is completely detached from all product strategy, including decisions with widespread implications, is nuts.
By the way, I completely agree with BigA's remarks regarding Entercom above.
Does he or she care about a format change on a flame thrower FM signal in a top 10 market? In some cases, absolutely! I guarantee you Bob Pittman would be up in arms if one of his employees were to decide to kill off Z100, Lite 106.7 or KIIS without informing him or his COO of the rationale for the decision beforehand.
CEO's and certainly COO's also are likely involved, at least with regard to budgetary and resource decisions, with format vertical strategies at the corporate level.
To suggest leadership is completely detached from all product strategy, including decisions with widespread implications, is nuts.
By the way, I completely agree with BigA's remarks regarding Entercom above.
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Because they are among the top revenue producing stations in the country. Not because he's a personal fan of the station.
Exactly right. I suspect he also views having a CHR/Pop format in his company's largest markets as being strategically important for the company on a national level.
I believe Houston is the only top 10 market where iHM does not own an English language CHR/Pop station. Heck, it might be the only such market out of the top 20 markets (perhaps there's one more such market I'm forgetting).
Edit:. Puerto Rico, ranked #19, is the only other example. In fact, it's the only other example out of the Top 25 markets. Nassau-Suffolk is a submarket of NYC, and Z100 gets great ratings there, so I'm not counting them among the exceptions.
I believe Houston is the only top 10 market where iHM does not own an English language CHR/Pop station. Heck, it might be the only such market out of the top 20 markets (perhaps there's one more such market I'm forgetting).
Edit:. Puerto Rico, ranked #19, is the only other example. In fact, it's the only other example out of the Top 25 markets. Nassau-Suffolk is a submarket of NYC, and Z100 gets great ratings there, so I'm not counting them among the exceptions.
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Here's an article that quantifies the job cuts at Audacy.
www.countryinsider.com
Layoffs At Audacy To Reduce Company Workforce By 5%.
A workforce reduction is underway at radio’s second largest company. After several years of growth through acquisitions, platform enhancements and adding hundreds of employees to its workforce, Audacy said Tuesday
And that's the way it's usually done. Corporate looks at the overall financial health of the entire company, and determines a percentage of savings to get into a better position for Q4 and into Q1 reporting. Next GM's get the not great news, but works with their programming folks to determine who gets cut.
One interesting detail in the 2nd Q numbers was that operating expenses were up by a factor of 5%. The increase in operating expenses might come from inflation, employee raises, insurance and benefit increases, and factors that put attention on the size of the staff. They need to find a way to control operating expenses while at the same time investing in potential growth areas. They're not going to get much more money from broadcasting.
Totally agree. They may have assumed that their streaming business would have performed better than it did by now, making up for the difference. Can't predict the future, but by Q2 and trends, you make your best guess. Add in losses around the pandemic, amortized expense from two rounds of ransomware attacks, and inflation effects to the cost of doing business, and I'm kind of surprised expenses were only up 5%.
Earlier I posted a story from Inside Radio that said Audacy was cutting its workforce by 5%. Today, that same site reports that BMI, the music licensing company that radio stations pay for music, is cutting its workforce by 10%! BMI recently reported record earnings, so they're not cutting staff because of that. Here's the story:
www.countryinsider.com
Of course BMI has a smaller staff, and 10% of its workforce is 30 people. Here's a quote from the article:
I'm sure a lot of businesses will be making similar "adjustments."
BMI Job Cuts Affect 10% Of Workforce.
Layoffs at performance rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) will affect approximately 10% of its workforce. President/CEO Mike O’Neill said in an email to staff that the company was reducing
Of course BMI has a smaller staff, and 10% of its workforce is 30 people. Here's a quote from the article:
I'm sure a lot of businesses will be making similar "adjustments."
Earlier starts this year. Usually these cuts start further into Q4, like November.
And Long Island is a subset of the New York City market, fully contained within it... just like San Jose which is inside the San Francisco market.
In both cases, an owner with 5 FMs in the NYC or SF can not also own FMs in Long Island or San Jose.
Doesn't BMI have agents in the field, who check on licenses of taverns and other similar establishments? Or is that just ASCAP? It seems that a national company like that would have more than just 300 employees.
I read the articles on BMI. The CEO admitted they had record revenues in 2021, but were cost cutting as they were looking ahead to the uncertain economy. Whatever that really means, who knows.
I read the articles on BMI. The CEO admitted they had record revenues in 2021, but were cost cutting as they were looking ahead to the uncertain economy. Whatever that really means, who knows.
I believe that's just ASCAP. I don't know if those agents are "full time employees." BMI has all of their global operations centralized in one building in Nashville.
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