Bay Area Susqy Stations To Cumulus' Dickey?

[BossRadioDJ]

A report in Inside Radio says that Lew Dickey, Jr., of Cumulus Media may be announced as the winning bidder for Susquehanna's radio stations (including KNBR, KTCT and KFOG here) as early as this week, although Entercom may still be in the running. Dickey is reportedly financing the deal privately with the help of Deutsche Bank, and the stations would be privately held rather than being part of the Cumulus stable.

With Susquehanna's cable operations probably going to Comcast, several reports say that the bid from the Susquehanna management group for the combined cable and radio operation is now dead.<P ID="signature">______________
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[seaqkumba]

I've heard that it's a done deal and that the brothers Dickey and their consortium have gotten it, and paid out the freakin' wazoo. Entercom has apparently decided not to blow its wad of cash on this one and is instead bidding hard for the ABC/Disney radio properties (where Emmis and some others are still in the mix.) Susquehanna management is apparently out of it. I'm about 90-95% sure of this... I'll take my chances on credibility a la Mr. Richards.

The price for these things is really ridiculous. The only conceivable reason that Deutsche Bank, Blackstone, and the other investors would pay $1.2+ billion is that they have so much excess capital sitting around from the late 90s that they have to do mediocre deals to spend it. Seriously. Those Susquehanna stations (pretty much all over the country with maybe a few exceptions) are already very well-operated and the growth potential on them is not at the level that would be required to service the debt payments and still have excess around to generate a good return for investors and management. Sounds like the Brothers Dickey would prefer to be able to stroke their egos and say they operate major market properties beyond the smaller markets that their Cumulus company operates.



> A report in Inside Radio says that Lew Dickey, Jr., of
> Cumulus Media may be announced as the winning bidder for
> Susquehanna's radio stations (including KNBR, KTCT and KFOG
> here) as early as this week, although Entercom may still be
> in the running. Dickey is reportedly financing the deal
> privately with the help of Deutsche Bank, and the stations
> would be privately held rather than being part of the
> Cumulus stable.
>
> With Susquehanna's cable operations probably going to
> Comcast, several reports say that the bid from the
> Susquehanna management group for the combined cable and
> radio operation is now dead.
>