Citadel-There Will Be Blood

[RomeToupee]

Which company is in more trouble?

Citadel-----
According to radioandrecords.com...Citadel Broadcasting chairman and CEO Farid Suleman says things are going to change after reporting a tough fourth quarter on Friday (Feb. 29). He attributed losses to "lower revenues in our San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Atlanta; New York; Birmingham; Dallas; and Los Angeles radio stations.” He says that “management changes, format changes, programming changes and self-management changes" are on the way over the next few weeks.
or
Regent -----
which at 91 CENTS per share values the entire company at $35 million. The entire company...

 

[hmmm]

I would think that Citadel would be the one in more trouble at this point. Larger company overall that on a percentage basis has lost more revenue year to year through bad management. Regent has one of the lowest debt ratios in the sector, so the honors, if you will go to Citadel, for the moment!

 

[SirRoxalot]

There SHOULD be Blood

There should be blood at Citadel Syracuse - and perhaps higher up the food chain as well. 95X and Lite are an abomination, and programming changes are desperately needed.

Chances are good, though, that the Farid & Judy Show will be busy with much more pressing matters in much larger markets. Syracuse is barely a blip in the books at Citadel this month.

 

[BobRoss]

Regent ----- which at 91 CENTS per share values the entire company at $35 million. The entire company...

In the "big picture," I agree with those who say Citadel's in bigger trouble. But seeing Regent's entire operation valued at $35 Million is very interesting.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_August_2/ai_55322151

That's a press release from 1999, when Regent said it was acquiring Utica/Rome and Watertown from Forever Broadcasting... for $44 Million plus stock. According to The Inflation Calculator, "what cost $44,000,000 in 1999 would cost $55,750,574.59 in 2007."

Even without the inflation factor, Regent paid $9 Million MORE for these two clusters alone, than the entire company's stock is presently worth today. Lucky for them, nobody wants to buy radio stations. Otherwise, they woulda been gobbled up months ago.

 

[ThePickleReport]

Re: There SHOULD be Blood

There should be blood at Citadel Syracuse - and perhaps higher up the food chain as well. 95X and Lite are an abomination, and programming changes are desperately needed.

Syracuse in general is usually a couple of years behind the trends as far as stations making changes goes. I'm sure some one will get to them soon enough!

 

[Bigdaddycool]

It is all just really bland jacobs media has destroyed a great station that being 95x...and they just sit back and let it happen sad is what it really is...oh well..

 

[Kenroberts]

Buffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton will be sold. They tell me it's the worst region in the company.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Nickels & Dimes

First off, EVERYBODY'S for sale for the right price...

Syracuse is a freakin' nightmare, but Buffalo was Citadel's strongest cluster for a long time before the "merger". Any problems in Buffalo stem more from corporate meddling (i.e. O&A for Shredd & Regan - a BIG money-loser) and a tough local economy than problems with local management.

I don't know about Binghamton now, but Citadel had the strongest stations in the market with their country & news/talk formats. WAAL has suffered lately, but the group there should still be strong enough to compete successfully with Clear Channel.

Citadel may spin some stations to raise money, but the nickels and dimes that they'd get for the Syracuse and Binghamton clusters wouldn't even cover the lawyers fees. I'd look for them to dump some of the really small markets that they own before they drop mid-sized markets.

Then again, we are talking about Farid. Anybody want to predict what's going on in that brain? Who knows, maybe he'll even try somebody other than Kevin Regrett as regional VP...

 

[Kenroberts]

Re: Nickels & Dimes

First off, EVERYBODY'S for sale for the right price...

Syracuse is a freakin' nightmare, but Buffalo was Citadel's strongest cluster for a long time before the "merger". Any problems in Buffalo stem more from corporate meddling (i.e. O&A for Shredd & Regan - a BIG money-loser) and a tough local economy than problems with local management.

I don't know about Binghamton now, but Citadel had the strongest stations in the market with their country & news/talk formats. WAAL has suffered lately, but the group there should still be strong enough to compete successfully with Clear Channel.

Citadel may spin some stations to raise money, but the nickels and dimes that they'd get for the Syracuse and Binghamton clusters wouldn't even cover the lawyers fees. I'd look for them to dump some of the really small markets that they own before they drop mid-sized markets.

Then again, we are talking about Farid. Anybody want to predict what's going on in that brain? Who knows, maybe he'll even try somebody other than Kevin Regrett as regional VP...

Citadel kills CC in Binghamton...destroys them and they will always destroy CC here. CC doesn't have a clue in Binghamton and doesn't care to. Citadel Binghamton could go off the air an still kill CC. I have just heard, Citadel doesn't want this region anymore.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It Takes Two to Tango

Farid's still trying to play the shell game of trying to buy stations in growth markets, assuming that their value will continue to grow. There are no growth markets in the NE, and especially in the Land of Taxes.

In order to play the game, Farid needs to raise some capital, mostly to pay off the huge debt load that Citadel took on in the ABC "merger". In this case, Buffalo & Binghamton make money, but the markets are shrinking, and value isn't growing. In fact, it could be argued that terrestrial radio isn't growing anywhere. Entercom has to sell three stations in Rochester, and can't find anybody interested. I can't imagine that people will line up to invest in Citadel's Upstate NY properties.

Farid should have his hands full at the moment trying to bring revenues back to 2005 levels in the major markets that he now owns. The former ABC stations were down 40% or more last year. Stockholders are NOT happy. At least the Buffalo & Binghamton clusters MAKE money.

 

[Element9]

The Wall Street Journal reports Clear Channel's $19.5 billion buyout is in trouble as private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital have been unable to reach terms with the banks financing the deal. The paper quotes one insider as saying "No one wants to do this deal except for the seller." Clear Channel's stock is down 20% in after-hours trading.

If CC can't do a deal with Lee & Bain, (BTW, cool names for a morning show, I think) it's highly unlikely that Citadel is going to spin properties in the Empire State anytime soon. Look for more consolidation and voice tracking to cut costs from the bone to the marrow. "It's the economy...." Yeah. And the chickens are coming home to roost.

 

[Bob1370]

"Which company is in more trouble?

Citadel-----
According to radioandrecords.com...Citadel Broadcasting chairman and CEO Farid Suleman says things are going to change after reporting a tough fourth quarter on Friday (Feb. 29). He attributed losses to "lower revenues in our San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Atlanta; New York; Birmingham; Dallas; and Los Angeles radio stations.” He says that “management changes, format changes, programming changes and self-management changes" are on the way over the next few weeks.
or
Regent -----
which at 91 CENTS per share values the entire company at $35 million. The entire company..."

Or, for that matter, Clear Channel, where the buyout may well be on the rocks as we speak?

The whole bloody business is in trouble, for the same reason so many individual corporations have gotten into trouble--owners and managers who put immediate bottom line profit of the moment ahead of both long term investment in the business, and cultivation of the customer base. The business has shrivelled, and the customer base has become alienated, with predictable effect on the revenue stream and bottom line. It's not that this is a novel experience in American business...far from it! We saw it happen to GM 25 years ago, and to the dot-coms a decade ago...and learned nothing.

Radio's not beyond saving...but every day that investment in quality programming does NOT happen, means the job of turning the broadcasting industry around will get that much tougher.

Think about it...major broadcast groups turning into penny stocks, with one of them (Regent) easily within the budget of the next MegaMillions winning ticket holder, and Citadel getting closer to that bargain basement level by the day.

 

[DaCritic]

If I won MegaMillions... I would DEFINITELY buy Regent. Then I'd run it as it SHOULD be run, not how people only concerned with Wall Street run things.

 

[Element9]

If I won Mega Millions, I'd consider buying a cluster, but it wouldn't be Regent and it wouldn't be in New York state. Hell no! Wonder what's available in the Virgin Islands?

Although, a nice villa on Smith Hill Road would be sweet. In the summer.

-9-

 

[doctorcomputer3]

Re: Citadel-There Will Be Happiness

Wow, you people sure know how to blow your megamillions quickly. Why dont you get into potatoes or something profitable.

 

[stevieWNDR]

Re: Citadel- "There Will Be Blood" premieres today

The premiere of this movie in Syracuse was released today. Released - Just like the business manager, who was scapegoated for the ineptitude of the (in absentia) GM.

 

[ThePickleReport]

They have a new GM coming from Albany; a Syracuse native who was working for Pamal.