Cumulus takes Entercom Indianapolis

[Ma “Contrarian” Gee]

Let's please bust this one out of an 18 month old thread.

I don't expect a lot of changes will be made by Cumulus. WZPL, WFMS, WJJK and WNTR should be a strong combo. Maybe they would consider tweaking WNTR to compete less with WZPL. 93.9 and 1430 are total also-rans in the cluster, but that's OK too.

Cumulus will now dominate in overall market share. Might we be at a point where iHeart takes the Emmis stations -- or Emmis takes iHeart in order to better compete with "the Cloud?"

 

[mjb1124]

Any thoughts on what will happen to 93.9 WYRG? They're a direct competitor to ZPL, and obviously less successful, so is it safe to assume there will be a format change?

 

[Ma “Contrarian” Gee]

Respectfully, the least important discussion with this consolidation is one of any possible format change. Cumulus Indianapolis is positioned to have unprecedented leverage in the market. It might not take a full flip. Urban One has its focus and that won't change. The greater question is how Emmis and iHeart respond to remain competitive. Entercom was already at a disadvantage. As Lance wrote, not able to "scale up." Now they're rid of Indianapolis. But iHeart and Emmis are both at three FMs and only a little better off than Entercom was. The question quickly becomes who takes who to remain competitive...Emmis or iHeart.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I don't think Emmis or iHeart will be buying anything. Emmis still has debt problems and will not be able to finance any acquisition. And iHeart is still in bankruptcy for another several weeks or months.

Maybe Emmis and iHeart could arrange a station trade where Emmis would send a facility or two in Austin to iHeart for one or two in Indianapolis. But I won't hold my breath.

 

[Ma “Contrarian” Gee]

Short term, obvious and agreed. I'm talking long term need to remain competitive. Or do you think they'll both simply be satisfied with Cumulus table scraps?

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b15739

Here is an Update

Cumulus Media agreed to acquire three Indianapolis stations in a swap with Entercom earlier this month and for now, the purchase of CHR WZPL-FM, AC WNTR-FM and Sports/Talk WXNT-AM will have little impact on listeners reports the Indianapolis Business Journal. However, the Entercom outlets will eventually move to the stations to new studios in Indianapolis where it already owns Classic Rock WJJK-FM, Country WFMS-FM and CHR WYRG-FM a consistent competitior for WZPL.

 

[TheBigA]

My sense is that Emmis feels a deep commitment to Indianapolis, in that its headquarters are there. They've been willing to deal other markets, but not Indy.

I don't see that changing.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.ibj.com/articles/72756-owner-axes-two-prominent-on-air-personalities-at-wntr-wxnt

Changes coming to the Indianapolis Cluster

Cumulus Media officially took over programming on Friday of three local Entercom Communications radio stations—WZPL-FM 99.5, WNTR-FM 107.9 and WXNT-AM 1430—but big changes already had been made earlier in the week.

kent sterlingKent Sterling
Two high-profile, on-air personalities were let go on Tuesday, among a dozen total employees who were laid off: WXNT sports talk show host Kent Sterling and WNTR afternoon disc jockey Kari Johll.

“I was called on Tuesday and they said we’re making a change,” Sterling told IBJ. “There were 12 of us that were let go."

Known on the air as “KJ,” Johll was on Entercom’s local top 40 station WZPL for more than 17 years before her four-year run as afternoon host on adult contemporary station WNTR. IBJ was unable to get in touch with Johll, but her departure was confirmed by industry sources and she no longer appears on WNTR's website.

Atlanta-based Cumulus announced last month it was acquiring the three stations as part of a bigger shake-up. It has agreed to trade WNSH-FM in New York and two stations in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Pennsylvania-based Entercom in exchange for the three Entercom stations in Indianapolis. The swap deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, but Cumulus began programming the stations on Friday under local marketing agreements.