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Entercom Greenville: Who will buy it?

U

upstate29651

Entercom's stock closed today at .55 a share, down over 12%. Yes, 55 cents a share.

No company can last like this. So who will step in once the ineviatble liquidation starts? And yes, there will have to be liquidation, at least to protect larger market stations.

G
 
Yeah, I saw Entercom's stock was falling a few days ago. I have a feeling they won't be around much longer. They're in a pretty bad spot.

Entercom has a pretty impressive cluster that is worth a good bit. I would wonder if it'll be sliced up like the Thanksgiving turkey or go to one owner entering the market. I see three scenarios..

Scenario 1: Since they're already in the market, Cox could get 3 of the FMs, maybe 98.9, 101.1, 93.7 and the 2 AMs, but since their stations are Urban-oriented (JAMZ and Hot), they may not want to get in to rock, news/talk, etc. WFBC and Hot wouldn't go well together. 106.3 and 93.3 are spun off. But I don't see them expanding right now in this market since they have a pretty good thing going with the urban stations and may not want more baggage.

Scenario 2: Cumulus. They have been brutal with cutbacks, so I don't know if they would enter the market or not. But then again, they are paying a lot less in salaries, so maybe that gives them some extra money to go shopping. I personally don't care for the way they run their business and stations (cheap, not very professional [JMO]), but...they seem to be more stable than Citadel, Entercom, etc. They are the second largest company in terms of properties.

Scenario 3: a more regional company comes in (e.g. Triad Broadcasting, or a company like Barnstable).

Just my speculation. I will stop rambling.
 
I agree! Etercom is on its`s last legs! I think that it will be split up and sold off (Greenville Cluster). You may see a local company acquire some of the lesser powered stations!
 
Wonder how long until they're put on the block. This should get interesting. Since GSP is one of their larger clusters, they will probably sell it first to try and get money to try and keep the others afloat before eventually liquidating. BTW, Entercom, I think you're still running 106.3 in stereo. That's not necessary if you plan to keep talk on 106.3.

Oh how I wish Barnstable had stayed...
 
They may start selling it off in chunks! First, the WORD A.M.`s and maybe 106.3! The big prizes will be WFBC and WSPA. It will be interesting to see what happens. If Cheap channel had any money, they most likely would buy WSPA-FM and change the format to make WMYI-MY 102.5 a huge ratings leader!
 
Wow, that's a lot of wild speculation. The price of a company's stock, while important to the Wall Street boys, isn't necessarily an indication of the overall health of the company, particularly in a market like the one we are in right now. Quite a few radio companies are suffering from low share prices right now, and a few are even facing de-listing from their respective stock exchanges. However, none of them have announced plans to sell stations as a result, and I highly doubt Entercom will be selling any either. A low stock price alone is no indication that the company isn't able to meet it's financial obligations.

As for anybody selling radio stations, that is pretty much out of the question at this point for all intents and purposes. There simply aren't any qualified buyers out there who are willing to pay what sellers are asking, and the sellers, at least at this point, aren't willing to accept what the few potential qualified buyers are offering. However, even finding qualified buyers who are capable of doing a deal in the current economic climate is rare. Turnover of good radio stations just isn't happening now.
 
thebroker said:
Wow, that's a lot of wild speculation. The price of a company's stock, while important to the Wall Street boys, isn't necessarily an indication of the overall health of the company, particularly in a market like the one we are in right now. Quite a few radio companies are suffering from low share prices right now, and a few are even facing de-listing from their respective stock exchanges.
Click to expand...

This is true. While many companies have taken it in the pants lately regarding their stock price, ETM has fallen over the past year from a high of 19.59 a share to .52 a share, so they're right now at their low.

Check out their most recently released income statement: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=etm. It's looking bad.

G
 
Thanks for the info, broker. ETM does operate in some large markets like San Fran., Boston, Portland, Seattle, Denver, Austin, Greensboro....so they could always sell everything outside of the top 50 for some extra funding if things got bad enough. The Greenville cluster is pretty big and probably worth some money. The larger companies such as CC, Cumulus, Citadel have more assets to sell to raise money if needed, unlike Entercom who just has 100 or so radio stations and nothing else....but then again, as said, hardly anybody is buying right now.
 
I know who will buy Magic 98.9 WSPA!

Drum Roll Please!

"GoodTimesGreatOldies" will buy it! He'll fire all the current staff, host morning drive himself then put Scott Shannon's Ego Project, er.. True Oldies Channel on it!

It will be a RATINGS success and make so much money he can buy AM 1070 from Tama!
 
Entercom Stock Update:

10/30/2008: ETM - ^0.61, +0.06 cents or 10.91%. Unchanged after hours.

That is $18.98 below their 52-week high. What is notable is that even though all radio stocks are lower than they were a year ago, none of them have declined as much over a 52-week period as Entercom's has. They went from $19.59 a share to $0.61 in a year....the highest Citadel has traded at in a 52-week period is around $4 (now trading at $0.28), and the highest Cumulus traded at in the last year was $10.46, now trading at $1.02.

Just a FYI on some of the public biggies...yeah, too much spare time on my hands! :eek:
 
Nicely played Car-Radio. Many may disagree, but other owners are starting to feel what CC saw and acted on years ago. CC is now private and fewer people are guiding the ship. Other owners will soon put away their "Cheap Channel" posts as they are forced to let people go. It's not likely that we will put down out i-phones, cancel our ISP, and have horses pull a plow through the field. Radio is still valuable today. Unfortunately, the people who control the life of a radio employee don't live the life.
 
Thanks freqdev. Yeah, CC should be glad they went private when they did.\

ETM closed at $0.67 today, up $0.06 or +9.84%. They seem to have been pretty generous when it came to the talent axe (unlike Cumulus), so one would wonder if they'll start selling some stations off in smaller or lower-performing markets instead so they can maintain the quality of their stations.
 
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