Inner City Media creditors seek chapter 11

[Theater of My Mind]

It'n not on RI news yet but Bloomberg has it:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...er-city-media-targeted-for-bankruptcy-1-.html

 

[Barry]

It appears there is a good chance that the assets of Inner City Media, the owner of WBLS and WLIB AM in New York (and other stations elsewhere) will ultimately be acquired by creditors, following bankruptcy hearings.
An article today states that a billionaire named Ron Burkle would be one of the primary owners.
My guess is that since WBLS is quite successful and has a long heritage serving the African American community, it is unlikely to face any major changes as a result of this.
As for WLIB, with its gospel music programming, it may be hard to say whether the new owners would feel better off changing the format, selling it, or leaving it as is.

Inner City Radio Media Heading Towards Bankruptcy? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...er-city-media-targeted-for-bankruptcy-1-.html

 

[radioman148]

It appears there is a good chance that the assets of Inner City Media, the owner of WBLS and WLIB AM in New York (and other stations elsewhere) will ultimately be acquired by creditors, following bankruptcy hearings.
An article today states that a billionaire named Ron Burkle would be one of the primary owners.
My guess is that since WBLS is quite successful and has a long heritage serving the African American community, it is unlikely to face any major changes as a result of this.
As for WLIB, with its gospel music programming, it may be hard to say whether the new owners would feel better off changing the format, selling it, or leaving it as is.

Inner City Radio Media Heading Towards Bankruptcy? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...er-city-media-targeted-for-bankruptcy-1-.html

Maybe the new owners would lower WLIB's night power & let WOWO get powerful again.

 

[Ejxit]

Maybe the new owners would lower WLIB's night power & let WOWO get powerful again.


Magic Johnson has a piece of the action in this game too. First thing they have to do is ditch the Percy Sutton crew. Nobody needs to hear WOWO in NYC anymore.

 

[disney fanatic]

First, there was Air America, but now this. Inner City is in financial trouble right now. Inner City is the company that owns WBLS and WLIB. Remember back in 2003 when WLIB started Air America with Al Franken and company? It was liberal talk network and it never saw the light of day and it lasted for 4 years until it moved to WWRL back in 2006 and stayed there until Air America died last year. I hope WBLS isn't going anywhere, but if not, maybe they should sell off these two stations and bring ESPN to the table. Come on, this ain't rocket science! I don't see WBLS getting rid of its urban format anytime soon, maybe WRKS would be a big winner if Inner City will go out of business in the future.

 

[uncamark]

First, there was Air America, but now this. Inner City is in financial trouble right now. Inner City is the company that owns WBLS and WLIB. Remember back in 2003 when WLIB started Air America with Al Franken and company? It was liberal talk network and it never saw the light of day and it lasted for 4 years until it moved to WWRL back in 2006 and stayed there until Air America died last year. I hope WBLS isn't going anywhere, but if not, maybe they should sell off these two stations and bring ESPN to the table. Come on, this ain't rocket science! I don't see WBLS getting rid of its urban format anytime soon, maybe WRKS would be a big winner if Inner City will go out of business in the future.

Inner City was never financially involved with AAR--AAR bought time on WLIB.

And Inner City has nothing to do with WOWO--after buying it and lowering the power, they sold it to Federated, a local Ft. Wayne company.

Inner City's problem is the same problem that so many radio groups have had since deregulation--they're overleveraged. I would hope that they would sell the other stations and keep WLIB and WBLS, if only to keep Radio One or some other outside group from taking them over.

 

[secondchoice]

Inner City's problem is the same problem that so many radio groups have had since deregulation--they're overleveraged. I would hope that they would sell the other stations and keep WLIB and WBLS, if only to keep Radio One or some other outside group from taking them over.

I do not think Radio One can swing it.

 

[davideduardo]

Inner City's problem is the same problem that so many radio groups have had since deregulation--they're overleveraged. I would hope that they would sell the other stations and keep WLIB and WBLS, if only to keep Radio One or some other outside group from taking them over.

But this is a planned scenario... the major debt holder of Inner City, which was apparently Morgan Stanley, sold the debt at a discount to Yucaipa. Yucaipa has petitioned for a form of voluntary bankruptcy, and this is intended to result in an exchange of debt for equity, whereby Yucaipa will be the owner of most of the shares. It has been reported that negotiations with the heirs of Mr. Sutton were not successful in arranging the exchange of debt for equity, as there were differences between the percentage they wanted after the deal and what the debt holder wanted. The debt had not been serviced for several years; this is just a forclosure and a new operator if the petition is approved.

 

[htowler]

First, there was Air America, but now this. Inner City is in financial trouble right now. Inner City is the company that owns WBLS and WLIB. Remember back in 2003 when WLIB started Air America with Al Franken and company? It was liberal talk network and it never saw the light of day and it lasted for 4 years until it moved to WWRL back in 2006 and stayed there until Air America died last year. I hope WBLS isn't going anywhere, but if not, maybe they should sell off these two stations and bring ESPN to the table. Come on, this ain't rocket science! I don't see WBLS getting rid of its urban format anytime soon, maybe WRKS would be a big winner if Inner City will go out of business in the future.

Inner City was never financially involved with AAR--AAR bought time on WLIB.

And Inner City has nothing to do with WOWO--after buying it and lowering the power, they sold it to Federated, a local Ft. Wayne company.

Inner City's problem is the same problem that so many radio groups have had since deregulation--they're overleveraged. I would hope that they would sell the other stations and keep WLIB and WBLS, if only to keep Radio One or some other outside group from taking them over.

I don't see them getting rid of the Big DM either but any other station might and probably should be on the table