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"Soft AC is Booming" -- is it time for WSB to do someting different with 98.5HD2

Apparently, there is some monitoring of iHeart bonuses by the creditors or the court:

https://radioink.com/2018/12/11/delay-for-iheart/

IMHO any executive who works for a bankrupt corporation should be thankful to have a job. If they had done their job the company would not be there, or they knew the situation when they got hired. I could see why some folks resent “the one percent”.

I personally have no problem if an executive increases profits significantly he/she gets the big bonus. Only if the iHeart Sales has increased a large percentage more than the industry in the last year should a bonus be paid. If these executives were that “good” they would be fielding job offers and most likely have left by now.

I haven't looked at any of the court filings but apparently there is a dollar amount that gets attention. The fact that there is no trustee gives them some "freedom" to do stuff.
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The lucrative contracts of senior iHeart management most definitely should receive creditor scrutiny. Completely agree with you on that point.

All executory contracts are fair game for disposal in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. In many cases, though, incumbent executive leadership will argue in favor of accepting (i.e. retaining) many such contracts, arguing that they are essential for ongoing smooth operation of the business.
 
secondchoice said:
IMHO any executive who works for a bankrupt corporation should be thankful to have a job. If they had done their job the company would not be there, or they knew the situation when they got hired.
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In the cases of the two big radio cases, Cumulus and iHeart, it was former past management that got Cumulus in big debt and an investment banker driven LBO that got Clear Channel in trouble.

Current management has made the operational side very profitable while the corporation has tried to renegotiate its huge, previously acquired, debt burden. If anything, Berner and Pittman should be paid more for dealing with the pressures of the debt burden while trying to make the operations profitable... where they have succeeded quite well.

I personally have no problem if an executive increases profits significantly he/she gets the big bonus. Only if the iHeart Sales has increased a large percentage more than the industry in the last year should a bonus be paid. If these executives were that “good” they would be fielding job offers and most likely have left by now.
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Keep in mind that Berner was recruited to fix a big problem, both debt and operations. She did it, and should be rewarded for coming out of Chapter 11 with good BCF. Pittman came in when the debt was seen as unsustainable given the change in radio after the market crash, the introduction of PPM and the advent of the smartphone.

Sales are not increasing anywhere in the industry. Markets are stagnant, not keeping up with inflation. Radio groups look for economies of scale to stay profitable, but this is a low/oo growth industry. That is why iHeart is focused on new media.
 
CTListener said:
We actually won't know what Madison Avenue thinks of soft AC listeners until the numbers for the stations' first full book in the format are crunched. If most of them turn out to be over 55, I'd imagine the format will be limited to HD subchannels in most markets and the playlists on the main signals it's now on will be tweaked to get rid of the '60s' '70s and early '80s tunes.
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If you look at the best example of soft AC, it is WFEZ in Miami with more years in the format than any other major market example. They play no 60's, only a half-dozen early 70's and are focused on the 80's, but with a fair amount of 1990 to 2015 songs. There is a good selection of more recent AC material that fits the format than on an oldies or classic hits station.
 
DavidEduardo said:


If you look at the best example of soft AC, it is WFEZ in Miami with more years in the format than any other major market example. They play no 60's, only a half-dozen early 70's and are focused on the 80's, but with a fair amount of 1990 to 2015 songs. There is a good selection of more recent AC material that fits the format than on an oldies or classic hits station.
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WDUV has had more years, unless you're just counting the current version of soft AC.
 
What is a good Beautiful Music (not soft AC) station that is available for streaming online (besides EZ Peach, which for some reason won't work with my smart TV, and tends to run hard for BM/EZ anyway)?
 
vchimpanzee said:
WDUV has had more years, unless you're just counting the current version of soft AC.
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WDUV significantly moved its format after Cox finally figured out what to do to make WFEZ work with 25-54.

Previously, WDUV had been about 15th in 25-54. Now they are in the top couple of stations.
 
Atlanta radio is CHR mania right now. It's like a total flip from the days back in the 90s when Star 94 was the only thing we had closely resembling a CHR in between Power 99 flipping to 99X and the launch of Q100, which by coincidence is now on Power 99's old freq.
 
Anyone else experiencing WSB HD-2 dropping out constantly? At first I though it was just at home and possible local RFI, but it happens on multiple receivers, two which are connected to well placed FM dipoles and a solid signal- and at my office in downtown with a window facing their transmitter- so I don't think it's receiving equipment. It's kind of like the programming "skips" like a CD. I haven't taken the time to break out my Signal Hound and look at the spectrum to see if it's interference. Only happens on WSB HD-2. No other HD FM is an issue.
 
Sounds like the IBOC Importer may need a kick/reboot. They can do this from time to time. Or the data link between the studio and the transmitter is getting "starved" of data. I notice that their HD1 stays on, while the HD2, 3 etc all vanish at the same time.
 
HGR1290 said:
Sounds like the IBOC Importer may need a kick/reboot. They can do this from time to time. Or the data link between the studio and the transmitter is getting "starved" of data. I notice that their HD1 stays on, while the HD2, 3 etc all vanish at the same time.
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I own the Gigaware (RadioShack) HD Radio dongle that attaches to the iPhone and used it to use it all the time until the App Store stopped supporting the app. I could never get the tuner to lock into the Cox HD Radio HD2 or 3 channels. WSB, WSRV, or WALR. Must be something with the devices or software they use.
 
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