What if Entercom had gotten Citadel?

[Element9]

Farid has to answer to bankers. So they're holding him over the fire like a pig with an orange in his mouth. Whether this all goes through is another story. Lots of stockholders have to approve. They all will get a chance to kick the tires for a while, and see if there are any deal breakers. If any of you have ever bought a house, there are several points where the Dickeys can walk away, just as Farid did with ABC years ago. All they need to do is find termites or foundation damage, and the whole thing could be off. In the meantime, the Dickeys get a chance to look at Farid's books. How much would you pay to look at the books of your competitor?

Author! Author! That's some fine writing, Mr. A (...may I call you "The?") Farid, slowly turning atop a medium flame... orange in his mouth. (With or without $2 thousand suit?) Surely the grunts and even the suited minions at James Casey will get a chuckle over your prose. And alluding to termites? Perfectly fitting Farid and Judy. Quite an image you've cast. I'd only offer that in reference to the Dickey clan, you might have added a line about cockroaches or lice.

 

[TheBigA]

And alluding to termites? Perfectly fitting Farid and Judy. Quite an image you've cast. I'd only offer that in reference to the Dickey clan, you might have added a line about cockroaches or lice.

No, no, no, you misunderstand. This isn't personal, this is business. The termites could potentially be in the transmitter shack. The foundation damage in the tower. And the Dickeys are the roasters. This could be gamesmanship at its best. Someone loses their temper, one slight mis-step, a lawsuit happens, and the Dickeys walk away with millions and don't have to actually take ownership. I've seen it happen!

 

[SirRoxalot]

Interesting. Isn't the whole modus operandi of the Dickey empire to manage, not own? Their money's not in the game, they just offer "expertise", in return for handsome compensation? Isn't that the deal that they're trying to broker right now with the Cumulus properties?

Where's the Dickey money in this deal? What's their risk? Cumulus stock? The public company's on the ropes, and the private company is borrowed money. Is Lew Dickey smart enough to suck the bankers in again?

If Farid wasn't so greedy trying to grab $40-Million, this never would have happened. Now there's a crack in the gates of the Citadel, and the barbarians are gathering.

 

[TheBigA]

Interesting. Isn't the whole modus operandi of the Dickey empire to manage, not own? Their money's not in the game, they just offer "expertise", in return for handsome compensation? Isn't that the deal that they're trying to broker right now with the Cumulus properties?

That's why I say this proposal isn't the final step.

 

[Element9]

Interesting. Isn't the whole modus operandi of the Dickey empire to manage, not own? Their money's not in the game, they just offer "expertise", in return for handsome compensation? Isn't that the deal that they're trying to broker right now with the Cumulus properties?

That's why I say this proposal isn't the final step.

Your crystal ball appears to be tuned to the same frequency as Jerry Del Colliano's. He believes Entercom is still in play for the Citadel stations, which could affect the Citadel management ranks in markets like Buffalo, where Entercom and Citadel each have a cluster. I believe Entercom could hold five FMs in Buffalo, but aside from the station spin-off issues, there's the issue of employee count, especially as it applies to managers. If Entercom acquires Citadel, it's very likely that a few Citadel managers (GM, SM, BM, Prod Dir) would be on the outside looking in. The Citadel rank and file (jocks, PDs, sales) might make out better if Entercom gets the Citadel Buffalo cluster whereas Citadel Buffalo management would have a better chance of keeping their jobs if Cumulus gets the Citadel Buffalo cluster. Strange how all this stuff might shake out. If it shakes out at all.

 

[TheBigA]

Your crystal ball appears to be tuned to the same frequency as Jerry Del Colliano's.

Kill me now.

Hey...maybe Bonneville wants to strengthen itself out west now that they have a huge war chest.

Don't tell me Jerry said that too.

 

[Element9]

Your crystal ball appears to be tuned to the same frequency as Jerry Del Colliano's.

Kill me now. Hey...maybe Bonneville wants to strengthen itself out west now that they have a huge war chest. Don't tell me Jerry said that too.

Hell, if only we knew months ago. Heh, heh. I keed, The. But sadly and seriously, Entercom now appears to be out of the bidding and all signs point to Cumulus putting together a deal for Citadel. If Farid's clan of radio wahabis didn't pillage and plunder Citdadel bad enough, Lew Dickey's minions certainly will. The word "autonomy" is unknown to the Cumulus fraudsters. They run everything by the book, "the gospel according to Lew," which is anything but good news for modern man. In Buffalo, Cumulus will wreck three good FMs with further downsizing and voice tracking across the board. Sales will get unnecessarily reorganized, no doubt with video conferencing and all the other Cumulus mind plucking that goes with it. Sadly, the staffs, or what remains of them, will yearn for the good ol' days of Farid. Shocking.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Either way Entercom wins. They bid Tricky Dickey up on the Citadel purchase, which means that Cumulus will look for "economies of scale" that will reduce their ability to compete with Entercom stations. In the local market, anybody in sales will be looking to move to either Entercom or Townsquare. Both groups have more than a few former Citadel employees, including several in management positions. You have to believe that the cream of the sales crop will head over the gunwales at the earliest opportunity rather than get Dickeyed over.

The reality is that one set of banks is selling Citadel to another set of banks. Lew's got very little of his own cash invested in this deal. Mostly, this deal is simply going to make life more miserable for the people who managed to hang on through the Farid fiasco.

Citadel Buffalo's only hope is that there's so much more money to be found in the bigger markets that the people at James E. Casey will escape more than cursory scrutiny in the short term. Eventually, the Evil Eye will gaze upon them.