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• Snagged on a promise they couldn’t deliver on.
• The key SEC accusation.
• The Cumulus apology for something only they do.

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• The thinking behind tinkering with their major revenue markets.
• What last week’s brutal Philly layoffs mean for the company.
• Excruciating details on talent getting screwed – with recent contract extensions.
• Can they maintain ratings and revenue by voice tracking? The evidence.

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• The single best telling indicator if Beasley is going to go under.
• Other signs that add up to financial trouble ahead.
• Comparing Beasley to Audacy, Cumulus and iHeart at the same point in time.
• The new business Beasley is embracing instead of podcasting and digital.

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• How Audacy is being hurt by politicians and regulators.
• Other license renewals being kicked around by politicians.
• How Audacy bankruptcy ‘judge shopping’ backfired.
• Potential new scrutiny for Beasley, Urban One, Salem.
• What Cumulus and iHeart’s 2^nd bankruptcies will have to deal with this time around.

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• Tearing up the way radio is measured.
• The surprising leader in rebuilding a radio station’s audience.
• How to capture more listeners in a world with an 8-second attention span.
• The biggest turn-offs that can be fixed.
• The only thing you should pay a program director for.

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• The Soros plan to hideout.
• What David Field must deliver and how long he has to do it.
• One thing that can totally derail Soros’ growth plans.
• Why Audacy competitors may have to rethink their strategy.

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• The net effect of lowering the listening threshold with advertisers.
• How the move works with today’s shorter listening spans.
• The current lost listening that would be recaptured.
• The effect on quarter hours now loaded with commercials.
• And an even better idea that is not being considered that would help every station without signaling declining audiences.

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• Is new Audacy owner George Soros crazy or crazy like a fox?

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• The unspoken damage the FCC is doing to Audacy.
• Why other radio bankruptcies got the green light to emerge quicker.
• How this delay jeopardizes the Soros plan to rebuild Audacy.
• The delay’s effect on Audacy’s plan to sell, consolidate or shut down some stations.

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• What hedge-fund owners are going to do next to salvage their radio investments.
• If you’re in sales, your job is about to change radically.
• Big game hunting will be out to eliminate another radio employee.
• If an air-personality has a job within the next few years, here is what it will look like.
• The physical radio station of the future reimaged by hedge funds.

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Beasley is in big trouble – stock price of 56 cents, delisting notice pending, a recent offer to water down shares of stock to kick the can down the road and avoid bankruptcy, but with all this, wide-scale nepotism has finally hit a bump in the road.

• The Beasley that gets kicked to the curb.
• What they’re thinking as they stare down bankruptcy.
• How the boss mandates the way market managers must fire employees.
• Their new digital side hustle compared to their previous $30 million digital bust.
• What Beasley’s are willing to give up to save the company.

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• Hit and run formats are popping up in increasing numbers – their future.
• The reason Emmis is replacing their rental tenant ESPN with a Pop-Up station on 98.7 in New York.
• Which cohort benefits most from Pop-Up stations.
• How to measure audience acceptance.
• What administrative and sales structure will look like.

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• Why Audacy is brimming with optimism.
• How they are handling the talent and managers needed to turn the company around.
• What they are disinvesting in next.
• One company has Audacy’s number and is helping to drive it under.

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• A new opportunity for owners to offload AM stations they cannot afford.
• The advantages of owning an AM station – 3 undeniable new benefits.
• How to deal with broadcasting on the older-skewing AM band.
• A warning for FM operators that they are currently ignoring.

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• The first efforts of post-Ed Christian Saga.
• How “old school” Saga plans changes.
• The catalyst for reinventing the radio group.
• What 2 things have deteriorated 50% prompting a new way forward.

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• What to expect when you’re expecting Beasley to be the next bankrupt radio group.
• How they are going to handle content creators and managers.
• Details of their plan to resuscitate the company.
• Which one big mistake caused all their trouble.
• What would George Beasley do?

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• The reason for trying to delay approving Audacy’s bankruptcy.
• How one competitor is rubbing Audacy’s face in their troubles and making money from it.
• The end of all-news on WCBS-AM -- a one-off or canary in the coal mine.
• The non-political Soros plan for Audacy.
• Who is trying to screw over Audacy’s urgent emergence from bankruptcy.

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• What major move iHeart has up their sleeve to survive the company’s growing and untenable debt.
• More layoffs, but even that’s not the big bang they’re planning.
• Wall Street whispers of how iHeart is about to go dog eat dog.
• Bloomberg: how iHeart will  “profit from the mayhem”.
• What it means to their radio business.

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PUBLISHING NOTE:  Cheryl and I are going to take a few days off to recharge our batteries before NYU resumes classes in a few weeks and the music/media space heats up once again. This seems like a good time.  Thanks for being part of our group that cares about radio, media and the music industry.  See you in a few days --  Monday August 26.

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• Is the shutdown of WCBS-AM predictive of the future.
• What they’re thinking when owners hand over a station to a competitor in the same format who could erode ratings and hurt billing (WCBS-AM to ESPN).
• What’s ahead for owners unable to sell their AM stations.
• What other AM stations could be next.
• Is EMF now going to be a player in renting from desperate owners?

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• What’s behind Senator Ted Cruz’ threats to blow up the FCC’s Audacy bankruptcy approval.
• A major radio CEO’s possible involvement in this delay/derail tactic.
• The money trail leading to Cruz.
• How will this affect the FCC’s final approval of Audacy’s emergence from bankruptcy?

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• The lifeline call that temporarily saved it from the brink.
• What just about guarantees a second bankruptcy.
• Why this is the worst of times for employees but the best for management.
• Is Cumulus waiting to be rescued by Soros?

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• Next up after Audacy emerges from bankruptcy.
• The ones safe – for now.
• The radio groups that will defy bankruptcy -- no question.
• BUT trouble still lingers for the big consolidators – which one has just started negotiating their second bankruptcy already.

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Only weeks to go before Soros takes majority ownership of Audacy.

Can they save the neglected crown jewel CBS stations?

The biggest fears moving forward under new ownership.

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• Will they survive the meltdown of larger consolidators?
• Should they get out and investors buy low.
• The best investment in radio at this moment.
• Whispers about the future of radio with digital.
• How small and medium markets will deal with the high price of local.

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• What Field has been reportedly saying to others about his future at Audacy.
• The case for keeping a CEO who lost billions of dollars of shareholders value.
• Why Alex Soros might be looking for another CEO.
• The one thing Field has that Soros can strongly relate to.

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• iHeart is talking a big game for the future, but this is what’s actually going on.
• Why they hired a financial advisor.
• What is prompting so much concern.
• Their “near takeover”.
• Their surprising biggest source of revenue.

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• Did Salem just do what some fear Soros will wind up doing?
• What complicates Salem’s hopes to stay out of bankruptcy.
• Is radio being used to gain political influence?
• Ways once prosperous Salem is hanging on by threads.

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• What iHeart is up to with a reimagined hiring/firing scheme.
• What we’re hearing about big salary hires.
• Why this will change the way other radio groups think.
• The new thinking about required years of experience and big pay.
• Notable allegations of employee distrust.

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• Years of evading taxes that cannot be disputed – how they did it.
• The template for other radio companies teetering on bankruptcy.
• The use of legal fees to bully a settlement.

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• iHeart has not given out cost of living increases to most employees for over a decade, but there is one type of employee they are afraid to lose.
• What is prompting their change in attitude about compensation.
• How they set the table for other major radio groups to follow suit.
• The safest job in radio.
• 2 case studies: new found money.

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• Audacy is limping out of bankruptcy next month, Cumulus and iHeart face a second bankruptcy within the next few years and most of the remaining radio groups whose stock is trading under $1 are on track to be delisted.
• Health check of radio’s top 3 groups.
• Best and worst outcomes for all three.
• What are the big groups thinking – what we’re hearing about their future options.

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• How anyone unhappy with George Soros owning a large share of Audacy can now block it or fatally delay it by filing one piece of paper.
• If the FCC fails to act in favor of the pending waiver Soros needs, then what?
• How Audacy is quickly losing control of a critical timeline out of bankruptcy.
• The prognosis of a fresh start promised by Audacy to advertisers and employees in light of recent developments.

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• Uncovering the lies the NAB and politicians are spreading about AM.
• The bullying tactics being used to force automakers to keep AM in cars that likely will backfire.
• How auto manufacturers are playing with the NAB – their real radio plans revealed.
• Tricks consolidators are using that hurt AM’s chances to remain as standard equipment in the dash.

Publishing note:  With July 4^th in the middle of the week, most music and media execs are taking all or the majority of this week off – have a safe and happy Fourth and we’ll see you next week.

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• Why a multi-year extension, huge pay raise and shiny new title to this particular programmer?
• Did Soros Management Fund sign off on this since they don’t officially have a stake in the company.
• The Audacy trend of promoting people who are not in danger of leaving.
• The political capital David Field is gambling on 6-weeks before new investors get to make decisions.

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• The 7 radio owners most likely to sell stations in spite of what they say publicly.
• 4 of the 7 are not currently on anyone’s list – but that may soon change.
• The pros and cons outlined for cherry picking each of these groups.
• Cumulus turned down almost $20 a share and now they’re worth a little more than a dollar – why they refuse to sell.

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• David Field’s cheapness is arguably why the CBS merger failed – how it’s now threatening the outcome of their lifeline bankruptcy.
• And the prospect of even more budget cuts than Soros had planned.
• Documented evidence that Audacy lied about legitimate expenses.
• Audacy’s chutzpah:  Seeking to get reimbursed for back lawyers’ fees and other expenses for negotiating in bad faith.
• How resolving it could eat into the $50 million Audacy told the bankruptcy court that it needs for operations when it emerges.

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• What to expect for day one of new ownership – August 18^th
• The new approach to cutting costs at Audacy.
• The first job category to get trimmed and the last.
• The closest thing to job security at Audacy (at least for now) is this position – no question.
• The difference if Field stays or if he goes.

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• Why does the same company that recently offered Paramount $26 billion have to suddenly fire radio staff making less than $100,000 a year.
• Look who is breathing down their necks now and forcing their hand.
• Does this cost cutting affect the status of that Cox-Audacy rollup?
• With mounting debt, is selling even an option?

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• Why radio’s most expensive stock and only company with no debt is signaling trouble ahead.
• What they are going to do about it.
• How did the radio group with the highest stock price start declining.

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• The big city multi-market cluster for sale at “make-me-an-offer” prices.
• How radio groups are finding buyers in a market where few exist.
• The method they use for raising quick cash to avoid default.
• So why hasn’t Cumulus been willing to sell standalone KABC-AM?
• Stations with sports rights contracts appear off limits – here are the easier ones to sell.

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• The best-case scenario for Cumulus to stay solvent.
• What happens if they go under a second time.
• The savior who could rescue Cumulus in bankruptcy.

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• The troubling signs that their creditors have started preparing for Chapter 22.
• What it means to the iHeart we know today.
• The most important trigger to keep an eye on.

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• How they are becoming tax deadbeats.
• Tactics being used to bully creditors.
• A pathetic 9-minute audio clip that shows how low Audacy is willing to go to burn anyone in the way of their bankruptcy.

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• How they made out compared to radio groups
• The group that blatantly refers to its tower deal on their balance sheet as “financial liability” – their words.
• How the tower fire sale specifically affected iHeart, Audacy, Cumulus, Townsquare, Beasley and Cox.
• The group most likely to go under first under the weight of a bad tower sale.

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• How this revelation might affect FCC’s approval to emerge from bankruptcy.
• What Audacy is claiming about their longtime suburban Philly headquarters.
• The effect on their balance sheet if they are ordered to pay up.
• Repercussions if this claim is allowed to play out in Pennsylvania courts.

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• The trouble that’s brewing while Audacy waits for FCC approval of their bankruptcy plan.
• What could go wrong.
• If the bankruptcy isn’t approved by this date, all bets are off.
• The stumbling block to what usually is a fast process to exit bankruptcy.

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• Yes, they walked away from a return on investment that would have been worth the current total value of Cumulus – here’s how.
• The internal fighting that tried to stop the CEO and board chair from walking away from a huge pay day.
• Why they fought so hard to unload a money machine.
• And how their stock price would be double what it is today if not for this one crucial mistake.

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• The real reason Soros Foundation controlling Audacy worries almost everyone.
• Their big plans to roll up several radio groups – should competitors be worried?
• The prospect of Soros hiring a heavyweight radio executive to take over from David Field.
• Is the Soros strategy a build-and-run or stay-and-play?

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See you after Memorial Day –  And, as always, thanks for your support!

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• Is it a signal that EMF is done buying commercial stations on the cheap?
• Financial troubles?
• The profitability of EMF stations in attracting donations.
• What this means for commercial broadcasters who only have EMF as a potential buyer.

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• Why market managers are increasingly being fired and eliminated while survivors are being forced to do what they know is wrong.
• Coming soon: private equity radio owner’s “better idea”.
• Outrageous duties now being forced upon market managers hampering their ability to maximize revenue.
• How this management shortfall is starting to trickle down to sales managers.
• An honest generic want ad for today’s market manager that is hard to argue with.

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• How Mary Berner ousted Lew Dickey to drive Cumulus into bankruptcy.
• The person to blame for putting Berner in as CEO where she has presided over a 70% decline in earnings.
• Future battles: a suitor looking to buy stock while it is so cheap.
• A potential hostile takeover.
• Where Soros comes in to Cumulus’ future.

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• Take out your calculator, based on the Cumulus and Audacy bankruptcies that proceeded Beasley, here’s what could extend their lifeline or abruptly throw them into bankruptcy sooner.
• The efficacy of a potential reverse stock split that they are considering,
• The one telltale move to watch for – when Beasley does this, no question they’re going down.
• How long before Beasley initiates another round of deep layoffs like last week.
• Why they are firing programming and content people above others.
• My calculation of “B” date (so far, we’ve called 3 radio bankruptcies scarily on target).

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• The dreaded first move they just made.
• What’s at stake when Beasley files.
• How to interpret the expected denials.
• Why Beasley is using the Audacy playbook that failed to turn their stock price around.
• Bankruptcy countdown – how long and when.

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• The over/under on radio’s most adventurous potential merger.
• The earliest this rollup could happen.
• Why is Cumulus so important to Audacy?
• The political consequences of the left owning an iHeart-sized radio rollup.
• Even if everything goes smoothly, there’s this almost immovable roadblock.

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• The little-mentioned “radio guy” flying under the radar in this deal.
• What Soros buys after they rollup Audacy and Cumulus.
• Why Cumulus will force Soros to revert to a hostile takeover.
• Is this a political play by Democrat Soros?
• What happens to the forced spinoffs?

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• The connection between the mess at Boeing and Nielsen’s troubles.
• How the same management tactics by the same man delivered the same results.
• What to watch as financially pressed radio companies are taking another look at rating services.
• The case for selling radio without ratings.
• Radio groups likely to dump Nielsen next.

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• What’s behind extending a debt repayment plan that lenders don’t want.
• The backroom strategy to win over lenders who are consistently turning down 3% more interest for a 3-year repayment delay.
• What happens if they fail to reorganize $346 million in debt.
• If successful, where will the savings be invested?
• The unspoken reason pushing back this debt is so critical to Cumulus.

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• It’s starting to happen, which radio groups will run on fewer market managers.
• Safe spaces to work – but even some of them may cave.
• In-market vs. out of market management – which do better.
• Why the war against market managers when corporate is so willing to overpay others.

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• How their twice rejected upgraded bond offer turned out to be this necessary.
• Why bondholders would actually like their present deal as insurance against what they see as an inevitable second bankruptcy.
• What happens if Cumulus refinanced their debt now.
• Options for selling assets to avoid bankruptcy.
• Lew Dickey’s last laugh.

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• Non-profit EMF’s financial revenue revealed.
• How much they pay their CEO to run 1,000 signals.
• The system they use to dictate their buying price.
• 97% of their revenue comes from donations – how much they spend on fundraising.
• EMF is doing the same thing private equity did after consolidation – with one exception.

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• Whispers that a major shakeup of top executives is coming.
• How iHeart’s current spring cleaning of staff is different.
• How iHeart reportedly tried to play an on-air talent with a raise on the back of firing his air partner – and it blew up.
• What to expect as iHeart, Audacy and Cumulus are changing their layoff policy.
• Case study: slimy, hurtful iHeart firing details.

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• A second bankruptcy has always been on the table, but here is a scenario that Cumulus management is waiting for.
• A sale? Why Cumulus is vehemently opposed to that.
• The current chances for another bankruptcy.
• How Berner is posturing for the best deal to sell the company.
• What’s in it for her if she does.

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• How is Salem not already in bankruptcy.
• Their humiliating station giveaways to of all competitors EMF.
• EMF’s unique pricing formula that forced Salem to say “uncle” and sell.
• Who is the next EMF, a ready and willing buyer of radio stations.
• The new tactic Salem and others are using to buy time.

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• The percentage of bankruptcies that succeed (vs. fail or file a second time).
• The bankruptcy problem no one says out loud.
• Proven indicators of whether a radio bankruptcy will work.
• Retaining the management that caused the bankruptcy – right move or wrong?
• What we’re hearing about the radio groups closest to filing Chapter 11 next.

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• All but 2 radio groups have become zombie companies unable to pay their loans and grow at the same time.
• What it means at the station level.
• What Audacy (soon to emerge from bankruptcy) is now calling “accelerated performance”.
• Where’s all the promised digital revenue – it’s booming everywhere but radio, but why?
• How zombie companies will change the radio industry over the next 18 months.

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• How soon will Audacy’s new lenders-turned owners oust David Field.
• The Soros play to takeover Audacy – their intentions revealed.
• The old board gets dismissed -- this is what replaces them.
• What we’re watching – things to worry about like a hostile takeover.
• They’re short on cash already, the incredible place where they are looking.

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• Two things converging on Cumulus putting it in danger.
• Why the extension for a debt buyback.
• Bankruptcy 2.0 talk.
• Market managers dish on the company’s strange behavior lately.
• How Wall Street is reading the mixed signals.

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• Despite the denials, how Cumulus will get sold.
• Whose knocking on the door and why they’re not answering.
• The exit plan – here’s the number it will sell for.
• Case study of another radio group sale that Cumulus may follow.
• The Cumulus exec accused of “corporate malfeasance” – and it’s not who you think it is.

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• Under-the-radar plans to shrink the three largest troubled radio groups.
• The two most radical on-air savings in the works.
• And two most notable off-air savings being targeted.
• Say hello to the new daypart known as “Death Valley” – details.
• The one line even a desperate radio group still will not cross – yet.

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• Why activist vultures are increasingly circling Cumulus.
• The debt Cumulus never talks about publicly.
• 3 years of expense cuts.
• The latest “Hail Mary” to lock in current management.
• Devolving into an executive compensation scheme – details.

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• The activist investors pestering Cumulus.
• The investor who has put Cumulus on notice that they intend to acquire more stock and take an active role in the company’s management.
• What Soros is up to buying cheap Audacy debt that even Audacy doesn’t realize.
• How a hostile radio takeover will work.
• Why the sudden interest in radio even as revenue continues to trend down.
• A different kind of consolidation coming.

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• Soros’ anticipated influence on Audacy programming.
• The other groups Soros would like to roll up with Audacy.
• The first thing to change when Audacy emerges from bankruptcy with Soros as main owner.
• The born-again David Field – here’s some evidence of the new man.
• Why Mary Berner is worried about the Soros-Audacy connection.

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• How they plan to target Audacy and Cumulus for future growth.
• How they are going to handle their $5.2 billion debt albatross.
• That second baked-in bankruptcy.
• In or out on programmatic buying?
• What’s behind their claim of podcasting growth.

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• Behind the scenes at local Cumulus stations fearing a potential takeover.
• What corporate is telling its managers.
• How Mary Berner is under pressure from inside and outside the company.
• Market managers give this grim warning to corporate.
• What started the recent investor activist warning that they intend to be involved in the company.

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• The radio exec who is masterminding this plot.
• Where the money is coming from in addition to Soros.
• How they intend to build a group large enough to compete with iHeart.
• The 3 radio groups being targeted.

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• What blew the major sale up at the last minute.
• Is Apollo still actively trying to offload its Cox radio acquisitions?
• The surprising bidder who came this close to owning Cox radio.
• The money people involved in the failed Cox station sale.
• How bankrupt Audacy was involved in scuttling the Cox radio selloff.

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• Their “poison pill” cannot stop activist bidders – here’s how they can work around it.
• The activist bidders who might be thinking takeover.
• What happened that made Mary Berner hit the “poison pill” panic button.
• Why a company from Singapore that owns consumer products and no media wants Cumulus so badly.
• The biggest activist investors apparent intentions regarding Cumulus management.

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• The Soros strategy for its Audacy investment.
• Is this a political play by the left-leaning billionaire?
• How it will affect programming and operations.
• Who has the power now – first-tier lenders-turned owners or the Soros group?
• The end game for a $400 million investment in a bankrupt radio group.

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• Why financial experts are suddenly concerned about the viability of Cumulus.
• The real problem areas identified.
• What about selling standalone KABC and others?
• Westwood One as the canary in the coal mine.

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• His petition to the bankruptcy court asking them to blow up the Audacy prepackaged reorganization.
• How much this investor got burned for.
• The specific remedies he is asking the bankruptcy court in Texas to invoke.
• His strategy to stop the steal that mostly benefits Audacy lenders not shareholders.
• How much trouble is this for Audacy.

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• Bondholders accepted pennies on the dollar to enable this bankruptcy agreement – what often happens by the time they get to court.
• Who will the new lenders-turned owners choose to be on their board – and lead it?
• Hints from as recently as last week give an idea of how they will proceed in running the company once the pre-pack is approved.
• The debt issue remains: how will it be divvyed up between take-back paper and restated debt.
• Will the new Audacy be a rebuild or a fire sale – recent clues tell which way it’s going to lean.

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• Why the rush to buy into radio groups that are failing.
• Even bankrupt groups.
• The case of a lender injecting over $50 million in a bankrupt radio group.
• A sampler of little-known private equity investors who have been actively buying radio stocks.
• What do they know that everyone else is missing about radio’s future.

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• Do commercial radio companies now have something else to worry about as Christian music stations are amassing larger audiences.
• EMF bought all those distressed radio stations for pennies on the dollar, now look at their plan to compete with commercial broadcasters.
• Jesus takes the dial but commercial broadcasters answer to a higher power.
• The real threats of EMF Christian music formats to their competitors.
• The way to beat non-coms at their own game.

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• Interest in buying Audacy out of bankruptcy reportedly amps up.
• One anxious buyer has done business with David Field.
• A foreign investor reportedly pursuing it under the radar.
• What it would take for lenders-turned new owners to flip Audacy.
• Why the sudden burst of interest in buying other distressed radio groups – we name a few companies.

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• First things first – the things the new owners burned in bankruptcy are champing at the bit to carry out.
• During year one some unexpected changes (remembering that these new owners never ran even one radio station).
• Down the line some expected and unexpected moves that they gave themselves the power to do in the bankruptcy pre-packaged agreement.
• Reading the new owner’s digital intentions.
• What I’m hearing about a company reportedly looking at buying all or part of Audacy.

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• The identity of the next 3 radio groups to file for bankruptcy.
• Apollo is the largest private equity owner of radio and their investments are in trouble – why?
• How private equity sees the future of radio ownership from their perspective.
• A litmus test for whether now is the best time to buy a highly-discounted radio station.
• What happens when iHeart, Cumulus and even Audacy file second bankruptcies which are being predicted.

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• This is what motivated Audacy to shell out $1.3 million in retention bonuses to people going absolutely nowhere.
• But here’s the company’s claw back clause which is rarely noticed.
• Why Audacy is increasingly skittish about the pre-packaged bankruptcy going through.
• What could happen next if it doesn’t – and yes, these types of deals tend to blow at the last minute.
• Audacy’s zero tolerance policy on bankruptcy talk.

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• How iHeart, Cumulus and Townsquare are increasingly pulling the plug as a reality of doing business.
• Why don’t they just sell them for whatever they can get?
• Could Audacy’s new owners be hot to shut down some stations costing them too much money to bother?
• The reason AM stations are targeted the most, but these kinds of FMs aren’t safe.
• The two reasons that forced owners’ hands.
• These markets are off limits – period.

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• What’s the status of Dan Mason returning as a board member to choose the new CEO – still interested?
• A possible sleeper candidate not to be dismissed.
• Is it a done deal with David Field getting kicked to the board?
• Here’s how to tell whether the lenders-turned owners are serious about fixing Audacy or gutting the company.

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• As incredible as it may seem -- why the drop from $1.9 billion to $350 million in debt will still not be enough.
• Audacy’s big mistake in their bankruptcy filing that poses a problem even when they emerge.
• Why their newly converted equity will continue to decline in value risking another default on the reinstated debt.
• The impact of programmatic buying when interest on their $350 million loan needs to be repaid.
• Red flag for the 3 radio groups that will be filing for bankruptcy next – don’t make these mistakes that Cumulus, iHeart and now Audacy made to avoid being a “zombie” company.

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• Bye, bye 1010 WINS and a group of other stations – the new owner’s aggressive sales plan.
• But not FM stations, right?
• The first indication that they plan to do a Cumulus-type WPLJ selloff of properties – and most importantly, the timetable.
• What’s not for sale – that’s a good question, but there is a good answer.
• What happens to podcasting and digital beyond what the outgoing Field regime is publicly saying.
• A new CEO is coming -- look at what scorched lenders actually got Field to insert in the pre-pack agreement to guarantee it.
• How the first-tier lenders rammed language down David Field’s throat to make him sing for his supper.
• This is a real bankruptcy despite the fact that it is agreed to – Audacy already needs a $57 million loan to hold it over just until the court and FCC approve the bankruptcy – details.

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• David Field, his father, Weezie Kramer and Joel Hollander are on the board of the sunsetting company – what the lenders-turned owners are going to do that will totally shake up Audacy.
• What happens to Audacy stock worth 20 cents before Sunday’s bankruptcy filing.
• Why are they “judge shopping” – Audacy filed for bankruptcy in Texas (they’re headquartered in Philly).
• Field is talking “business as usual” as if he’s going to remain as CEO – what he’s not saying (at least publicly).
• If this bankruptcy gets approved it wipes out almost all of Audacy’s debt -- will that be enough?
• Audacy is talking like a pre-packaged bankruptcy is a slam-dunk – what could go wrong.

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• Is Dan even interested? I asked him.
• What position makes the most sense for the person who once cleaned up after Joel Hollander previously at CBS Radio.
• What about Hollander (current Audacy Lead Independent Director), is he out with the new owners or does he get a second chance.
• And a third executive who may take a run at David Field’s job as CEO.
• The lenders become the new owners within weeks – usually (as per the Cumulus bankruptcy) they replace the board and start selling off assets – will the new Audacy follow that plan.
• Attention Audacy: Here’s what Mason would likely do to turn the company around.

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• The Audacy bankruptcy is a done deal – a preview.
• The lenders get the company but does CEO David Field get to keep his job after that hot mess – details.
• How the new company will somehow emerge with half its debt gone – why couldn’t Field do this?
• The final decision on laying off more people under new ownership.
• Survivors will get this take it or leave it offer.
• The good news is that the implosion of Entercom/CBS/Audacy finally ends in the very near future – the bad news is …

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