Read the full article now    

1. The future of Katz rep firm under a new owner like Liberty Media.
2. Two currently unthinkable options for Katz suddenly are on the table.
3. The fate of Total Traffic under a new owner like Liberty.
4. Liberty has already said it would sell Clear Channel Outdoor, but what would be their plans to sell radio stations.
5. How Liberty could drop billions and still wind up with virtually no debt – what experts think.

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. Mary Berner says Cumulus will emerge from bankruptcy at the end of May – what does she know that everyone else doesn’t.
2. Their unsecured creditors must sign off but they have been resistant – here’s the surprising thing they did just a few days ago to complicate matters more.
3. Cumulus is offering these resistant bondholders double what iHeart is offering their unsecured creditors – why aren’t they biting and what specifically do they want.
4. How two reported takeover bids are affecting an end to this bankruptcy.
5. Cumulus employees want to know what’s going to happen to them when bankruptcy finally ends – here are the two most likely outcomes

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. Alpha Media’s continuing battle to keep the company due to debt problems.
2. How founder Larry Wilson poisoned the well for other radio groups, many of them also in financial trouble today.
3. Alpha’s tower debacle – now that story can be told.
4. Could Wilson just walk away from the company if it gets any worse.
5. Alpha’s biggest lender is running out of patience – here are the options.

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. Compelling evidence that radio is unnecessarily driving even loyal listeners away.
2. Let’s start with Beasley – you won’t believe what one of their Greater Media  stations was clocked at for spot overload recently.
3. Which group has well exceeded 30 units per hour – and counting. 
4. How sales starved groups are using trade to pump up revenue – and deceive their own investors.
5. Pressure from Facebook and digital competitors is causing radio to take any ad at any price – here’s the percentage of how much digital is bleeding off the local radio spend.
6. How radio is alarmingly following the magazine industry’s ad practices.
7. A list of solutions – yes, there are ways to begin to put a stop to spot  excesses and raise local revenue even while being pressured by digitally-minded local agencies.  Some damn good alternatives.

Start a new subscription here

Mary Berner says there’s no way Lew Dickey is returning to run Cumulus.

Jeff Warshaw is reportedly already talking spin-offs to buyers who think Connoisseur can steal Cumulus from lenders for pennies on the dollar.

And then there’s Lew Dickey, the founder and CEO ousted in a bloodless coup by the chairman of the board more than two years ago who wants back.

Which one is full of crap?

If you are a subscriber, thank you for joining our group.  To unlock the content, click here. 

If you’ve been thinking about subscribing and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get.

1. For the first time – the Dickey takeover plan.
2. The timing of the takeover bid.
3. The biggest thing Lew Dickey has going for him and what’s working against him.
4. The clueless lenders and bondholders are in for this rude awakening that can totally disrupt the outcome.
5. The best thinking on when Cumulus can get out of bankruptcy and back to business.
6. Whether current management is making any progress winning over bondholders who are refusing to sign on to their second operating plan.

The answers start here.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (3,904 pieces) and get daily email delivery, tap or click here.

Subscribers Read the Full Article Here   

If you’ve been thinking about subscribing and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get:

• Start with today’s story Entercom's $110 Million in Merger Cutbacks.  
  
• Total access to previous stories from last week, last month, last yearand everystory ever written (3,903 to date) UNLOCKED.
• New story notification option. 
• Auto-renew or not – you decide. 
• A free subscription to DayStarters.
• For just 27 cents a day you can join a group of thousands of readers who want intel written in a lively, entertaining way with no happy talk – just insightful, informative and deadly honest reporting not available anywhere else.

Over 99% renew every year – you won’t regret it.

Start a New Subscription

INSIDE …

• Putting aside all the spin, what’s the truth about Cumulus revenue – here’s the final first quarter numbers and current pacing. 
• The one Cumulus top exec who is not spinning performance statistics so if this guy is worried, be worried. 
• What’s the one tell-tale sign a radio company is headed into the toilet – guess what, it just showed up at Cumulus.
• The absolutely wrong thing to do when the majority of your market managers are not able to turn things around – Cumulus did it a few days ago. 

Read the full article now   

Free samples of our work here.

Report News Tips confidentially in our Witness Protection Program here.

Email Jerry privately here.

See a complete list of previous stories here.

We know that there are at least two bidders looking to takeover Cumulus when it emerges from bankruptcy – or even before if the judge allows outside bidders.

Lew Dickey is one, the founder of the company ousted by Board Chairman Jeff Marcus after Dickey had it out with Marcus over allegedly undermining his ability to run the company.

And now there is Jeff Warshaw, the CEO of Connoisseur Version 2.  Warshaw sold 37 stations in 9 markets to Cumulus for $242 million in 2000 as the original Connoisseur.

Mary Berner continues to spin that she is guaranteed to return to run the debt-free version of Cumulus when they emerge from bankruptcy and lenders and bondholders are stinging from the haircuts they had to take.

• Warshaw is looking to steal Cumulus from lenders – Connoisseur is in a bit of a financial tight spot itself selling off its Buckley Hartford stations and most recently three stations in New Jersey to Townsquare for $17 million including one of Connoisseur’s most profitable ones, an FM in Trenton.  Approximately 50% of Connoisseur’s acquisitions account for debt of some kind.  That’s why Warshaw may not be just opting for a chance to buy Cumulus but may need it for Connoisseur to survive.

• How stealing Cumulus buys Jeff Warshaw another day
• How much of Cumulus would Warshaw keep
• Who do the lenders want running Cumulus
• What happens if Cumulus falls into a second bankruptcy
• Will there be a bidding war for Cumulus 

Read the full article now   

Start a new subscription here

“At first I was reluctant to pay for ‘insightful, deadly honest’ reporting.  I know tons of media people already do.  But, it turned out that 27 cents a day was more than fair for what Jerry tackles.  Now I don’t want to go back to relying on just the free happy talk publications”.

Al Liggins and Cathy Hughes have managed to do the impossible over the years – avoid bankruptcy.

But what kind of shape is a boutique black-targeted media company like Urban One really in?

On one hand, they have seen a lot of competitors fall on hard times not the least of which is the number one group, iHeartMedia with their 850 stations.

And Cumulus with 90 markets, the majority of which are not and have not been making their numbers even before they filed for bankruptcy.

Yet, Urban One is still afloat albeit in uncertain times.

Their employees very much care about whether they can remain whole and avoid the uncertainties of bankruptcy.

Of course, their banks and lenders care.

But so do other radio groups who might covet the major markets they are in if they have to sell properties to stay afloat.

So, what’s Urban One’s financial condition?  

• They diversified and placed a bet on help from non-radio businesses – As of now, Urban One (formerly Radio One) is reportedly deriving approximately half of its income from sources other than radio station revenue.  That is highly unusual among radio companies, but it was a strategy that Liggins and Hughes personally felt they had to pursue. 

• What Urban One is doing to as a hedge against increasing debt that other groups may have to do, too

• The TV One acquisition – accretive or too risky

• The current biggest threat to Urban One’s future 

• Can Urban One avoid bankruptcy in a year when 2 of the 3 biggest radio groups could not 

Read the full article now   

Start a new subscription here

Subscribers get INSTANT ACCESS here   

Become a NEW subscriber and begin with iHeart & Cumulus Revelations here.

And read these full articles …

            Jeff Warshaw & Cumulus

            SiriusXM Changes

            Glut of Stations for Sale

            Entercom’s Financial Troubles

            Liberty’s Takeover Plan for iHeart

            Connoisseur, Alpha & Townsquare

            Mary Berner’s Job Security

Your new subscription includes access to every article for the past year and all 3,899 -- browse the archives.

For 27¢ a day, join thousands of members who read Inside Music Media– insightful, deadly honest and informative.

Inside Music Mediacontains no advertising.  Accepts no corporate money or consideration.  And is beholden only to subscribers who appreciate it so much they pay for it.  Thank you.

Report news confidentially in my Witness Protection Program

Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw is sure acting funny lately.

He has sold off some major assets recently – the Buckley stations he bought in Hartford and the moneymaking WPST-FM, Trenton and two insignificant AM’s near the Jersey Shore for $17 million.

That sale was curious enough because no matter how crunched a radio company is today with debt and cash flow problems, they rarely sell the stations that are producing lifeblood cash flow for them.

That’s the problem Larry Wilson has at Alpha.  He wants to sell the marginal stuff and buyers want the cash producers.

But Warshaw is selling cash flow, a startling revelation unless you believe he has another play ready to go.

From the intel we’re gathering, it now appears Connoisseur wants to make a run at Cumulus. 

• Warshaw reportedly wants to pull a Lew Dickey – Remember back when Dickey made a hostile takeover of Citadel after it had become virtually debt free?  At the time Dickey’s Cumulus was in financial hot water itself so the only way he could survive was to grow – to buy another radio group free of debt and bury the considerable Cumulus debt in it. Warshaw’s got debt problems of his own right now which might be why he is willing to sell positive cash flow assets to stay afloat. 

• How spinoffs would be handled

• What Connoisseur would do with unwanted markets 

• Why is a relatively small and mediocre company like Connoisseur trying to take over Cumulus 

• How Warshaw puts Connoisseur at risk by making this hostile takeover try 

• Warshaw’s takeover bid – by the numbers

• How does a Warshaw takeover affect Lew Dickey’s take back of Cumulus 

• What kind of financial shape is Cumulus really in to be getting potentially two offers

Read the full article now   

Start a subscription here

“At first I was reluctant to pay for ‘insightful, deadly honest’ reporting.  I know tons of media people already do.  But, it turned out that 29 cents a day was more than fair for what Jerry tackles.  Now I don’t want to go back to relying on just the free happy talk publications”.

Read the full article now    

1. Six times cash flow is a nice number for owners to sell their stations – would you believe what the new number will be and where it’s heading next?
2. You’ve probably heard of a good number of stations and groups in the market to sell all or some of their stations – now you can add these three to your list.
3. Potential buyers are now in the driver’s seat, but they are still not buying at favorable prices – why?
4. Multiples are down, too many stations on the market – what new factor has emerged in the last 45 days as the biggest deterrent to station acquisitions.
5. The increasing list of sellers have real pressure to get out – here’s what happens if they can’t. 

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. Entercom is not a $9.65 stock (that’s not me talking, it’s the market) – here’s what it really is (and the math to prove it).
2. David Field keeps upping the synergy cutback number from $25 million then quadrupled to $100 million and now an extra $10 million added on to $110 million – if he really plans on cutting $110 million, here’s what that will look like. 
3. Not one day after the CBS merger happened did investors bet up the prospects for the merged company – in fact, Entercom stock lost 40% of its value and still hasn’t recovered – what the market knows that Entercom is not telling us.
4. Major benefits cuts are coming to Entercom’s CBS employees – here’s how the law of unintended consequences may backfire.
5. When does the honeymoon end – here’s what analysts say is Entercom’s put up or shut up date. 

Start a new subscription here

1. Liberty’s plans for iHeart if it succeeds in taking control of the company.
2. Where Liberty-owned SiriusXM will fit into this possible merger.
3. Which assets Liberty will likely sell.
4. How eroding local radio ad sales will affect the prospects for iHeart under Liberty.
5. New intel on how much of radio’s spend is now going to Facebook, Google and other digital options. 

Read the full article now    

Read the full article now    

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now  

1. Mary Berner just saved WKQX from slipping away from Cumulus the way WLUP did – here’s the story of how the deal was botched from the very beginning.
2. So she paid $18 million for WKQX but ability to pay for WKQX and The Loop was never the problem – this was.
3. Merlin’s Randy Michaels was actually reasonable on pricing – here’s how far he went to help Berner not lose the stations she badly needed.
4. Cumulus also bought the intellectual property of WLUP – here’s what they are planning.
5. Cumulus is way under its maximum station count in major markets – what they are going to do about getting more scale. 

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. How iHeart is outsourcing its negotiating for a deal while in bankruptcy.
2. Why a new offer may be coming in soon.
3. Will there be a breakup of iHeart’s many platforms.
4. The most surprising indication of post-bankruptcy layoffs and cutbacks.
5. How did Lee & Bain make out on their failed investment – a profit or a loss? 

Start a new subscription here

Read the full article now    

1. Preview of the ugly lawsuit with examples of bullying, discrimination and retaliation.
2. Details of alleged and continuing abuse that led to two hospitalizations, two family leaves, threat of a huge pay cut and the firing.
3. We reveal the identity of the plaintiff and the charges.
4. How Bob Walker and Dave Milner were allegedly caught red-handed in the act.
5. How a feckless HR department punted.
6. Bullying so bad it caused PTSD – from the company that keeps accusing the previous management of running a toxic workplace. 

Start a new subscription here