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• Why CBS sellers are stewing over the latest Entercom order to get billing up.
• And they can’t believe it’s being crammed by Weezie Kramer.
• Panic in Philly – if things aren’t fixed by this date – the entire company may go down.
• Will there be more resignations ahead in sales.
• The safest Entercom executive – virtually bulletproof. You’ll be surprised.                                           

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• The most significant thing about that Scripps-Griffin sale in Tulsa a few days ago that everyone missed.
• Buyers market or sellers market?
• Will relaxation of cross ownership rules impact radio station sales? 

• How desperate are sellers getting – here’s one that will leave you scratching your head. 

• What’s a decent multiple today – is anyone getting it?                                            

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1. What’s working and what’s still not working post-bankruptcy.
2. Will there be a demand for cost synergies?
3. The first meeting of the new board.
4. How long is the new board prepared to wait for a turnaround.
5. First look at pacing now that Mary Berner has regained full control.                                           

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• Finally, a spinoff in Tulsa but which group is closing in on the rest of Scripps?
• The reported lead bidder is a serial cost cutter.
• What everyone wants to know – did Scripps get 5 times cash flow for their stations (very few others can).
• The big fish reportedly chasing the Milwaukee cluster.                                                

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• Why CBS executives are now quitting David Field after he wiped out more than 10 CBS market managers and countless programmers and talent.
• The real story of Chris Oliviero’s surprise exit not the varnished version in the happy talk radio trade press.
• How Oliviero’s departure could put the nail in Entercom’s coffin – seriously.
• Startling revelation of the one CBS exec Entercom can’t afford to lose next –in spite of the salary savings benefit.
• The reason the few ex-CBS employees David Field wants to keep don’t want to work at Entercom any longer. 
• The new CBS “you can’t fire me, I quit” mentality taking hold at Entercom.

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• A hack attack on iHeart’s sale price.
• A warning about the huge number one bidder would cut if they take over.
• Employee nightmare:  highest synergies in the history of radio to make an iHeart takeover work. 
• The real reason Liberty just officially walked on their $1.1 billion takeover bid.
• Surprise -- Who is next?

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NewsTips

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• Using analysts’ numbers and public projections, how Entercom lost half its value in record time and why it is now considered damaged goods.

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• As amazing as it may seem, why iHeart & Cumulus oppose the NAB’s current attempt to win easing ownership rules when consolidation 22 years ago was actually responsible for their growth.

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• Entercom reportedly eying these well-paid CBS managers.
• Where’s Weezie?
• Is any CBS manager safe?
• Hard deadlines.
• The “plexiglass” ceiling for women.

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• Revealed:  Behind the scenes efforts to create an entirely new business that Entercom’s competitors don’t see coming.
• What damage would it inflict in Entercom markets.
• What happens to Entercom if this big deal turns out to be a dud.
• The likely name of Entercom’s new startup.  You won’t believe their choice of a name.
• All the details of what this new venture will do (their words, their document) and how it will hurt competitors in their markets.

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What the market is learning about Mary Berner is that she could make victims of the Titanic believe there was an upside to drowning.

No matter how she says it – promises, slogans, new logos – her fate and the fate of Cumulus will come down to a second bankruptcy and ending the long decline in revenue that lumbers on quarter after quarter.

It is likely that Cumulus will be the target of a takeover at some point now that it is out of bankruptcy. When it was mired in Chapter 11, Cumulus argued and received permission from the court to bar outside bids while they were trying to get their house in order.

The one thing that would make a takeover less likely – a hostile takeover, that is – is if they got their debt down and revenue up.

So in spite of the happy talk about the future of the company, Mary Berner is going to have to show in real terms that her management team that started the decline leading to bankruptcy is capable of stopping it on a dime.

Your guess is as good as anyone’s.

But assets will have to be sold or a second bankruptcy initiated that brings a slew of additional problems or else Cumulus 2.0 will be dead on arrival by next year at this time.

The painful process of selling assets will shock but here are the options on the table.

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TOP STORIES

• Trouble for Scripps Spinoffs
• Entercom Getting into the Unwired Network Business
• Townsquare Merger
• Major Pivot Coming For Cumulus
• 4 New Entercom Cutbacks
• Entercom Pay Cuts
• Downsizing iHeart

• Hey, it’s cheaper than buying Westwood One.
• What David Field has in mind by going full frontal against iHeart.
• Is Entercom’s new venture a rep firm in drag?
• How Entercom’s 2 traffic networks come into play.

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• How can a small market radio group like Townsquare that can’t find a buyer pull off a merger?
• The unlikely buyer who looks like the likely merger partner.
• How urgent is this?

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Become a NEW SUBSCRIBER and begin with Major Pivot Coming For Cumulus here. 

If you’ve been thinking about subscribing and would like to access this story, here’s what you what you will get …

• What’s the biggest change in the way Cumulus will be doing business under its new owners and board.
• Who will be getting more authority – here’s the list.
• What’s the plan to stop the bleeding with Cumulus pacing down again – this time $8 million for the third quarter.
• More interference or less – early indications of which way they are moving.
• How cash and trade will be handled now that they are out of bankruptcy.

A new subscription also unlocks these full articles …     

            4 New Entercom Cutbacks

            The Timeline For the New Cumulus

            Entercom To Negotiate Pay Cuts

            Downsizing iHeart

            Cumulus Management Reorganization

            Alpha’s Financial Problems

            Saving Townsquare           

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Joe Field finally pumped up Entercom stock Wednesday getting it back to $7.  But yesterday, it fell apart again into the $6 range.

Investors lost $100 million in share value since the CBS merger was announced.

Revenue down 7% that translates into a $28 million loss.

EBITDA cut in half.

Today, 4 new Entercom cutbacks toward keeping David Field’s promise of $110 million in merger synergies detailed and revealed in advance.

Luckily, none of them apply to David Field.

BUT … competitors are taking notes.

Real time quote from one of our subscribers who also happens to be an Entercom executive:  “The insights and honesty this industry needs”.

Another Entercom subscriber:  “thank you for your insights especially into Entercom”.

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INSIDE …

• Can Mary Berner do something different than what didn’t work the first 3 years (with the same people)?
• Misleading financial claims – how much is Cumulus losing from people intimately familiar with how the company operates.
• Panic management – a sample of how it will affect one poor market manager next week and more after that.
• Increased interference – this is how they plan to go about it.
• The future of remnants and trade.
• Mission accomplished, right?  Berner killed off Lew Dickey’s takeover bid, right?

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3,934 archived stories included.

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INSIDE …

• Details on the big time pay cuts Entercom will be cramming on employees.
• Here’s how it will work – sit down and stay away from sharp objects.
• And who is going to get clipped.
• It’s bad enough that Entercom doesn’t have a large representation of women in executive positions – here’s how they are going to handle their female compensation vs. well-paid women CBS managers.
• David Field has already botched talent pay negotiations so if you’re talent, this is how far your CEO is willing to go to negotiate a pay cut even if he damages ratings and his brand. 

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3,933 archived stories included.

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1. Townsquare and other radio groups are waiting to buy iHeart stations, do they know something we don’t?
2. Piercing the silence of iHeart’s bankruptcy – what are they hiding with the court’s permission?
3. What if Liberty withdraws its takeover bid – where does that leave everyday operations of iHeart?
4. Post-bankruptcy iHeart cost-saving synergies now on the table.
5. Business as usual or business unusual when they emerge.

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