• How serious are Entercom’s debt problems?
• What is behind yesterday’s big Entercom stock selloff?
• Is it time to be concerned about the future of Entercom.
• How much time does Entercom have to deal with debt (remember, both iHeart & Cumulus denied bankruptcy up to the end)?
• What they will do to cut expenses further.

Read the full article now.

• Here’s what’s up with Westwood One – plus two buyers who could steal the company.
• Will Cumulus entertain offers for other WPLJ-type properties now that they’ve all but exited major markets New York & DC?
• Besides religious broadcaster EMF, who are potential buyers for prime Cumulus assets?
• The surprising answer to what happens to money made from selling iconic radio stations.
• The surprising market Cumulus would love to sell off major stations.

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• The “new look” live events business shaping up under Entercom
• Puzzling revenue numbers, revamping of what’s a live event
• New practices and policies created largely by non-CBS people
• How even Taylor Swift lays an egg for Entercom live events
• Walking away from money – Entercom’s new strategy

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• Did Cumulus try to sell Westwood One? Is it still trying?
• What is Westwood now worth without major New York and DC stations to clear spots?
• What it is likely to take to buy Westwood One at this point.
• The best buyer for Westwood.
• What happens to Westwood One should Cumulus enter a second bankruptcy?

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• Now that the TV stations are sold, why selling part or all of Cox’s Radio division could be very complicated.
• The kind of prices Cox will be seeking?
• Who might have the greatest interest in Cox Radio?
• What happens to Kim Guthrie?

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• The effect of the Cumulus selloff on competitors
• Will more stations be sold
• What could make Cumulus giveaway WPLJ
• The fate of WABC-AM
• The selloff side effects on Westwood One 

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How prophetic was Wednesday’s headline – “Cumulus Starting to Panic”?

Several hours after it was published Cumulus announced a $103.5 million sale of WPLJ-FM, New York, WYAY-FM, Atlanta, WRQX-FM, Washington, KFFG-FM, San Jose, WZAT-FM, Savannah and WXTL-FM, Syracuse – all FM stations for pennies on the dollar to the bottom feeder in radio acquisitions Educational Media Foundation (EMF).

And EMF gets towers or leases that will generate an additional $5-7 million in revenue.

Separately, Cumulus did a swap with Entercom in which Cumulus gets three Indianapolis stations in exchange for Nash-FM in New York (Newark, NJ) and two stations in Springfield, MA.

Cumulus CEO Mary Berner said “These transactions are consistent with our portfolio optimization strategy and both deals are accretive,” as her nose grew.

And Entercom CEO David Field apparently crossed his fingers and toes when he said “We are saddened to part ways with our colleagues in Indianapolis, but know that they will be in great hands.”

Huh?

Great hands?

Cumulus is so desperate it is selling off pieces for scrap to give long suffering lenders recovery value. 

How would Field like to work on the Titanic.

You don’t need to be reminded of what the decision to sell major markets means to a radio company.

And nowhere in all this is their reference to the many jobs lost, the lies told, careers ruined all by a CEO who made her employees believe that it was the previous regime that was toxic.

Cumulus in effect announcing it is weakening itself, selling majors and running from the radio business is just the beginning of the story, here are 7 key ramifications no one dares to mention. 

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An entirely new way to run the company.

A different approach to handling employees.

A warning that as Berner begins to sweat, sudden and unusual actions will be taken to preserve her job.

Unthinkable changes just a year ago are now back on the table.

And there’s Mike McVay. 

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There are some pretty amazing assertions in this year’s Deloitte media study.

Deloitte is one of the big four accounting organizations and the largest professional services network in the world so it’s not nothing when they pool information and publish reports.

Audiences will soon prefer radio over TV.

And how radio can survive by just being “there”.

And we’re not making this stuff up even though it seems Deloitte is way out on a limb.

But the most fascinating and perhaps revealing aspect of this Big Four accounting group’s state of the media has to do with where djs rank among the top ten reasons to listen to radio.

That’s worth unpacking because as it turns out, this finding actually tells a lot about the future of radio.

And also, the most popular thing about radio today that most people even in radio don’t know.

Read the full article now.

At the time of the merger, David Field was so anxious to offload CBS salaries higher than he was paying any of his Entercom employees that he pushed CBS to start doing it even before the merger officially closed.

Remember?

Andre Fernandez and Scott Herman were pressured to keep Field happy and as it turns out tried to talk David out of blowing things up even more interestingly enough acting like the adults in the room.

Field got his way and when he took over, he had no one to stop him.  Nine qualified and highly compensated CBS managers lined up and fired from the get go. 

Field has another big personnel problem but what he’s planning to do now can no longer be blamed on CBS. 

Read the full article now.