You could almost see this coming.

iHeart and other radio groups are already setting up another major salary dump by quoting Edison research. 

Entercom has a plan that is even more reckless because it raises the ire of unions, over works their on-air talent and provides even more cover for another reduction in work force.

Speaking of that, the 2^nd quarter radio revenue reports are due within the next few weeks and that is the accelerant that will set off more firings.

Even top name talent is now in the crosshairs.

Radio doesn’t need the coronavirus as an excuse for firing, the worse RIF in iHeart’s history occurred before the lockdown this past winter and as usual programming will take the biggest hit.

Read the full article now

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Liberty’s takeover of iHeart changes everything.

Soon one company with a satellite radio monopoly, one of the top three streaming music services, a live events platform and iHeart’s 850+ terrestrial stations and an array of side businesses will redefine radio’s place in the media business.

Standalone radio companies will be left with their debt and not much else including digital with which to compete.

Radio groups other than iHeart will now have to be thinking of how they could bring their free cash flow and bury their debt in to a larger growth platform.

Let’s start with Entercom, the most vulnerable radio group once Liberty merges with iHeart -- what would Spotify and Entercom look like together?

And what non-radio media company buys Beasley or Townsquare?

Read the full article now

Newstips  

There are signs that Entercom is fighting a losing battle to keep the radio group afloat.

No one cuts more operating costs per station than Entercom and even that looks like it will not turn out to be enough.

In better times, they would likely have years to turn the company’s finances around – now that time frame has been revised.

Entercom doesn’t have a Liberty Media waiting in the wings with which to merge like iHeart does– the second biggest radio group will have to do it as essentially a pureplay radio company in spite of all their hype about live events and podcasting.

Behind the scenes Entercom has made moves to keep the wolf away from the door and now we know the price they are paying for them.

Entercom is a public company that values its privacy but unless the coronavirus magically disappears, it will have to downsize everything and do things it has vowed not to do.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

This is the worst quarter in radio’s history as financial analysts prepare to warn their clients about new data.

That means even greater losses than the ones radio groups previously predicted.

What’s worse is how many quarters the industry can sustain further losses before more drastic measures will be taken especially as a second lockdown looms in many states.

No radio group can sustain these losses looking to the current third quarter and for whatever happens for the entire year.

There are some surprises as to which radio groups are doing better and losing less.  No company will likely post positive growth for the year.

There is only one radio group that is already restructuring to stay afloat and one that – believe it or not – could become immune to coronavirus losses within 6-9 months.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

It’s come to this – David Field chipping away at talent salaries (especially CBS Radio) until he has run out of time.

Even though Entercom is in the process of reducing live talent to no more than one person (and salary) at a station (if that), the surviving personality tends to be highly paid.

This is Field’s war on what he considers highly paid air talent and there’s a timetable.

It’s going to focus on salaries and redeploy what talent remains in a unique way.

Not all will be offered a chance to stay and those that do are going to see their compensation devastated.

Debt and the second lockdown of local businesses will prompt Entercom to rethink the pay structure – yes, of even personalities who generate the most revenue. 

Read the full article now

Newstips  

• The inherited CBS all-news formats might just be the CEO’s biggest frustration.  Dropping ratings as all but two of Entercom’s seven stations languish on the AM dial.
• Restrictive union agreements. And, all are run by PDs who worked for CBS. Some date back to the Group W days.  You know how Field really feels about CBS.
• Something unusual caught the eye of Entercom insiders last week: a mysterious job posting for a VP/News, to “manage all broadcast and digital news content across 8 All News and 18 News/Talk stations in 23 markets working with brand managers [PDs] and news directors across the country.” (For the record, there are seven, not eight all-newsers – somebody forgot they sold WBZ-AM to iHeart.)
• This is a brand-new position for Entercom. Under CBS ownership, all “format captains” carried VP titles, which were dropped when Entercom took over. The last VP/News was Steve Butler, who also programmed KYW in Philadelphia.
• New concerns about mixing advertising with news content and the hiring of a czar to transform the all-news franchise.

Read the full article now

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I knew it.

John Malone wasn’t asking the DOJ for pre-approval permission for his Liberty Media to take a potentially controlling stake in iHeart  – he knew it all along.

Wednesday the DOJ made it official by green-lighting up to 50% ownership of iHeart for Liberty even before Malone made his move – a highly unusual tactic when most deals get monopoly scrutiny after they are announced.

And this is a big deal – bigger than the radio industry even knows as they exist in a world of denial that has gotten them into a real mess.

An interloper with a lot of money who has been putting together a media company by buying distressed companies for huge discounts (like SiriusXM and Pandora) is getting away with the heist of the century – his monopoly is buying iHeart’s monopoly.

We’ll get to the business sense of this for Malone in time.

The real issue is that starting with the DOJ ruling every other radio company is now Malone’s bitch in ways that he will force them into desperate mergers or reduce them to insignificance.

Read the full article now

Newstips   

You probably already know that Chicago is doing traffic for Entercom Detroit – they even got a pronunciation guide sent in for Detroit streets.

Traffic hubs are nothing new but the concept seems to be expanding yet even with that Entercom laid off two people in its Philadelphia production center during one of their big post-COVID RIFs.

iHeart’s Total Traffic and Weather still exists to save money and ironically provides traffic services to competitors like Cumulus and Entercom among others.

Things are about ready to really get out of hand with regionalization of radio.

Entercom reportedly is considering plans to expand the use of regional centers to eliminate more employees and they are thinking big.

With the country going back on lockdown and the prospect for radio resuming its ad business to reintroduce local advertisers that remain shut down, we begin to get a look at what regional radio with virtually no boundaries looks like.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

Things are going so poorly for Cumulus that the radio group reportedly has developed a secret “doomsday plan” that kicks in when all other remedies fail.

Another bankruptcy doesn’t solve their problems:  It’s still an option that is coming closer to reality but then the lenders who now own Cumulus take another haircut and their losses become more permanent.  But their so-called “doomsday plan” is a Hail Mary that is launched before then with disrupting effects on their employees and stations.

• Changes to programming and sales.
• Extreme repercussions greater than even their worst layoffs and furloughs.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

What kind of a screwed-up industry is radio when the largest group fueled its growth by taking on killer debt and then using bankruptcy to reduce it?

All the while operating as a legal monopoly whose predatory practices have helped weaken the business.

But the one monopoly that has operated in a stealth fashion to redirect ad revenue to iHeart, parent of Katz, is ready to make a move that could have devastating effects on Entercom, Cumulus and smaller radio groups.

Radio’s only rep firm is going to get bigger, tougher and have more of a grip on national ad dollars.

The companies most vulnerable to Katz may not even be fully aware of their plans and the tough tactics that are going to be used on them.

Fortunately, national business is about 15% of most stations’ revenue, but unfortunately what Katz has in mind will likely creep into local dollars and the timing couldn’t be worse.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

Turns out Friday’s gutting of Westwood One and laying off an additional 3% of Cumulus employees will not be enough.

Mary Berner and her team have reportedly presided over more than $1 billion of value in both debt and equity and that will increase significantly over the next 12 months.

Desperation is setting in what with the virus, the economy and the effect shutting of down parts of the country again will have on local ad sales.

Cumulus has already picked all the low-lying fruit like selling off major market stations for whatever they can get.

Now Berner has instructed Dave Milner to move on to a particularly painful option to sell off more assets and this is going to be devastating for Cumulus employees who are already on the edge of their seats.

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Newstips  

Sales and programming have always been a tough balance in radio.

Where sales dominate, the product tends to be compromised and where programmers have unfettered control, the station can become difficult to unlock maximum ad revenue.

It’s a sensitive balance.  One Entercom sports station (they have sports radio in 29 of the top 30 markets) actually went there – put it in writing in a recent staff memo with some colorful language that interferes with programming and putting the station at a competitive disadvantage.  We have the memo.

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Newstips  

For 50 years Jerry Lee spent his way to number one in ratings and revenue in Philadelphia with one radio station doing things that were proven to be counterintuitive for radio.

Radio wisdom says cut.  Lee said spend and the results are indisputable.  Over the years more than 10 times well-funded and orchestrated attacks on his FM station were launched and Lee won leaving the others defeated.  In less than 2 years the new owners did what competitors couldn’t do for 50 years – totally tank WBEB-FM.  It isn’t as simple as just cutbacks being the culprit.  It is totally misunderstanding the stations DNA.  With the pressure on due to coronavirus-related advertising shortfalls, studying the decline of WBEB could be lifesaving for others. 

Read the full article now

Newstips  

There is more belt-tightening coming as Susan Larkin takes over for longtime COO Weezie Kramer.

This year alone Entercom workers have been asked to take voluntary pay cuts, mandatory weeks off without pay, furloughs without an end date while others have been fired in greater numbers than ever before.  Turns out the first cut wasn’t the deepest.  To coincide with Entercom’s recent restoration of 20% pay cuts there is this to offset it.

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