The NPR Crisis

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  • NPR’s undeniable problem that is bigger than wokeness allegations.
  • Can podcasting save public broadcasting even as it failed commercial stations.
  • How young audiences look at NPR today.
  • Uri Berliner’s How We Lost America’s Trust – are these NPR’s problems?
  • How public radio will be directly affected by commercial audio.

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Radio Ad Demand Is Shrinking

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  • How the major radio groups are privately dealing with declining advertising.
  • What market managers are doing to save the day (and their jobs).
  • The non-radio solutions being teed up by radio groups.
  • What some radio groups have turned to quarter by quarter to offset ad revenue declines with artificial cash infusions.
  • Typical market manager response to shrinking ad demand.

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Apollo Cox Troubles

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  • How the hedge fund that bought Cox Media is preparing for the worst-case scenario.
  • The issue of merit raises and bonuses.
  • Why CMG employees are growing nervous.
  • One failed radio group sale a few months back, now these whispers.
  • Evidence that Apollo may be rethinking their media strategy.

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The Audacy Cutbacks Yet to Come

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  • The current 2% layoffs are only the tip of the iceberg – what about the remaining 98%.
  • Who will be targeted and who is safe (at least for the near future).
  • Some are worried about left-leaning politics when Soros takes over but that’s not their most radical idea.
  • Is digital and podcasting immune from the brunt of these layoffs?
  • The sweetest cost saving to Audacy bean counters (the job you don’t want to be in).

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Cumulus Expense Cuts Coming

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  • What cuts Cumulus had to promise to re-fi their debt.
  • What about selling existing assets?
  • The Cumulus employees most directly caught in the crosshairs of this deal.
  • How it affects executive pay.
  • The unusual timeframe of these promised cutbacks.

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Beasley Tees Up Pre-Bankruptcy

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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 Risky Cumulus Re-fi

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  • They’re trying to renegotiate a debt agreement they can’t afford, but why and why now?
  • The eye-popping concessions Cumulus is willing to make.
  • Why market managers and employees should be concerned.
  • Does this re-fi deal avoid bankruptcy?
  • Could it still blow.

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Will the Soros/Cumulus Rollup Succeed?

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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 Meaning of Vinyl Outselling CDs

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  • Physical sales keep growing but there is a hidden problem about streaming music that labels are about to address.
  • 3 strategic ideas music radio stations can employ to get in on the trend.
  • How young consumers are in the midst of changing the way they enjoy music (again).
  • The user-generated tools that will soon become available to allow music fans to control the speed of the music they hear and these other factors.
  • TikTok and Instagram Reels have forced a new approach that will make sure labels get paid.

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Alfred is Looking After Alfred (Not Urban One)

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  • How the wheels are coming off at Urban One while the CEO is raking it in.
  • Inside a new compensation agreement filed just before their stock was put on notice for delisting from Nasdaq.
  • The enviable clause that guarantees Al Liggins what other Urban One employees can’t get.
  • Whispers as to why they didn’t file their required federal 10-K form (again).
  • What to expect as the top exec secures his financial future even before the company’s financials are known.

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Details in the Audacy/Cumulus Rollup

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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 P1 Podcast Model of the Future

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  • The one podcasting strategy that draws listeners to radio not away from it.
  • How to get around the attention span problem.
  • And attract younger audiences whose attention spans are even shorter than typical radio listeners.
  • How important is video to podcasts.

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Tough Times Ahead for iHeart

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  • The financial indicator setting off alarms.
  • The prospect of fixing it soon.
  • There is a buyer – is iHeart ready to consummate a deal.
  • Whispers about some moves they will make.
  • Structural declining alarms in the financial community.

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Nielsen’s Ties to Boeing

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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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Why a 3rd Cumulus Debt Extension

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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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The Missed Lesson of TikTok

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  • How most everyone has the fight over TikTok all wrong.
  • There’s something even hotter than TikTok.
  • The real enemy is not the U.S. Congress or the Saudis – it’s this.
  • Radio, yes radio, has a lesson for popular music apps.
  • Don’t forget the Steve Jobs Rule.

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Radio’s Mid-Market Management Purge

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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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Cumulus Testing a “Prepack” Bankruptcy

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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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