Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

Connoisseur CEO Jeff Warshaw’s claim that strategic M&A will continue is detached from the actual state of the radio industry and while the Alpha rescue was a hedge fund’s dream, his talk about expanding the merged company of over 200 stations persists.

• What Warshaw is saying: "Strategic M&A has been a big part of my background and will continue to be …”
• BUT, radio M&A is effectively frozen -- There’s been no significant active buyer interest in broadcast radio groups especially not from financial investors for years.
• Most transactions now are distress sales, debt-for-equity swaps, or fire sales and the recent Alpha purchase could fall into that category.
• Asset values are in free fall -- Alpha Media’s previous bankruptcy and financial distress meant this deal was likely structured around debt assumption or a discounted credit purchase facilitated by Brigade Capital—not a premium acquisition.
• No one is paying real money for radio stations -- Buyers with scale (like iHeart or Audacy) are overloaded with debt. Independents can’t justify expanding when linear ad revenue is flat or declining and local operating costs remain high.
• Connoisseur isn’t sitting on free cash -- It’s a relatively small operator and buying Alpha without meaningful outside capital (i.e., Brigade’s financing) would have been impossible.
• Brigade Capital is not a long-term radio investor --  It’s a credit hedge fund—the Alpha purchase is almost certainly a distressed debt play meaning Brigade is in control with Warshaw simply operating the stations or holding a minority interest.
• YET Warshaw has a list of potential acquisitions in spite of it all – some may even be possible and two dead in the water.

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