iHeartMedia planning to sell in Virginia/Carolina?

iHeartMedia has made a round of talent cuts within its Virginia/Carolina region. Although it's normal to see people getting laid off at iHeart, these layoffs sound like something's up in the region.

Here are iHeartMedia's clusters in the Virginia/Carolina region:
Harrisonburg, VA
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA
Richmond, VA
Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA
Winchester, VA
Asheville, NC
Charlotte, NC
Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, NC
Raleigh-Durham NC
Greenville-Spartanburg, SC


It looks like these layoffs may mean iHeartMedia is planning to sell stations in those clusters. While SummitMedia, Saga, and Curtis Media have been named as potential buyers of some of these clusters, I'm thinking Entercom may also come to play since they will need to divest stations following the merger with CBS Radio, with Sacramento and Boston being likely targets for iHeartMedia and Entercom could acquire stations that iHeartMedia's planning to sell.

Any asset sales would have an impact on the debt negotiations they're working on now. What's being discussed is the lender would get 51% of the company. Selling assets before the deal means they'd be getting 51% of a smaller company, which would change the value of the deal. The lender would have to approve it.

gr8oldies said:

I wouldn't hold my breath. Sometimes iHeart cuts happen region by region. They laid off a market manager and several others in Cincinnati several months ago and nothing has been sold.

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The layoffs in Cincinnati have nothing to do with the situation happening in iHeartMedia's Virginia/Carolina region. From what I read on Radio Insight, these layoffs could be part of a bigger plan for iHeartMedia to sell radio stations in smaller markets, and it looks like iHeartMedia may begin selling stations within the region soon.

TheBigA said:

Any asset sales would have an impact on the debt negotiations they're working on now. What's being discussed is the lender would get 51% of the company. Selling assets before the deal means they'd be getting 51% of a smaller company, which would change the value of the deal. The lender would have to approve it.

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As far as I know, iHeartMedia hasn't confirmed a sale of radio stations yet, but considering the layoffs within the Virginia/Carolina region, it may be part of a bigger plan for iHeartMedia to sell stations within the region. Even Kent told me iHeartMedia could swap with Entercom for CBS Radio spinoffs.

miketheradioguy said:

As far as I know, iHeartMedia hasn't confirmed a sale of radio stations yet, but considering the layoffs within the Virginia/Carolina region, it may be part of a bigger plan for iHeartMedia to sell stations within the region. Even Kent told me iHeartMedia could swap with Entercom for CBS Radio spinoffs.

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As others have said, layoffs are a fact of life with iHeart. You're reading far too much into an annual thing. And they've been laying off in other markets, not just the ones you mentioned.

As I said, they can't make changes in their assets while negotiating with their lenders. That is the main fact you should be looking at. Not layoffs.

TheBigA said:

As others have said, layoffs are a fact of life with iHeart. You're reading far too much into an annual thing. And they've been laying off in other markets, not just the ones you mentioned.

As I said, they can't make changes in their assets while negotiating with their lenders. That is the main fact you should be looking at. Not layoffs.

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Here's the article from Radio Insight where I'm getting this information:
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/119380/whats-going-iheartmedias-virginia-carolina-region/

miketheradioguy said:

Here's the article from Radio Insight where I'm getting this information:

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I don't see anything that disputes what I said. There's also a Jerry Del Colliano story that hints at this as well.

Multiple sources only matter when they're good. If they're coming from the stations, they're not good. The sources need to be coming from New York.

TheBigA said:

I don't see anything that disputes what I said. There's also a Jerry Del Colliano story that hints at this as well.

Multiple sources only matter when they're good. If they're coming from the stations, they're not good. The sources need to be coming from New York.

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Whatever comes from New York would be if iHeartMedia confirms a sale of their radio stations, and so far nothing has been confirmed regarding a sale of iHeartMedia's radio stations in the Virginia/Carolina region.

miketheradioguy said:

Whatever comes from New York would be if iHeartMedia confirms a sale of their radio stations, and so far nothing has been confirmed regarding a sale of iHeartMedia's radio stations in the Virginia/Carolina region.

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Nothing has been confirmed that a cow jumped over the moon either.

Mike, I think it's safe to say that we all appreciate your enthusiast passion for radio. With that in mind, allow me to respectfully suggest that you trust the people with experience on this one. You're reading way too much into this.

woofboom said:

Mike, I think it's safe to say that we all appreciate your enthusiast passion for radio. With that in mind, allow me to respectfully suggest that you trust the people with experience on this one. You're reading way too much into this.

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OK, but I still think these layoffs could only be the beginning of something bigger at iHeartMedia.

TheBigA said:

Nothing has been confirmed that a cow jumped over the moon either.

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Something may eventually follow as the layoff list grows, so I'll keep an eye out on what could happen next.

miketheradioguy said:

Something may eventually follow as the layoff list grows, so I'll keep an eye out on what could happen next.

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Watch for that cow jumping over the moon too. It COULD happen.

Doesn't iHeart have stations in Myrtle Beach?

vchimpanzee said:

Doesn't iHeart have stations in Myrtle Beach?

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They do, but Myrtle Beach is in the Midwest Southeast region.

Don't read too much into this. Surprise that IHeart never owned any radio stations in Kzoo I know they own stations in GR WSNX 104.5 I think they own Star 105.7 can here Star in Kzoo but not WSNX other than on Iheart website.

gr8oldies said:

Yeah, yeah, we know the drill. iHeart's going to sell to local owners who will install 10,000 oldies playlists and hire all the jocks who are 60 years old back.

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While Saga, SummitMedia, and Curtis seem to be logical choices for this potential sale, Entercom could see this as an opportunity to trade their CBS Radio spinoffs with iHeartMedia. Alpha and Townsquare also own stations in smaller markets, which could be potential buyers not only in the Virginia/Carolina region, but perhaps in all of iHeartMedia's smaller markets.

miketheradioguy said:

Alpha and Townsquare also own stations in smaller markets, which could be potential buyers not only in the Virginia/Carolina region, but perhaps in all of iHeartMedia's smaller markets.

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Let's look at each one of those buyers: Alpha is in debt up to its eyeballs and has no money to spend. Townsquare has been rumored to be on the block, as it's main lender is pulling out, so they have no money to spend. Saga just had a rough quarter, and they don't have access to the kind of cash this would take. Curtis just bought a few small groups, and that pretty much maxes them out. They're a small family company.

But the bigger story is the rumor that the CBS/Entercom deal might be in trouble. So what happens if that deal doesn't happen as expected? Since you're pushing the rumor mill, what happens to the house of cards if CBS & Entercom doesn't happen?