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Potential Audacy/Cumulus Merger?

chriscervantez

chriscervantez

radioinsight.com

Latest On Audacy’s New Owners And A Potential Cumulus Media Combination - RadioInsight

Last night Semafor publicly reported on something that has been whispered for much of the past year; a potential combination of Audacy and Cumulus Media. While the Semafor story focuses on Soros Fund Management taking a controlling stake in Audacy, it notes that his funds have also taken stakes...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

If this were to happen, which stations would you keep and which would you sell? I believe the limit in DFW is 8, with no more than 5 of the same service (see here).

Audacy
1080 KRLD
98.7 The Spot
100.3 Jack FM
Alt 103.7
105.3 The Fan
La Grande 107.5

Cumulus
570 KLIF
820 WBAP
1310 The Ticket
93.3 WBAP-FM
New Country 96.3
96.7 The Ticket
99.5 The Wolf

(I think I listed them all. Correct me if I missed any!)
 
That'd be a tough one to split up. There's some serious cash cows. I'd say 93.3, 107.5, 570, and 96.7 would be the ones I'd dump. There's one more that would have to go on FM, there's no real easy choice there.
 
Yes, tough decisions will have to be made in DFW if the merger happens.

Would the combined company have TWO sportstalkers? Wasn’t there some sort of merger resolution that prevented that from happening in Boston? The Ticket FM-AM simulcast is really problematic here.

This will be really interesting to watch.
 
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LibertyNT said:
That'd be a tough one to split up. There's some serious cash cows. I'd say 93.3, 107.5, 570, and 96.7 would be the ones I'd dump. There's one more that would have to go on FM, there's no real easy choice there.
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Are you going to take one of the most popular stations in the area off the air on FM? If so, where do you put The Ticket or just leave them on 1310AM with limited coverage?
 
If it's me (which, obviously, it's not), I'd keep 570, 820, and 1080 on the AM. The Ticket would move to 570.

On the FM, I'd keep the two country stations, KVIL, KRLD-FM, and the better performing of 98.7 and 100.3. Last I'd heard, Jack was the higher biller and better margin. So, that would be the one I'd keep if that were still the case.
 
My initial thoughts pivot around whether the combined company would still want to be a player in a Spanish language format. Of course I have no billing/financial info on all the stations involved.

On FM I would go with:

96.3 Keep the Country combo
98.7 combine the classic/variety hits formats
99.5 Other half of the Country combo
100.3 La Grande moves here
105.3 Either The Ticket or bring over some of its intellectual property to The Fan

What to keep in AM is tricky. 570, 820 and 1080 are the best signals, but do you keep 820 without the FM simulcast? Spin off 1310 (along with 96.7) as there is no room in the cluster for two sportstalkers. No room for a 1080 simulcast, either. Bye bye 93.3.

If the new company wants out of the Spanish language business, then keep 100.3 as is. It could always be flipped to a new format should market conditions change.

Would hate to see the Alternative format on 103.7 disappear, but market demographic trends are not favorable for it in the long term. But it might be kept if there is no Spanish language outlet for the combined company, and Jack gets killed off or 100.3 is spun.
Loverofradio said:
Is this what EMF was waiting for?
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Could be. They were supposedly going to get 107.5 until the deal was scuttled, but it would be smarter to go after 103.7, which is a full Class C, while 107.5 is a C1.

EMF could launch a new format on 103.7. I’ll call it CCA, or “Christian Contemporary Alternative.”😛🤪🤣
 
This merger probably won't even happen TBH. Audacy would have to dump many top rated proftiable stations in markets like Chicago and Kansas City If this ever happens
 
I heard murmurings about this before radio insight published it.

it is a hard choice giving some of these stations are serious cash cows. if i was in that position to choose what to keep or get rid of.

i would get rid of 107.5 (signal and the spanish radio market is full in dallas) 1310 and 96.7 (due to signal) and move the ticket to 570 for full market coverage. I would give 93.3 a chance with the new format before i would dump it. the others i would keep. that's what i would do.
 
Keep in mind there are two market caps. The obvious one is about the number of stations. The less obvious one is about revenue. That was ultimately why Audacy has to spin off the Sports Hub in Boston, even thought it was a humongous cash cow.
 
TheBigA said:
Keep in mind there are two market caps. The obvious one is about the number of stations. The less obvious one is about revenue. That was ultimately why Audacy has to spin off the Sports Hub in Boston, even thought it was a humongous cash cow.
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Fair, though I don't think any combination of the two clusters would amount to 40% of the market radio revenue. DFW has so many stations and clusters, exceeding that combination would be really difficult. I suppose the DOJ might flex its muscle regarding sports rights in the market, but Dallas has more ownership diversity than Boston in that regard.
 
CassChopper96 said:
Audacy would have to dump many top rated proftiable stations in markets like Chicago and Kansas City If this ever happens
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But they would be keeping the most profitable stations from either company, which should increase overall revenue.
ABMedia1 said:
i would get rid of 107.5 (signal and the spanish radio market is full in dallas) 1310 and 96.7 (due to signal) and move the ticket to 570 for full market coverage. I would give 93.3 a chance with the new format before i would dump it. the others i would keep. that's what i would do.
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The combined company would have to spin off four FMs in DFW, so you’re two stations short. No way they keep 93.3.
CassChopper96 said:
Memphis, Chicago, Channatoga and Kansas City are the only markets i can think of where Audacy and Cummulus both own stations
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Audacy has four FMs and two AMs in Houston, while Cumulus has a stand-alone FM. Perfect fit.

Where is “Channatoga”?🤔🤣
 
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