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CBS Radio to merge with Entercom

Well, I guess that's a great way so that CBS Radio doesn't have to come up with a new name after it's spun off. The name, I guess, will be Entercom
 
What will happen to the AMP Radio brand in NYC, L.A., Boston, Detroit, Dallas, and Orlando after Entercom acquires them? Will there be more AMP Radio stations nationwide, like in Greenville, Rochester, and Denver, or will AMP Radio end, and all are rebranded, but still retaining their Top 40 format? I wonder if there will be two 102 Jamz in Winston-Salem and Orlando?

There are plenty of questions about the fate of AMP Radio, when Entercom acquires CBS Radio. We may also see the end of radio.com, but who knows?
 
You can bet a lot of companies will be kicking the tires of some of the properties CBS and Entercom will have to spin off in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle. I like to see Beasley or Cox make a move and go after a few.
 
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only1moore said:
You can bet a lot of companies will be kicking the tires of some of the properties CBS and Entercom will have to spin off in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle. I like to see Beasley or Cox make a move and go after a few.
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I was wondering about that, too. Only spinoff required in San Diego will be 92.1, and it will probably either go to a religious operator or to an operator like Finest City hoping to shore up one of its other signals.

A couple of other questions will be what the new DOJ will think of this merger and whether the FCC will do away with subcaps. One would expect this DOJ will be more deregulatory than the previous one, though Trump says he hates the media. It's possible he doing that for the publicity, though there could be a tinge of truth to it as well.
 
Kent said:
A couple of other questions will be what the new DOJ will think of this merger and whether the FCC will do away with subcaps. One would expect this DOJ will be more deregulatory than the previous one, though Trump says he hates the media. It's possible he doing that for the publicity, though there could be a tinge of truth to it as well.
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CBS has long lobbied against those subcaps. They own a bunch of heritage AMs, and if they could remove them from the ownership limits, it may mean fewer spin-offs. The new FCC has already said it is open to that idea. Trump may say he hates the media, but he mainly means the news media. Also, he has no real role in the approval of this merger.
 
It's definitely an interesting deal for sure. The debt Entercom is taking on is a lot lower than what I would have expected. Certainly smaller than what Citadel had to absorb with ABC. The biggest issue I foresee (assuming the merger passes all the regulatory hurdles) is the cultural change for the CBS people. They're going from a multi-platform media company to a radio-only company. When that happened to ABC Radio, there were a lot of adjustments the staff had to make, with regards to things like work rules, benefits plans, and relating to new bosses and infrastructure. How they react and respond to all those changes, as well as the loss of TV resources and their combined economies, will determine if this merger is a success.
 
Interesting for sure. And it actually looks like a smart plan, on the radio-side, for everyone, except a handful of execs. Not a bad time if ya happen to have a little of that stock.
 
I think there's conflicts in Miami as well because we'll have two sports stations (WQAM and WAXY), a rhythmic CHR (WPOW), a country (WKIS), an alternative (WSFS), a classic hits (WMXJ) and an adult AC that's currently #1 in the market (that one is WLYF).
 
I don't see Entercom expanding the AMP brand, but they could be rebranded though. In the case of KQKS/Denver, they're doing well as a Rhythmic Top 40. I agree that Entercom should bring 102 Jamz back to Orlando and be reunited with its Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point sibling.
 
nickp said:
the combined Entercom will add the CBS brand to its current name as well
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Huh? That's not what the press release says:

"The new company will be known as Entercom, headquartered in Philadelphia and led by current Entercom President/CEO David Field."
 
only1moore said:
I don't see Entercom expanding the AMP brand, but they could be rebranded though. In the case of KQKS/Denver, they're doing well as a Rhythmic Top 40. I agree that Entercom should bring 102 Jamz back to Orlando and be reunited with its Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point sibling.
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The first step is to do the spins to stay within caps. Very few of the CBS stations are under-performing to the extent that the added expense of a format flip is essential at a time that most of management's time will be taken in integrating the two operations and cultures.

Any immediate changes would likely be to resolve cases where Entercom ends up with two stations in the same or similar formats.
 
If Entercom / CBS radio deal goes through wouldn't Entercom have to make CBS Radio News and CBS Radio Sports an Entercom Distribution operation? Because for now CBS Radio News and CBS Sports radio is under the Westwood One Brand for now I don't know when that expires.
 
I don't see KALC making changes either, and they seem to holding their own against Adult Top 40 rival KIMN and Top 40/CHR KPTT.
 
RadioPatrol said:
If Entercom / CBS radio deal goes through wouldn't Entercom have to make CBS Radio News and CBS Radio Sports an Entercom Distribution operation? Because for now CBS Radio News and CBS Sports radio is under the Westwood One Brand for now I don't know when that expires.
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CBS Radio News will be retained by CBS News and CBS Corporation. It has nothing to do with this deal.

CBS Sports Radio is a partnership among CBS Sports, CBS Radio, and Cumulus/Westwood One. All three are equal partners and share in the revenue. Entercom inherits one third of the existing deal.
 
Which will see a bigger impact with "staffing adjustments" sales or engineering for the combined staff's.
 
xmtrland said:
Which will see a bigger impact with "staffing adjustments" sales or engineering for the combined staff's.
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That's an interesting question. My sense is that the engineering department at CBS is larger than Entercom's, and far better paid. The question is how much longer does the company want to continue to fund R&D in certain areas. If you remember, CBS was one of the initial developers for HD Radio over 20 years ago. CBS is far more involved with interactive and digital than Entercom, so there's a lot of engineering support in that area. It's not only the overall engineering support in NY but also for each market. So there are less synergies in markets where there's no overlap. That would mean fewer cuts in CBS-only markets, more in combined markets. A lot of this depends on how the company will be structured once they are free from the NY base. Meaning if it remains centralized or decentralized.
 
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