Cumulus Media got so much bigger in 2011 due to acquisitions that its unadjusted Q4 revenues shot up 316%. On a pro forma basis, though, revenues declined 5.6% to $290.2 million for the combined Cumulus Media, CMP and Citadel Broadcasting.
For the full year pro forma net revenues were down 3.3% to $1.14 billion. Adjusted EBITDA (pro forma) for the year was down 5.1% to $376.6 million and for Q4 it declined 0.04% to $96.5 million.
Ahead of management’s conference call with analysts the formal earnings release noted that revenues declined primarily due to reduced political spending in the off year, although that wasn’t detailed. Also impacting Q4 revenues was the lack of management fee income from CMP, since the large market radio group is now part of Cumulus Media.
Speaking with analysts on the quarterly call, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey provided some detail. Excluding $13 million of political revenues in the previous year Q4 revenues were down about 1%. He also noted that $10.5 million of synergies were realized in from combining the three companies. That explained why EBITDA was down so little on the larger revenue drop.
