Radio News

In July 2007, the owner of "Washington's Gateway to Service" came very close to selling a mighty Class B FM to Minnesota-based American Public Media. Two months later, after supporters of the station's non-secular programming voiced their opposition to the talks, all discussions over a transaction were scuttled. Now, the station's been sold. Should CCM fans be worried?

Big deals? Yeah ... there were evidently some in the last three months. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence's Kagan unit, the volume of U.S. broadcast station mergers and acquisitions reached $5.11 billion in the second quarter. Believe it or not, this is the largest quarterly deal volume in 11 years—thanks to three TV companies, and not radio.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Judge overseeing the reorganization petition submitted by the No. 1 radio station owner in the U.S. on Friday signed off on an order that extends the "challenge period" with respect to term loan and "priority guarantee note" claims. It involves several financial institutions and the official committee of unsecured iHeartMedia creditors.

Here's a deal that caught the attention of TRANSACTIONS TODAY in a way no other recent station sale has: A 1kw Class C AM with a Construction Permit to become a non-directional daytime-only operation with less power is trading hands. The facility comes with an all-important FM translator, which helps to explain why an operator would want less output out of a full-power radio station.

Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) late Thursday reported its financial results for Q1 — one day before many companies conclude their fiscal Q4 and begin the process of tallying up the year's earnings and expenses. How did Miami-based SBS? Excelente, your Spanish teacher would say.

A Form 314 filing with the FCC made Thursday confirms what has been widely reported across the radio industry: Max Media has agreed to sell four FMs along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Additionally, two other stations are being purchased in a separate deal with a different seller. The buyer is a pastor who launched in June 2015 a full service agency focused on "delivering results through endorsement radio." Here's the scoop on Jonathan A. Mason's JAM Media Solutions.

For more than a year, brokers and D.C. attorneys have been patiently sitting and waiting for more than a trickle of activity to percolate. It looks like two stars of Wall Street — newly pure-play radio station owner Saga Communications and recently grown Beasley Broadcast Group — are sniffing out some good deals.

Can Spanish-language radio serve as a powerful platform for the expansion of a very regional brand that seeks wider growth opportunities? Yes. Louisiana-based roaster Community Coffee is using AMs and FMs targeting Hispanic consumers to great success in Texas. In this Hispanic Radio Podcast, advertising agency head Alex López Negrete -- whose resume includes Spanish-language play-by-play for an NBA franchise -- shares his thoughts on why radio works for advertisers.

Can one subsidiary of a major broadcast station owner simply transfer a license to another subsidiary owned by the same company? Sure ... once the Media Bureau gives it OK. Anything sooner presents a problem, and that's exactly what's at the heart of a Consent Decree that Salem Media Group today agreed to. It means a big check is going to the U.S. Treasury for its transgression.

Nearly three months ago, it became known that Riverfront Broadcasting owner Carolyn Becker had a difficult situation on her hands in a small Iowa town. Two years after purchasing an AM-FM combo, Riverfront announced that it need an immediate buyer or the stations would be shuttered under an STA. The stations will now live on — thanks to the efforts of the stations' office manager.

As many millennials can tell you, the all-time favorite song of Peter Griffin of Family Guy is "Surfin' Bird." The song is widely known for its lyric, "The bird is the word." Indeed, that's the case today with a radio station sale involving a Class A FM in a town that's known as "The Stars & Stripes Capital of Louisiana."

Broadcast media stocks were largely swept up in a red tide on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.3%, and Nasdaq was down 2%. That's not to say there weren't improvements: Townsquare Media climbed 7.4%, and there's a clear reason why this gain was seen.

For a generation of New York radio listeners, and for thousands of others who tuned to "77 WABC" after dark across much of the East Coast, the name Dan Ingram is iconic. A famous air talent of the rock 'n' roll era, Ingram hosted nationally syndicated Top 40 programs and worked at other stations in New York including WCBS-FM. Ingram died Sunday evening at the age of 83.

In late May, RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson took notice of a report from eMarketer with the alarming-to-radio headline "Young, in Debt, and (Maybe) Holding Back on Purchases." Today, the Los Angeles Times offered its readers a Bloomberg report largely echoing this statement. If that's the case, why are so many radio stations chasing listeners that have no money to spend, when few are targeting their parents?

Here's a fact that caught Simply Wall St. contributor Alexis Guardo's attention: Beasley led the NasdaqGM gainers with "a relatively large price hike in the past couple of weeks." Beasley, she adds, is a "small cap stock, hardly covered by any analysts." As such, she believes, there is "generally more of an opportunity for mispricing as there is less activity to push the stock closer to fair value." Is there still an opportunity here to buy?