Radio News

In a short but information-filled earnings call for the Wall Street financial community, Saga Communications CFO Sam Bush discussed two keys to his company's Q4 2017 performance. One, like many other media companies, is the income tax benefit seen from the passage by Congress of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The other is the transformation of Saga into a radio pure-play, exiting from TV station ownership.

For many media companies, political comps play a big role in a disappointing quarterly performance. For Urban One, they can also blame a net revenue dip on the Big Mac. Company head Alfred Liggins III singled out McDonald's for being a major factor in its Q1 pacings. Otherwise, he spoke positively of radio's bright path ahead — despite a dismal January and net revenue that would have been flat in Q4 if not for election dollars.

To help AMs and FMs on their path to success, the Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to present the first in a series of short podcasts focused on Hispanic radio — and its power — in advance of the 2018 Hispanic Radio Conference. In our second installment, RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson chats with Francisco Montero, co-Managing Partner of Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, on the importance of AM and FM radio during an emergency — including a hurricane, wildfire, flood or blizzard.

If there was any concern across the Rose City that Talk KPAM-AM 860 and its Adult Standards sibling, KKOV-AM "Sunny 1550" in Vancouver, Wash., would be swept away by snow melt flowing into the Willamette River, all worries have been alleviated. Each of the stations are "alive and well" several months after Pamplin Media Group agreed to sell the duo to Intelli LLC. The news came from the media company that's now operating KPAM and KKOV — and it is not Intelli.

Bluestone Financial Ltd. and its Managing Partner have set its sights on some key Spanish Broadcasting System assets, thanks to a big increase in its stake in the Miami-based company controlled by Raul Alarcón Jr. But, this request is nothing new for Bluestone and the man who seeks more profits for that online platform, David Tomasello.

Emmis Communications Chairman/CEO Jeff Smulyan on July 10, 2012, agreed to a "Change in Control Severance Agreement" with the company he founded. On Thursday (3/1), the agreement was replaced with a newly drafted pact with fewer benefits than the old one. As a result, Smulyan is receiving a significant number of "super voting" Class B shares.

A 1,000-watt daytime-only AM station has put out the call for a "white knight" to save the property from permanent silence. After more than six decades as a South Carolina town's only local station, modern technology has rendered it obsolete. The owner turned off the transmitter on Wednesday.

Beasley Broadcast Group's Board of Directors has approved an 11.1% increase in its quarterly cash dividend. Company CEO Caroline Beasley commented on the extra cash going to shareholders of record as of March 30.

With hours to go before an anticipated Chapter 11 reorganization petition is finalized and approved, iHeartMedia has disclosed in an SEC filing what it calls its "attempt to harmonize the views that it has received directly from the various groups of noteholders, lenders and the company’s equity holders." Translation: A new term sheet is dangling in front of iHeart's lenders.

Without addressing the massive, costly, and unnecessarily complex FCC broadcasting regulations, hundreds of additional radio, television stations and translators will soon be silent. That's the opening salvo from the latest column from featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner. In his view, most of the Commission's "complexification" has resulted in regulation that "in no way serve 'the public interest, convenience and necessity' — the creed of the FCC."

With the clock ticking and a widely expected Chapter 11 restructuring agreement likely arriving within 48 hours, iHeartMedia CFO and President/COO Rich Bressler and Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman are likely meeting with EVP/Chief Communications Officer Wendy Goldberg on just how — if at all — the company will share its financial decisions and choices. When it comes to skipping interest payments (and executive bonus pay), the dissemination vehicle is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

In the Italian language, "Tedesco" is the word that in English means "German." It is therefore a bit fitting that Marie Tedesco, the CFO of Beasley Broadcast Group, will be motoring from Naples (Florida, not Italy) to Palm Beach on Monday for a big Deutsche Bank event.

U.S. financial markets experienced a miserable start to March 2018, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1.7% and Nasdaq was off 1.3%. How did media stocks fare? TEGNA and Salem Media Group were up. Everyone else? Don't ask.

Where's your pool for new talent? Are these millennials, and if so how does a radio broadcasting company — in particular one with Hispanic radio stations — capture their interest? These questions will be addressed and fully explored in the opening session on Day Two of the 2018 Hispanic Radio Conference in Miami.