On the morning of March 20, MGTF Radio Company — the entity created by the sons of veteran Pittsburgh radio station owner Saul Frischling — filed a bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. By day’s end, it became known that WPNT Inc., the licensee for the Frischling family’s two FMs in Pittsburgh, had been added to the Missouri petition.
Collectively, the Frischling’s stations are branded as Steel City Media. On Wednesday evening, it became known that a Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been filed in St. Louis.
In an announcement released Wednesday by media broker Michael J. Bergner of Bergner & Co., the plan to emerge from debtor-in-possession status is said to be “consensual” amongst the company and its “significant financial creditors.”
It calls for Steel City to exit bankruptcy with a new balance sheet and with the Frischling family retaining equity control of the company.
“In an environment where equity in radio companies is being wiped out, we are gratified that we have reached a consensual agreement with our creditors that enables us to maintain equity and operational control that sets the stage for future growth and
profitability,” said Steel City VP Michael Frischling.
With that, Steel City exudes confidence that it will emerge from Chapter 11 early next year.
Frischling thanks its employees and advertisers for their continued support.
Bergner’s Gordian Broadcast Technologies LLC, a partnership between the media broker and Gordian Group LLC, a boutique investment bank specializing in “complex and
distressed financial advisory work,” advised Steel City on its reorganization plan.
Serving as Steel City’s legal counsel are Carmody MacDonald P.C. attorneys Robert Eggmann and Thomas Riske.
The court docket has not seen additional matters pertaining to case no. 4:2018bk41671 since Tuesday, when the reorganization plan was filed with the court.
Steel City Media of Kansas City operates CHR/Pop KMXV-FM 93.3, AC KCKC-FM 102.1, Country mainstay KFKF-FM 94.1, and “New Hit Country” KBEQ-FM 104.3. WPNT Inc.’s two FMs in Western Pennsylvania are WRRK-FM in Braddock, Pa., and WLTJ-FM in Pittsburgh.
While Steel City’s “significant financial creditors” may approve of the plan, what about other creditors? As RBR+TVBR reported in March, MGTF’s filing states that there are between 1 and 49 creditors, and that funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors. MGTF’s estimated liabilities equal its estimated assets of between $50 million and $100 million.
The largest creditor listed is Fifth Third Bank, with an unsecured claim of $38,477,998.
That’s followed by Business Development Corp. of America, in care of Alan Pope. That unsecured claim is valued at $24.5 million.
From here, there’s new insight into who’s owed what from Steel City. We start in Kansas City, where digital services firm iFocus Marketing is a claimant of $130,561.27.
The fourth-largest claimant is Nielsen Audio, with $108,828.78 owed to the ratings and audience research firm.
Katz is a claimant, with $63,905.09 owed. There’s also a $6,393.72 to Marketron for logs and billing software services. Veteran programming consultant Joel Folger is listed as a claimant and is owed $2,521.49.
Christal Radio, the national ad rep for WLTJ and WRRK, is shown as unsecured creditor owed $37,572.11 by Steel City’s Pittsburgh stations.
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