Lenders gave Cumulus money on the basis they would cut costs. Cumulus now owns both the former ABC Radio and former Dial Global – both of which had similar 24 hr/day satellite delivered music for lazy or unviable radio stations that didn’t want to spend money hiring teenagers at minimum wage to spin records from a play list picked by a programming director.
I don’t work in radio, so I don’t know for sure – but I suspect satellite delivered music formats make no sense any more. Low cost “music in a box” Hard Drives and software that does updates via the Internet allows DJ-less operations with the ability for stations to create playlists more in line with regional and local tastes and not dealing with a syndicator who is now also their direct competitor in town. Dial Global / Westwood One owned no radio stations.
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/129742/cumulus-radio-networks-merge-formats-some-layoffs