Jerry Lee, who owns the only big time independent radio station in Philadelphia decided in 2009 to lead the charge against Sound Exchange – making himself the leader of the anti-streaming radio owners.
B101 consisntly leads the radio ratings in Philadelphia and it is a matter of principle that he should be able to play music on the air without paying the musicians. If it wasn’t for radio, young people wouldn’t know what music they like.
Radio Consultant Jerry del Colliano had a subscription tease this morning that Jerry Lee is losing his station, swallowed by its debt. I don’t know if that’s true. Jerry has held up Jerry as his example of the iconic station owner doing everything right.
But ratings don’t pay bills. B101 is one of those Holiday Music stations that gets huge ratings in December, but not necessarily revenue. The day the station goes back to its normal music, the room empties out.
One of the other major market holdouts – the Buckley AM stations in Connecticut recently started streaming, but that’s because they sold the stations.
Jerry Lee is leading an army of one. I admire that. The world is filling with leaders afraid to swim upstream. I hope the rumor is not true. I think I’ll put together a list of the biggest non-streamers and see what shows up.
* updated to drop silent, Vewy quiet, Disney, Puerto Rico and non-English stations *
+------------+--------------+--------+------------------------------------------+--------+ | streamname | CityName | Statex | left(licensee,40) | powerh | +------------+--------------+--------+------------------------------------------+--------+ | WBEB FM/HD | PHILADELPHIA | PA | JERRY LEE BROADCASTING, LLC | 14 | | WTZA AM | ATLANTA | GA | WGUN, INC. | 50 | | KSWW FM | OCEAN SHORES | WA | JODESHA BROADCASTING, INC. | 14 | | WSHH FM | PITTSBURGH | PA | RENDA BROADCASTING CORPORATION OF NEVADA | 17 | +------------+--------------+--------+------------------------------------------+--------+
That’s the top 25 markets of all non-streaming power >= 10 kW, non-silent, English language, non-Disney stations.
It’s true.
What a mess – Jerry’s partner died in 2005 – they had a deal that when one of them died, the other could buy their interest. Jerry paid $85 million for the other half of the station, borrowing $60 million. That debt (assuming it hasn’t grown) is probably more than what the station is worth today.
Probably unrelated, Cumulus stock cratered following their conference call. Cumulus debt is up to $2.5 billion. The U.S. justice department hasn’t yet given final approval of the Cumulus acquisition of Westwood One. My suspicion is that’s the reason, along with Wall Street realizing Lew Dickey isn’t making any ground on turning the boat around. He announced yesterday he has been unable to hire a #2 to be his successor. He missed the chance for a pleasant retirement party. It’s hardball time.