The legal merger of Citadel/ABC Radio into Cumulus Media has been completed.
Here is the list of the stations Cumulus Media now controls:
http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-parent-list.php?parentid=3
I count 599 – which may be off by a few. A handful of the stations (in Harrisburg PA and Flint Michigan) will have to be sold because both Citadel and Cumulus had stations in the same market or the stations were grandfathered under prior mergers.
Now the real opereational merger begins. Cumulus has already been running the former Susquehanna Radio company, which owns some major market radio stations. Other than the former ABC stations, Cumulus and Citadel both were located only in small or unrated markets – a very different business than New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Susquehanna (renamed Cumulus Media Partners) fairly quickly defaulted on its loans after it was acquired by the Private Equity funds and managed by Cumulus.