Tom Taylor’s newsletter reports that Nassau Broadcasting is headed to Chapter 7 bankruptcy – liquidation.
This is a really sad story. Prior to the 1996 deregulation of radio, Nassau was based in Princeton NJ, and was a successful local operator. Over time, the company had plowed its profits into buying other similar stations in New Jersey.
Then the greed kicked in. As the post 1996 buying frenzy took off, Nassau’s owner tried to do an IPO and when that failed, went on a buying rampage, buying up close to worthless stations in New England at hugely inflated prices, using borrowed money from private equity firms and Goldman Sachs.
The owner had the idea of setting up a regional commercial radio network called W-Bach, at best a very unorthodox programming choice.
After the price of radio station licenses fell apart in the early 2000s, he kept right on buying up more stations at inflated prices 3 years after the bubble had burst – something that was eventually realized. Nassau was one of the leaders rushing into Chapter 11 bankruptcy (reorganization)
So if you are like Stephen King and want to buy really rural radio stations in back woods New Hampshire and Maine with a listening audience of 5 people, you may be able to get a bargain soon.
Even as the house burned down around him, he kept right on striking those matches? Sounds to me like he attended the Obama School of Economics. Burn baby. Burn!
I don’t know his politics, but the company being located in Princeton, New Jersey does carry some implications.