Craig Karmazin (son of Mel, formerly of Infinity Broadcadting, CBS and SiriusXM) really likes spending money on sports. He is buying WTMJ-AM (and recently acquired translator) and an FM music station in Milwaukee for $16 million. The seller is Scripps who has made it clear all their radio properties are for sale. WTMJ was owned by The Milwaukee Journal and transferred to Scripps when they merged and divided up the broadcast media properties from the Newspapers. It seems likely WTMJ will abandon Conservative talk in favor of the All Spork, all the time format.<\/p>\n
Larry Wilson, who created Citadel Radio after the 1996 Telecom Reform Act by acquiring small market radio stations is leaving his role at Alpha Media, his second bite of the apple of radio immortality. After he left Citadel, the company acquired ABC Radio and immediately rushed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, followed by its acquisition by Cumulus on the way to its bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
The business plan for Alpha seemed to be if you acquired a big enough portfolio of tiny market stations that the sheer quantity of stations would make for a profitable IPO. Iheart and Cumulus failing and CBS leaving radio suggest that is unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n
Les Moonves at CBS may have #metoo problems<\/p>\n
Post bankruptcy Cumulus stock is being relisted on NASDAQ on Wednesday. It is not technically an IPO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Craig Karmazin (son of Mel, formerly of Infinity Broadcadting, CBS and SiriusXM) really likes spending money on sports. He is buying WTMJ-AM (and recently acquired translator) and an FM music station in Milwaukee for $16 million. The seller is Scripps … Continue reading