On December 15th, Dial Global (mostly known for syndicating the Air America castoffs and NFL\/NCAA sports) on radio got 30 days from their bankers to come up with a plan. Around January 15th, the bankers gave until February 28th. The probable outcome will be bankruptcy or more likely “restructuring” – ending unprofitable parts of the business, spinning off non-core assets, reducing head count – the stuff that Private Equity firms know how to do.<\/p>\n
The surest way to make a company fail is to put three people in charge and create decision paralysis and subordinates having to choose sides and spent their time on politics rather than making the company successful. Dial Global has had three bosses since acquiring Westwood One. Dial Global is part of Triton Media group, owned by Oaktree Capital. Part of the company is traded publicly and some is held by prior owners of Westwood One and Jones Radio<\/p>\n
Spencer Brown – the Triton Media guy – he’s a lawyer and finance guy
\nDavid Landau – was the guy who ran Dr Laura’s show before It was sold to Jacor then Clear Channel – and came from Westwood One
\nKen Williams – was the force behind dial global and was partners with Landau in the 1990s<\/p>\n
With that background, today’s news is not surprising. Landau is gone, Williams is demoted and the Oaktree bean counter is in charge.<\/p>\n
I hope Ed Schultz is ready to buy his own health insurance next month.<\/p>\n
Damn that Rush Limbaugh for destroying talk radio!<\/p>\n
Cumulus CEO had an interview on Bloomberg and he is having second thoughts about talk radio. That Geraldo and Huckabee thing apparently isn’t going well. I’ m shocked, I tell you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On December 15th, Dial Global (mostly known for syndicating the Air America castoffs and NFL\/NCAA sports) on radio got 30 days from their bankers to come up with a plan. Around January 15th, the bankers gave until February 28th. The … Continue reading