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Cumulus changes

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Myron Falwell
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Myron Falwell » Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:04 am

Wouldn't it make sense to sell your towers to someone who knows what they're doing and not have another WLQR 1470 mess on your hands? Plus past transmission site sales for WMAL and KABC were done as the real estate around them were worth more than the stations themselves.

I'll say this about WABC, it was unloaded to a multi-millionaire who can afford to lose boatloads of money on the station in a way Cumulus just couldn't.


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WOHO
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by WOHO » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:12 am

IIRC, WABC is hiring Cousin Brucie away from SiriusXM to do his show on AM radio again!



Deleted User 15062

Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Thu Sep 10, 2020 6:16 pm

WOHO wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:12 am
IIRC, WABC is hiring Cousin Brucie away from SiriusXM to do his show on AM radio again!
Wonderful! He'll be the new star, as AM radio overshadows everything else! Old Fashioneds for everyone!



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Colonel Flagg
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Colonel Flagg » Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:30 pm

Myron Falwell wrote:
Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:04 am
Wouldn't it make sense to sell your towers to someone who knows what they're doing and not have another WLQR 1470 mess on your hands? Plus past transmission site sales for WMAL and KABC were done as the real estate around them were worth more than the stations themselves.
Have you recently visited any sites owned by Vertical Bridge? "Derelict Bridge" would be a more fitting moniker. :lol


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Ben Zonia
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Ben Zonia » Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:54 pm

Colonel Flagg wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:30 pm
Myron Falwell wrote:
Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:04 am
Wouldn't it make sense to sell your towers to someone who knows what they're doing and not have another WLQR 1470 mess on your hands? Plus past transmission site sales for WMAL and KABC were done as the real estate around them were worth more than the stations themselves.
Have you recently visited any sites owned by Vertical Bridge? "Derelict Bridge" would be a more fitting moniker. :lol
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Last edited by Ben Zonia on Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by MWmetalhead » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:02 pm

t's a bad deal because Cumulus has hardly any renters. Where the 14.25x is coming from?
The sale proceeds equal 14.25x negative impact to annual EBITDA, if I remember correctly.
This is the equivalent of you selling your house that you own free and clear to mortgage company for $142,500. They then require you to lease it back to you for $10,000 a year (and make you pay the taxes) and they have the ability to rent all the extra rooms to someone else while you are there. At the end of the 10 year lease they bulldoze the property and kick you out.
I disagree wholeheartedly with the above analogy.

For starters, Cumulus' debt doesn't come due in 20 years or 30 years; it comes due in 2026.

Although Cumulus' secured term debt and 6.75% Senior Notes are not subject to financial maintenance covenants, I assure you the creditors and institutional equity holders pay close attention to items such as the company's net leverage ratio. It is certainly possible there are side agreements between the company and certain constituencies of creditors whereby the company agreed to use best efforts to liquidate non-core assets so as to accelerate repayment of loan balances, which in turn improves equity value and equity tradeability. Remember, lenders who took a big write-down in Bankruptcy received the vast majority of the equity in Reorganized Cumulus. These same parties also appoint a super majority of the Board of Directors.

Bottom line - if the prepetition lenders want Cumulus to move non-core assets, chances are, the occupants of the C-suite will act on those wishes.

In exchange for taking a ~$15 million EBITDA hit (although, I understand the rent expense will actually be categorized as interest expense, so technically it won't be a hit to unadjusted EBITDA), the Company will be able to retire something like $220 million in LT debt. That is an excellent trade off.

I would hope Mary Berner isn't stupid, I would hope the Cumulus CFO isn't stupid, and I certainly would hope that Cumulus internal and external legal counsel aren't stupid. I would hope extensive due diligence was performed on Vertical Bridge. I suspect the lease term is much lengthier than 10 years. It could be a 10 year base term followed by multiple 5-year extension options, for example.

Using normalized (i.e. non-COVID impacted) EBITDA, this transaction basically takes Cumulus from, say, a 4.40x levered company to a 3.40x levered company. In the world of leveraged corporate finance, that is a noteworthy improvement. I think anything north of 3x remains too risky for a company in a declining industry, but it's a big step in the right direction.

You and some other folks seem to be focused on "doomsday" / worst case type scenarios. Are there risks? Certainly. My gut feeling is those risks aren't strong enough to warrant rejection of the sale-leaseback.

By the way, the interest expense savings Cumulus will enjoy from prepaying its term debt will largely offset the rent expense it will now have to pay for the tower sites.



Deleted User 15062

Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Thu Dec 24, 2020 7:45 am

Cumulus officially told Bill Stewart a few weeks ago that he will not be in the building again. Wonder why they waited so long, when it was not really a secret?



radioandtventhusiast
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Thu Dec 24, 2020 3:13 pm

TeddyBear wrote:
Thu Dec 24, 2020 7:45 am
Cumulus officially told Bill Stewart a few weeks ago that he will not be in the building again. Wonder why they waited so long, when it was not really a secret?
I wonder if that's the case as well for the other part-time personalities.



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WOHO
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by WOHO » Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:22 am

Bill Stewart keeps the bodies listening to 93.5 after evening drive time and costs them next to nothing to voicetrack his show; so why not employ him? Yeah, that 5 hours a week will bankrupt the station?



burytheneedle
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by burytheneedle » Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:27 pm

I'm hoping Bill sees this. Last summer I started a local internet oldies station to have some fun on since I left the business about 5 years ago. Anyway, there are a few former Toledo/ NW Ohio jocks who have volunteered and joined in to have some fun a few hours a week. It's all remote tracking, but it's enough to keep the radio appetite satisfied for those of us who have moved on. Anyway, Mr. Stewart is more than welcome to come on board and play with us if he sees this. TowpathRadio.com has links for contact and stream link for anyone interested in listening (we're running light this weekend with the holidays, but we should be mostly back to normal next weekend with the jock schedule.)



radioandtventhusiast
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:57 pm

burytheneedle wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:27 pm
I'm hoping Bill sees this. Last summer I started a local internet oldies station to have some fun on since I left the business about 5 years ago. Anyway, there are a few former Toledo/ NW Ohio jocks who have volunteered and joined in to have some fun a few hours a week. It's all remote tracking, but it's enough to keep the radio appetite satisfied for those of us who have moved on. Anyway, Mr. Stewart is more than welcome to come on board and play with us if he sees this. TowpathRadio.com has links for contact and stream link for anyone interested in listening (we're running light this weekend with the holidays, but we should be mostly back to normal next weekend with the jock schedule.)
Seen your schedule, interesting.

Is Shavon the same one that used to work for 98.3, and is Mark Elliott the same one that used to be PD of 93.5?

I wouldn't mind hearing jocks like Ron Sobczak, Buddy Carr or Jim Bayer again. Nice to see you have the American Hit List on there, as I liked it when it was on 93.5 years ago.



Deleted User 15062

Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:24 pm

radioandtventhusiast wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:57 pm
burytheneedle wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:27 pm
I'm hoping Bill sees this. Last summer I started a local internet oldies station to have some fun on since I left the business about 5 years ago. Anyway, there are a few former Toledo/ NW Ohio jocks who have volunteered and joined in to have some fun a few hours a week. It's all remote tracking, but it's enough to keep the radio appetite satisfied for those of us who have moved on. Anyway, Mr. Stewart is more than welcome to come on board and play with us if he sees this. TowpathRadio.com has links for contact and stream link for anyone interested in listening (we're running light this weekend with the holidays, but we should be mostly back to normal next weekend with the jock schedule.)
Seen your schedule, interesting.

Is Shavon the same one that used to work for 98.3, and is Mark Elliott the same one that used to be PD of 93.5?

I wouldn't mind hearing jocks like Ron Sobczak, Buddy Carr or Jim Bayer again. Nice to see you have the American Hit List on there, as I liked it when it was on 93.5 years ago.
Shavon does not fit most formats. She does fit urban somewhat. She was at "My 98" for a while. Very nice lady, but needs allot of work on diction and pronunciation.



Deleted User 15062

Re: Cumulus changes

Post by Deleted User 15062 » Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:33 pm

WOHO wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:22 am
Bill Stewart keeps the bodies listening to 93.5 after evening drive time and costs them next to nothing to voicetrack his show; so why not employ him? Yeah, that 5 hours a week will bankrupt the station?
They are trying to get rid of part-timers on most of the stations. Why pay $16 a day, when you can have a salary talent do it. They get paid the same anyhow, no matter what duties they have. And with WW1, all they have to do is online affs, with no cost. And it's not 5 hrs a week. He only gets paid minimum wage for 2 hrs, every few days. He must have his files and calls In place for a few days. Then when the logs get loaded in, for that day, everything is done and there, in the exact locations. And with everyone on RQN voicetracking, everyone has to use that studio, since most do not know how to switch nodes.

Folks, the old days of radio are dead. And with the youngins wanting jockless music and pre-recorded all talk (via podcasts), nobody even including them in any radio formats, and being able to control and customize content, and possibility of clutter-free or stopset-free entertainment, I plainly see radio not ever being the same... no matter who pays for whatever studies.



burytheneedle
Posts: 61
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by burytheneedle » Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:57 pm

Seen your schedule, interesting.

Is Shavon the same one that used to work for 98.3, and is Mark Elliott the same one that used to be PD of 93.5?

I wouldn't mind hearing jocks like Ron Sobczak, Buddy Carr or Jim Bayer again. Nice to see you have the American Hit List on there, as I liked it when it was on 93.5 years ago.
Yes to both your questions! I would love to get Ron, Buddy, and Jim involved if they still want to play radio. For us it's all about having a bit of fun, and leaving the drama to the big guys. So far listener response has far exceeded our expectations!



radioandtventhusiast
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Re: Cumulus changes

Post by radioandtventhusiast » Sun Dec 27, 2020 11:50 am

TeddyBear wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:33 pm
WOHO wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:22 am
Bill Stewart keeps the bodies listening to 93.5 after evening drive time and costs them next to nothing to voicetrack his show; so why not employ him? Yeah, that 5 hours a week will bankrupt the station?
They are trying to get rid of part-timers on most of the stations. Why pay $16 a day, when you can have a salary talent do it. They get paid the same anyhow, no matter what duties they have. And with WW1, all they have to do is online affs, with no cost. And it's not 5 hrs a week. He only gets paid minimum wage for 2 hrs, every few days. He must have his files and calls In place for a few days. Then when the logs get loaded in, for that day, everything is done and there, in the exact locations. And with everyone on RQN voicetracking, everyone has to use that studio, since most do not know how to switch nodes.

Folks, the old days of radio are dead. And with the youngins wanting jockless music and pre-recorded all talk (via podcasts), nobody even including them in any radio formats, and being able to control and customize content, and possibility of clutter-free or stopset-free entertainment, I plainly see radio not ever being the same... no matter who pays for whatever studies.
Because of all part-timers not working, some personalities are now working 7 days a week. They all deserve to have the weekends off.

I also have noticed 98.3 NashIcon's changed a bit this past month. It seems like they're using out-of-town jocks with the exception of Jeff Tuttle in the morning.



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