2016 Lowest Year For Radio Deals In Decades

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According to SNL Kagan, radio deal volume in 2016 totaled $522.6 million, which is the lowest year on record going back to 1982. In the fourth quarter of 2016 there were $96.2 million in radio deals done. October was the busiest month with 79% of the total transactions for the quarter taking place in that month. There were 11 deals above $1 million in October. And the biggest deal of the 4th quarter was…

The top deal of the fourth quarter, which turned out to be the second-largest deal of the year, was part of the Beasley/Greater Media transaction from earlier in the year. In August, Beasley placed three stations it bought in Charlotte in a trust to comply with FCC regulations. Beasley then turned around and sold them to Entercom in October for $24 million. That made Beasley the year’s top buyer and top seller by deal volume.

SNL Kagan reports that Q4 saw the largest single-station deal, which involved the same station as had the year’s top-ranked single-station deal at the time. KFWB in Los Angeles changed hands for the second time this year, delivering a $3.2 million profit to short-time owner Universal Media Access, which in February paid $8.0 million for the station, intending to keep it, but could not refuse Lotus Communications’ $11.2 million offer.

And finally, on the FM translator front, 489 FM translators and 447 translator construction permits sold for $31.9 million and $16.7 million, respectively. The total number of 936 translator stations and permits, more than twice as high as in 2015 (458), stands for 65% of all radio stations and permits sold in 2016.

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