In a note to employees Thursday Cumulus CEO Mary Berner said the $12.5 million from the sale of WABC will be used to pay down debt and invest in the company. She also said Cumulus’ one remaining station in the City, WNBM, will be sold so Cumulus can exit that market.
Berner told the Cumulus team that the company remains focused on making the decisions that make the most sense for its station portfolio and the company. “In some cases, that will mean selling stations, and in other cases, it will mean acquisitions. In New York’s case, we’ll be exiting a market that has been tough for us, and through these deals we will be able to realize significant value for the company – over and above what we could have generated from continued operations. And for anyone who is still listening to rumors out there, I will say again that there is absolutely no grand plan to exit our big markets.”
Finally, she told employees not to be concerned about the news of stations being sold and buck up. “If any of this news causes you concern, take my sister’s advice and #cutitout. Always remember that any actions we take to strengthen our Company help to assure a brighter future for FORCE CUMULUS. So, let’s keep building on our strong momentum and being relentlessly HABU in all of our efforts and with every one of our assets. I am incredibly proud of our progress and look forward to continuing to deliver on our strategic goals.”
What do these sales say about the value of their remaining assets and particularly the remaining AM stations? If a heritage AM in market #1 is now only worth $12.5 million, markets 30+ clearly have no value at all anymore. Nothing good here for anyone left in the radio industry.
Heritage AM stations that haven’t lost 90 percent of their audience due to the ineptitude of the likes of Mary Berner and Mike McVay still have value.
Following the WABC sale, Cumulus CEO Mary Berner stated “…for anyone who is still listening to rumors out there, I will say again that there is absolutely no grand plan to exit our big markets.”
Clearly if Berner has a plan, e.g. addition by subtraction, it is no “grand plan,” as parting with WABC (as if it were a divestment) is far from grand, but it is the foreseeable result of turning broadcasting companies over to suits who have zero passion for broadcasting.
Broadcasting company leadership failure is by no means limited to Cumulus: as a few other cases in point look at Cox (now former Cox), or how Clear Channel Comm. operated, or the new and “improved” Entercom, in which CEO David Field is seeking to make his mark in the industry by employing Entercom’s major markets to launch his cause celebre flagship talk group CHANNEL Q(ueer). Nothing really compares with Field’s Entercom fiasco; his father must be so proud….
Forget the 1980’s, a ton of damage has been done to ratings and revenue of the ABC stations in this decade under Cumulus ownership and the Mary Berner reign of error. 12.5 million for WABC is a joke and a sign of pure desperation, Mary’s happy talk aside. Her contradictory psych babble memo proves she’s feeling the pressure.
Forget the 1980’s, a ton of damage has been done to ratings and revenue of the ABC stations in this decade under Cumulus ownership and the Mary Berner reign of error. 12.5 million for WABC is a joke and a sign of pure desperation, Mary’s happy talk aside. Her contradictory psych babble memo proves she’s feeling the pressure.
Read Berner’s last paragraph. If the President of ABC-owned radio stations had issued this statement when ABC very successfully ran all their stations, people would have worried about him (or her). “… take my sister’s advice and #cutitout”… ???… “let’s keep building on our strong momentum” ??? – WHAT momentum??!!- you’re selling off stations!!!– “I am incredibly proud of our progress” ??? – WHAT exact progress???
Her statement is incredibly condescending,and is completely insulting to the intelligence of the average reader because it says absolutely nothing and is filled with rambling cliches of doublespeak.
Light years removed from the former real leadership, of legendary companies like the old ABC stations.
You see what Disney did with the ABC owned stations. If they were as great as you say they were, they would have been fools to sell.
Try actually READING Roy’s comment!!! He didn’t say Disney. He was referring to the ABC legacy ownership, pre-Disney. When radio stations were operated as, and long-term invested in, as radio stations. A commitment to the stations, to the stockholders, to the employees, and to the listeners!! These days, the iHearts abd Cumulus’ have a commitment ONLY to the CEO and his or her minions, and to the stockholders. Period. And they look at employees as an “expense,”not as assets.
Pre-Disney is over 20 years ago. Ancient history. Different set of rules. Reel to reel tape. Very different technology. Disney realized that. But yes, if you figure out how to bring back the 80s, let me know.
Nice deflections on your part Bob. What we are talking about is a different set of VALUES and priorities, and NOT the technology changes. Plus we are talking about up until around year 2000, not the “80’s” as you incorrectly state.
So the difference between then and now… the CEO’s – you and Cumulus especially- have zero values or consideration towards the on-air product, or towards the employees (who you regard as “expenses” and not as assets)… your focus is on comp for you and your top minions, and on the stockholders, and that’s it.
And companies are destined to failure, without serious investment in the product and without regarding the employees as assets, not as expenses.
Not sure who you think you’re talking to. Just an FYI, I worked at pre-Disney ABC, and working there was like being in the 80s. It was an all union shop. Employees were treated like union employees, whatever that means. It was no panacea.