Excluding political the revenue increase is nearly 4% and CEO Mary Berner said overall the company “turned in another strong performance.” Digital and network revenue were strong which helped offset weaker local spot revenue.
Cumulus’ best-performing markets were Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington DC, Indianapolis, and Baton Rouge. Berner said the company’s recently completed rollout of a new traffic system helped the company generate $6 million in high-margin revenue.
The company remains focused on driving shareholder value and paying down debt. Since emerging from bankruptcy Cumulus has paid down $275 million in debt. The goal is to get leverage to 4X or below. Cumulus’ leverage now is 4.5X.
Berner says Q4 is pacing down low single digits with Q4 off to a slow start.
