Hannah Evans

 

Overview

Cumulus Radio is the second largest operator of FM and AM radio stations in the country. Its access stretches to over 90 metropolitan media markets, reaching 245 million viewers per week, through its 454 owned-and-operated broadcasting stations. However, it has a total of over 10,000 broadcast affiliates. Country music provides Cumulus Radio with its largest audience, especially through its NASH country music brand. Considering its NASH programming for TV and radio, NASH Country Weekly Magazine and the NASH BASH concert series, Cumulus is able to offer its viewers an all-immersive media consumption experience while bringing advertisers strait to their target demographic. With a range of station programming including: Religious, News/talk, Country, Classic Rock, Adult Contemporary, Spanish-language, and sports, Cumulus mergers viewers from all tastes and lifestyles [I].
Furthermore, Cumulus is beyond merely a radio broadcaster. The radio branch is an integral part of a larger company; Cumulus Communications Inc. Cumulus Communications includes broadcast radio, pure-play radio through the Rdio system, consulting and market research services for financiers, a quality live-performance series, and a country music brand offering radio, TV, magazine, and recording services [II].

New Look

Nancy G. Berner was appointed the new CEO on October 13 of this year. Berner is seeking to employ a more cohesive and connected work atmosphere from the corporate level to the service level. She believes the top-down management structure has been hurting the success of the company. Berener wants to allow branch managers to have more operating independence in order to manage from the bottom-up, creating a stronger bottom-line [III]. Her push for a change in managing style comes at a pivotal moment for the company when a fresh face and outlook is necessary; however, the success of her changes will only be showcased in due time. Berner offers more than 30 years of media experience. Previously, she held the position of President/CEO of the Association of Magazine Media and was the head of Reader’s Digest Association and Fairchild Publications [1]. Berner also has been serving on the Cumulus Communications board since May 2015, making her an exemplary choice for the available position [1].

Lewis W. Dickey Jr. was the previous CEO of Cumulus before Berner took over. Since its inception in 1997, the Dickey family has held controlling interest in the company. Dickey was CEO of the company since 2000. Lewis Dickey will still hold a high position of Vice Chairman of the board. During his leadership, Dickey Jr.  led the development of the company as a provider of market research and strategy consulting for radio and TV through the establishment of the Stratford Research in 1985 [1]. Furthermore, Dickey Jr. was the brain behind pushing the company down a large quantity of acquisitions for expansion purposes [1].

Other Key Executives

 

 

 

Westwood One

Westwood One represents the bulk of Cumulus Radio, with 454 owned-and-operated stations. It features the NASH brand, sports, music, news, spoken word, and digital content. Over the summer Westwood One News was launched with 750 radio affiliates nationwide with 9 of the stations within the top 10 markets [IV.]. Within the NASH branch, there is NASH Nights Live programming,. The program is a lifestyle show featuring country music, interviews, and plays about 12-13 songs per hour. It is hosted by Shawn Parr and Elina Dore Smith. The program airs on an New Country 96.3 KSCS.

Parr was a voice for Dick Clark productions for 20 years and Smith co-hosted Timmy and Eliana show on Florida’s 107.1 WALA previously. It seeks to target the increased viewership live events can bring and does so by hosting events across the nation [IV.]

NASH branch

The flagship station for the brand, NASH FW WNSH-M  94.7 had only 1.8 % of share of listeners in its market. Under the heavy push of John Dickey, the Executive Vice President at the time, the Nash station was developed for $40 million in 2012 [V]. The weekday programming clock is as follows: America’s Morning show with Blair Garner, Terry Clark, and Chuck Wicks from 5 AM-10AM; Kelly Ford 10 AM-3PM; Jesse Addy 3PM-7PM; NASH Nights Live 7PM-Midnight [IV]. The NASH Bash Concert series for March 24, 2015 will be hosted by the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This represents a budding partnership for Cumulus with the Barclays Center as the deal includes 2 Cumulus-sponsored events per year for venue [VI]. Below is a recap video of the NASH Bash October 2015 series.

[4]

 

Finances

Key Figures from Q3 2015 report that September 30, 2015

• Net Revenue: $289.4 million, down 7.8% from last quarter

• Majority of revenues supplied through local broadcasting advertising:
  $170,955  of $ 275,257 received from local broadcast advertising.

• Impairment of intangible assets and goodwill: $ 565,584

• Total operating expenses: $856,655

One of the major challenges the company has been facing over the past few years is its extensive debt, totaling about $2.5 billion. Over the past few years Cumulus has acquired an abundance of new station, consequently taking on high goodwill-debt. The underlying problem with this expansion is the goodwill portion. Goodwill is the difference between consideration and the value of net assets; therefore, the company has been spending money it doesn’t exactly have [VIII]. With about 2/3 of an 856,655 million total operating cost attributed to the impairment of intangible assets and goodwill as of quarter 3 2015, the company clearly acquires a large portion of its debt on goodwill [IX].

A large portion of this debt acquired on goodwill was for the expansion of its Rdio system and Westwood One programs. High debt and operating costs worked to decline the stock of Cumulus Communications to a low of $0.18 per share in early November. This is a significant decline from a 52-week high of $4.51 per share [VIII].

Recent News

Most recently, Cumulus is set to sell Rdio to Pandora for $75 million, as of November 16, 2015. The deal will be finalized after the U.S. Bankruptcy court reviews and approves the case [VII].  Rdio offers 35 million songs in over 86 countries. It is available to stream on multiple devices such as tablet, smart phone, laptop, etc. Some key features of the service include: connecting with Facebook, stations based on customer’s music taste, create-able playlists, and free-service subscription or paid-service subscription [6]. The loss of this asset. On a more positive note, the ratings for Cumulus’s affiliate station, WKQX Modern Rock Chicago tied for fourth in its market for viewership with 3.8 % share of audience, according to a Nielsen study [V]. Also Cumulus’s affiliate News Talk 760 WJR-AM will become the new home station for the Detriot Lions. They signed a five year flagship deal that will take place in beginning of the 2016 Football Season [V].

 

 

 

 

Image Works Cited

[1] “Cumulus Leadership.” Cumulus.com. Cumulus Media. n.d. Web. 30 November 2015. http://www.cumulus.com/leadership.

[2] “NASH Nigts Live with Shawn Parr.” Westwood One. Cumulus Media. n.d. Web. 30 November 2015. http://www.westwoodone.com/PROGRAMMING/Music-Entertainment/Daily-Shows/Nash-Nights-Live-with-Shawn-Parr.

[3] “NASH FM 94.7.” NASH FM 94.7.com. Cumulus Media. n.d. Web. 30 November 2015. http://www.nashfm947.com.

[4] “Recap: NASH BASH October 2015.” NASH FM 94.7.com. Cumulus Media. 27 October 2015. Web. 30 November 2015. http://www.nashfm947.com/2015/10/27/nashbash2015.

[5] “Cumulus Inc. Stock  Chart.” NASDAQ.com. NASDAQ. 3 Dec 2015. 3 December 2015. http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/cmls/stock-chart.

[6] “Rdio.” Rdio.com. Cumulus Media. n.d. 30 November 2015.http://www.rdio.com/home.

 

Content Works Cited

[I] “Local Radio.” Cumulus.com. Cumulus Media. Web. 17 November 2015. http://www.cumulus.com/local-radio-2.

[II] Atkinson, Claire. “Cumulus Media’s New CEO Can’t Stop the Company’s Slide.” NYPOST.com. NY Post Holdings, Inc. 1 November 2015. Web. 30 November 2015.

[III] “Mary Berner Sets New Tone For Cumulus.” Insideradio.com. Insideradio.com. 14 October 2015. Web. 17 November 2015.

[IV.] “Westwood One: About Us.” WestwoodOne.com. Cumulus Media. n.d. 30 November 2015. http://www.westwoodone.com/LEARN-MORE/About-Us.

[V] “Cumulus Flexes Some Ratings Muscle.” Indsideradio.com. Insideradio. 24 November 2015. Web. 30 November 2015.

[VI] ” Randy Houser Added to  Lineup for First NASH BASH at Barclays Center.” TheDailyCountry.com. 3 March 2015. Web. 30 November 2015.www.thedailycountry.com.

[VII] “Cumulus To Part Ways With Rdio.” Insideradio.com. Insideradio.com. 17 November 2015. Web. 20 November 2015.

[VIII] “Cumulus Media is a Sell.” Marketwatch.com. 13 September 2015. Web. 30 November 2015.http://seekingalpha.com/article/3530036-cumulus-media-is-a-sell.

[IX] “Cumulus Reports Operating Results for Quarter Three 2015.” Cumulus.com. Cumulus Media. 5 November 2015. Web. 30 November 2015. http://www.cumulus.com/PR/CMLS_09302015_Earnings_Release_r35.pdf.