iHeartMedia

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Clelia Ryan

iHeartMedia Logo -Source iheartmedia.com

Headquarters

iHeartMedia, Inc.
200 East Basse Road
San Antonio, Texas 78209-8328

Corporate Structure

Bob Pitman: Chairman and CEO [3]

Richard J. Bressler: President, CFO and COO [3]

Wendy Goldberg: Executive VP & Chief Communications Officer [3]

John Sykes: President of Entertainment Enterprises [3]

About

[source – Electro Area Youtube Channel]

iHeartMedia has become a major force in the mass media industry. It was founded under Clear Channel Communications when they purchased their first radio station in 1972. Today, iHeartMedia Inc. is the parent company of iHeartMedia Capital I, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (CCO) as well as iHeartMedia (IHRT) [14].

iHeartMedia has the largest impact of any media platform in America, reaching 245 million monthly listeners through radio. Their reach expands to 150 different markets and ownership of 850 stations. iHeartRadio is a digital platform to listen to all iHeartMedia stations [1]. The company proves to be very successful in the digital radio space. In 2014, Clear Channel Media formally changed its name to iHeartMedia. CEO Bob Pittman states, “The new name will reflect the company’s multi-platform presence and ability to embrace innovation and new technology” [9]. This name change allows the company to align itself with the iHeartRadio name that consumers are familiar with. iHeartRadio is responsible for many live music events throughout the year, such as the Jingle Ball national tour, iHeartRadio Music Festival and iHeartRadio Awards.

Radio

Radio is a still huge media outlet and continues to reach 91% of Americans ages 12+ each week [23]. As of January 2016, iHeartRadio has 80 million register users and total listening hours grew by 30% [18]. iHeartRadio has coined deals with some of the most well known on-air personalities such as Ryan Seacrest and Elvis Duran of New York’s Z100. Seacrest hosts of LA’s number one morning stations, 102.7 KISS-FM. He also hosts nationally syndicated programming with the broadcasts of On Air with Ryan Seacrest and American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest [16].

Ryan Seacrest [16]

The iHeartRadio website and app provides “Live Radio“, allowing listeners to listen live to over 858 stations. They also provide “For You“, a feature that suggests stations based on the users preferred selection of genres. Finally, “Artist Radio” is a custom made station with songs by an artist selected by the listener and related music [17].

Right Here, Right Now: Financial Woes

Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw Reports on iHeartMedia’s Debt [20]

Click here to view a Bloomberg video summarizing iHeartMedias debt crisis [20].

Recently, iHeartMedia has been making headlines for their massive debt reported at the end of 2015. The company is reported to have approximately $20.6 billion of debt [2]. In 2008 the company was bought by private equity firms Bain Capital Partners LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $28 billion in a leveraged buyout. The buyout came during the economic recession and it was expected that in the coming years iHeartRadio would profit greatly [10]. However since 2008, iHeartMedia has been battling to pay off debt.

In response to the news, it was announced on March 8th that iHeartMedia Inc. hired Moelis & Co. as a financial advisor [4].

Also on March 8th, many bondholders became displeased with iHeartMedia’s executive decision to move $500 million in assets to a subsidiary. As a result bondholders filed notices of default. These bondholders argue that in transferring their shares of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. to Broader Media LLC, iHeartMedia violated debt agreements. This was done in an attempt to clear up some of their massive debt [5].

In a press release issued on March 8th, iHeartMedia announced they filed a lawsuit in State District Court in Bear County Texas to prove their transfer of shares was done legally [6]. On behalf of the company, Chief Communications Officer Wendy Goldberg states, “We believe our recent contribution of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. stock to our subsidiary Broader Media LLC constituted a permitted investment under, and fully complied with, our financing agreements” [5].

On March 10th, iHeartMedia was granted a temporary restraining order which rescinds the default noticed filed against the company. Moving forward, iHeartMedia and the bondholders, who issued the default notices, will have a court hearing before a judge. This hearing may determine how iHeartMedia will move froward in paying off their $20.6 billion in debt [11].

The trial regarding this matter is set to take place in a Texas state court on May 16, 2106. The shares in question are valued at $1.2 billion [12] .

Click for updating stock prices [19]

On April 25, 2016. iHeartMedia Inc.’s stock (IHRT) closed at $1.18 per share. This is a major drop in price compared to June 2015, when it was selling for $7.50 per share. Subsidiary, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings also saw a drop in stock price from a year ago. It closed at $4.88 as opposed to its price of $11.21 seen in April 2015 [19]. In their Fourth Quarter and Full Year Report iHeartMedia stated a 3% revenue increase to $1.8 billion [18].

iHeartMedia’s Place in Political Advertising

Brendon DelToro [22]

On February 16th, iHeartMedia announced Brendon DelToro has been appointed to Vice President For Political Strategy. DelToro will aid in managing iHeartMedia’s relations with candidates and other political organizations. This year the company plans to have an iHeartMedia Campaign 2016 Command Center to keep track of over 2,000 elections in 150 markets. Brendon’s role will be to merge the political sales teams across iHeartMedia’s broad market reach [7]. The goal of iHeartMedia’s engagement with the political campaign is to allow political and advocacy groups to have access to iHeart’s 80 million users.

iHeartMedia is also planning on capitalizing on the 2016 election by having advertisers pay to place ads via radio rather than the traditional TV route. Candidates strive to target specific demographics, which is getting more difficult to do through traditional TV. Digital radio platforms, specially iHeartMedia can provide campaigns with data that is relevant for targeting the key audiences [8].

Continuing Their Place in the Entertainment Industry

Despite their well known debt and pending court hearings, iHeartMedia continues to hold their place in the music and entertainment industry.

iHeartMedia celebrated their 3rd annual iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 3rd. This award show is primarily driven by fans and users of the iHeartRadio app to vote for nominees.

iHeartRadio Music Awards Promotional Ad [13]

On social media the iHeartRadio Awards generated 115 billion impressions. This number includes the promotional period of the show throughout the television broadcast. This massive number of engagements far exceeds that of other popular award shows such as the MTV Video Music Awards. Chris Williams, Chief Product Officer credits the shows success to the fan engagement and radio personalities involvement [13].

Photo from the 2015 iHeartRadio Pool Party [15]

This summer, iHeartRadio will also be hosting their iHeartRadio Summer Pool Party. Tickets to this exclusive event at Miami’s Fontainebleau will be given to listeners across the country through on-air contests. This years lineup will feature Kygo, Flo Rida, DNCE and Jason Derulo [15]. Seasonal concert events such as the iHeartRadio Pool Party and Jingle Ball Tours are proven to boost listenership across iHeartRadio stations nationwide.

Summary

iHeartMedia is a well respected entertainment company but struggles with being profitable, due to its burdensome debt servicing obligations. Looking ahead, iHeartMedia’s debt crisis and battle with bondholders will have an effect on the financial future of the company. Overall, iHeartMedia remains competitive in the digital radio industry against companies such as Spotify and Pandora providing similar services.

Works Cited

[1] iHeartMedia Corporate. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[2] “The Largest U.S. Radio Operator Is Saddled With $20 Billion Debt”. bloomberg.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[3] iHeartMedia Our Team. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[4] “iHeartMedia hires Moelis to tackle debt burden”. newsdaily.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[5] “iHeartMedia, Lenders in Fight Over Disputed Share Transfer”. bloomberg.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[6] “iHeartMedia, Inc. Responds to Lender Group Allegation”. Businesswire.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[7] “iHeartMedia Names Brandon DelToro Vice President for Political Strategy”. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[8] “Inside iHeartMedia Strategy to Steal Presidential Ad Dollars From TV” adage.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[9] “Clear Channel Rebrands As iHeartMedia” adage.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[10] “Coming, the collapse of radio’s iHeartMedia”. Medialifemagazine.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[11] “Court Rescinds Default Notices Against iHeartMedia”. Insideradio.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[12] “iHeartMedia Default Fight Set to Go to Trial” wsj.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[13] “2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards Social Engagement Captures 115 Billion Impressions Across U.S.” broadwayworld.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[14] “iHeartMedia Loses A Director, Gets More Time To Resolve Its Massive Debt Problems” billboard.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[15] “iHeartRadio Is Throwing Miami’s Biggest Pool Party of the Year With Flo-Rida, Kygo and More” miaminewtimes.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[16] “Ryan Seacrest Inks New Mega Deal with iHeartMedia” hollywoodreporter.com, retrieved April 23, 2016

[17] iHeartRadio. iheartradio.com, retrieved April 23, 2016

[18] iHeartMedia Investors. iheartmedia.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[19] iHRT Stock Price. Google.com/ihrt+stock+price, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[20] “Has iHeartMedia Defaulted on Debt?” uk.finance.yahoo.com, Retrieved April 23, 2016

[21] iHeartMedia Sizzle Reel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6pQXJ0jHO8P9ih4rPRh8Kg, Retrieved April 24,2016

[22] Photo Brendon DelToro. allaccess.com, Retrieved April 24, 2016

[23] “Why Radio Fact Sheet”. rab.com, Retrieved April 24, 2016

Cablevision

Link

by Steven Spohr

Summary

Source – Cablevision.com

Founded in 1973, Cablevision Systems Corporation is a leading telecommunications company that primarily offers television, phone, and Internet services to millions in the NY metropolitan area. Initially serving a mere 1,500 customers on Long Island, Cablevision has since expanded to offer WiFi, a leading local newspaper, and business communications solutions to its over 3 million subscribers. Former properties include Madison Square Garden and Rainbow Media Holdings. [1]

Source – Optimum.com

Cablevision’s television, phone, Internet, WiFi, and business solutions all operate under the ‘Optimum’ brand name. These include (but are not limited to) –

Optimum TV – exclusive home of News 12 Networks, a series of local news channels
Optimum Voice
Optimum Online
Optimum WiFi
Optimum Lightpath – a “leading provider of integrated business communications solutions that meets the needs of larger companies” [1]

Source – www.newsday.com/

Cablevision also owns Newsday Media Group, which runs two local papers. Newsday is a Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper that has been in circulation since 1940. Over 70% of Long Island adults read Newsday, and its articles and reporting have won numerous awards and made it the top paper on Long Island. To provide the most local news possible, Newsday works closely with MSG Varsity (part of the News 12 Networks) to provide detailed coverage of local high school and college sports. amNewYork offers a quick read of city news and events. In addition to the papers, NMG owns Star Community Publishing, which producers weekly shopper publications in Long Island and Queens. It is the largest publisher of its kind in the Northeastern United States. [2]

Leadership

The Dolan family founded Cablevision and continues to lead the company today. Key personnel include [3] –

Charles Dolan – Founder and Chairman / Source – Sean Smith, The Boston College Chronicle

James Dolan – Chief Executive Officer / Source – Al Iannazzone, Newsday.com

Kristin Dolan – Chief Operating Officer / Source – Variety.com

Brian Sweeney – President / Source – POST Online Media

Gregg Seibert – Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer / Source – Business Wire

Hank Ratner – Vice Chairman / Source – The Madison Square Garden Company

Financials

A detailed map of Cablevision’s stock pricing in 2014. / Source – Yahoo! Finance

2014 has seen Cablevision’s stock (CVC) prices gradually increase throughout the year. Starting the year at $17.22/share, CVC stock stands at $20.32/share as of November 29th. February 3rd saw the year’s low of $15.85. Prices peaked in late July, mid-September, and late November. [4]

The following financial information is from Cablevision’s Third Quarter 2014 Results.

Net revenue increased 3.7% to $1.62 billion.
Cable advertising revenue grew 6.8%
Average Monthly Cable Revenue per Customer increased 5.7% to $154.50/customer/month. [5]

These figures represent a continued loss of subscribers for Cablevision across the board. Between satellite TV providers, rival phone companies, and the public’s shift to watching TV online, Cablevision’s audience is becoming fragmented. The company chose to increase its subscription rates in response to decreasing numbers, which is represented by the net revenue and AMCR/C increases. [6]

Recent News

The latter half of 2014 has been a busy one, with notable hirings, financial news, legal troubles, and more.

August 4th

August 4th saw Cablevision’s announcement that it has hired David Dibble as Chief Technology Officer, a newly-created role. Dibble is formerly of Yahoo!, and his hiring is part of Cablevision’s efforts to “become the premier connectivity provider in the market, delivering a peerless customer experience”. [7]

November 7th

A New York Times article revealed a major legal proceeding against Cablevision. The National Labor Relations Board has charged Cablevision CEO James Dolan with “illegally threatening to deny company technicians in Brooklyn a pay increase unless they voted to quit their union”. The NLRB also charged Cablevision itself with “illegally [undermining] the union’s representation of those workers by sponsoring a nonbinding poll to determine whether they wanted to leave their union”, while some workers reported they were being ‘spied on’ during the vote. Federal law states that such a vote can only be conducted by the labor board, not the company. CEO Dolan fired back, calling the NLRB “a tool of Big Labor” and questioning the validity of its findings. The case is ongoing, and Cablevision has stated it will appeal to federal courts, if necessary. [8]

CEO Dolan has plenty of reasons to be frustrated, especially with his ongoing legal troubles with the National Labor Relations Board. / Source – ESPN.com

November 11th

Cablevision teamed up with Time Warner Cable to release the first ever “New York Television Audience Insights Report”. The report sampled the 3.5 million subcribers of Cablevision and TWC in the New York area, which is half of the TV homes in the region. Its aim was to help advertising and marketing departments and companies get better value out of their advertising purchases. Some key findings include –

74% of all TV programming watched was outside of traditional TV ‘prime time’ (8-11PM).
On average, a subscriber will only watch 25 channels in a month.
a whopping 90% of all viewing comes from a mere 100 channels. [9]

These new insights will help create better statistics for TV viewership and aid advertisers in spending money more efficiently.

November 18th

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city is planning an extensive new WiFi network across the five boroughs. The project, dubbed LinkNYC, would provide not only free WiFi, but also no-cost domestic calling and video chat. The 10,000 hotspot system would replace the city’s decaying network of archaic payphones and operate completely with money generated through advertising. Projected to cost around $200 million, LinkNYC would bring in over $500 million over the next twelve years, according to city officials.

This announcement led some to think Cablevision’s Optimum WiFi network would be threatened by this new, massive competition. Cablevision officials have not only dismissed these musings, but have actively worked with New York City on a number of initiatives, possibly including LinkNYC itself. [10]

Mayor-Elect De Blasio Makes Announcement

Mayor de Blasio’s ambitious project looks to dramatically improve WiFi services within the five boroughs. / Source – PIX 11

November 22nd

The Lewisboro Ledger revealed that Cablevision has a new deal with the town of Lewisboro (Westchester County). The deal, which primarily concerns franchising fees, has a number of key improvements –

Over $270,000 in new franchising fees are expected in 2015.
Free cable would be provided to 16 municipal and school buildings, including the public library.
New offers would include a senior discount for those aged sixty-five and older.
Town Board meetings would become available for live-streaming.
The town’s parks and baseball fields will become WiFi-equipped. [11]

November 25th

Kids video-on-demand network Kabillion announced a carriage deal with Cablevision. Kabillion, which is the only independently-owned VOD network ranked in the Top 10 Kids Free On Demand list, will now reach over 50 million homes nationwide. The deal is beneficiary to Cablevision too, as Kabillion reports views exceeding 65 million in 2014. [12]

Bibliography

Rdio

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Karly Brecher

By Karly Brecher

Rdio, Inc.
1550 Bryant Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: 415-763-7211
Website: Rdio.com

Company Overview

Rdio is a privately-owned online music streaming service. Skype founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström launched the company in 2010. Rdio is now available in over 35 countries. The service is ad-supported but users can opt for an ad-less subscription for $9.99 per month. Rdio can be accessed via the internet, desktop client, mobile app, and some in-home entertainment services (ex: Roku, Sonos.) [1] [2]

Key Executives [3]

Anthony Bay, Chief Operating Officer

Niklas Zennström, Founder

Janus Friis, Founder

Scott Bagby, Head of Strategic and International Partnerships

Finances

Rdio is a privately owned company and does not disclose their financial information online. Assumptions about the company’s financial well-being can be concluded from news published online. Rdio laid off approximately 35 employees (1/3 of the staff) this past November. A spokesperson for the company said the offs were in order to create a more efficient cost structure and to promote a sustainable business model. This insinuated that Rdio’s finances were weak. However, in March of 2014, Spotify acquired Dhingana, an India-based music streaming service for an undisclosed amount. This indicates that Rdio is trying to expand and must be doing better financially. [4] [5]

Competitors

Paying subscribers of top streaming services. Image courtesy of Digital Music News.

Rdio is not the only streaming service fighting for domination in the United States, in fact, their market share is very small compared to competitors (but, their numbers are still growing.) Rdio has many domestic and international competitors. The graph to the left shows the number of paying users for a variety of streaming services. Rdio has less than one million paying subscribers, however, this does not include “freemium” users. These numbers can far surpass the amount of paying subscribers. Rdio’s data is not public but for a comparison, Spotify has over 6 million paying users (as of November 2013) and over 24 million total users. The “freemium” accounts are ad-supported and subsidize artist royalties. Rdio’s main competitors in the United States include Spotify, Pandora, Beats Music, Slacker, and Sirius XM [6] [7] [8]

Shazam Partnership

In 2012, Shazam, a music recognition service, partnered with Rdio to allow users to listen to Shazam’d tracks via Rdio . However, this partnership was only available in select countries. In late 2013, Rdio and Shazam announced the expansion of this service to over 29 territories including Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, Austria, Sweden, and many more. It is important to note the significance of this expansion because the Rdio/Shazam service is now available in countries where competitors like Spotify are not (including Canada, Chile, and Czech Republic.) [9] [10]

Mobile Integration

Tesla Motor’s in-dash touchscreen display

As streaming services become increasingly popular, more services are emerging and fighting for domination in the market (think iTunes owns the digital download market). This creates more competition between the services and they are scrambling for ways to gain users. Streaming services have been partnering with cell phone providers to increase their customer base. Beats Music partnered with AT&T for a discounted family price and Spotify announced a partnership with Sprint. However, Rdio is going a different route. After being turned down by Spotify, American car company, Tesla, announced a partnership with Rdio in Europe . Gigaom reports “…consumers will be able to play any song from Rdio’s catalog of 20 million or so with a simple voice command,” the service will be integrated in the car’s dashboard system. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk says the service will be available very soon. It is unknown whether or not Tesla will use Rdio as their default music service in the US market. Tesla currently has a partnership with Slacker Radio in the US territory. [11] [12]

Above is a photo of Tesla Motor’s in-dash touchscreen display. The Rdio client in the in-dash display will likely mirror the iPad application. This will ensure a positive and easy user experience.

Dhingana Acquisition

The Rdio lay-offs in late 2013 indicated that the company was struggling financially. However, it seems that the streaming service is doing better because they had sufficient funds (although we do not know the exact number) to purchase the Indian music streaming service: Dhingana.

Dhingana was founded in 2007 by brothers Snehal & Swapnil Schinde, and Sushil Choudhari. Dhingana primarily streams genres of Indian music boasting a catalog of over one million songs in 42 languages. Dhingana has other Indian competitors including Saavn and Gaana. Dhingana has approximately 10.5 million monthly users; the acquisition will add significant traction to Rdio’s numbers.

Smartphone sales growth.
Image courtesy of The Guardian.

Dhingana announced the acquisition on March 14, 2014 via their website and shut down the service. According to the press release, the Dhingana team will be working with Rdio to launch the service later this year. Rdio CEO, Anthony Bay, was quoted in Billboard Magazine, “India is a tremendously vibrant market for music and culture and one of the largest and most important in the world,” Bay’s strategy seems to be to expand their service in emerging markets, like India . Part of the Schinde brothers and Mr. Choudhari’s initiative at Rdio will be to expand into other emerging foreign markets.

This acquisition was a brilliant move on Rdio’s part. Recently The Guardian reported that India will pass the United States in smartphone sales this year, “India will be the country where the largest proportion of smartphones sold will go to new users,” this creates a larger market for potential streaming users. The map above shows significant smartphone growth in Brazil, Indonesia, and China; it will be interesting to see what territories Rdio will expand to next. [5] [13] [14]

Rdio Drops The Echo Nest

The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company that provides data to a variety of music industry entities. All of the competitors mentioned above (with the exception of Beats Music) use The Echo Nest to power music recommendation features on their platform. In March, Spotify announced that they acquired The Echo Nest. Following this, Rdio announced they will no longer use The Echo Nest’s service. Anthony Bay was quoted by The Verge saying: “As far as we are concerned, they were a good partner, but we have other good partners and we’ll move on… So we will stop using that source of data and use other sources.” . Rdio’s decision to unsubscribe to The Echo Nest can pan out to be either a unique, positive change to the service or, depending on the service they choose to work with, can damage the company’s reputation. [15]

Sources:

[1] Rdio | About Us RT: April 1, 2014

[2] Rdio | Apps RT: April 1, 2014

[3] Crunch Base | Executive information RT: April 1, 2014

[4] Tech Crunch | Rdio Layoffs RT: April 4, 2014

[5] Billboard | Rdio acquires Dhingana RT: April 4, 2014

[6] Digital Music News | Paid subscription numbers RT: April 4, 2014

[7] Investopedia | Definition of “Freemium” RT: April 15, 2014

[8] Spotify | Fast Facts RT: April 8, 2014

[9] Android Central | Rdio and Shazam Partnership RT: April 8, 2014

[10] Make Use Of | Rdio vs Spotify availability RT: April 8, 2014

[11] Giagaom | Rdio partners with Tesla Motors RT: April 3, 2014

[12] Techspot | Rdio Tesla Motors Partnership RT: April 3, 2014

[13] Dhingana | Acquisition press release RT: April 4, 2014

[14] The Guardian | Smartphone growth RT: April 4, 2014

[15] The Verge | Rdio drops The Echo Nest RT: April 15, 2014

Radio One

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Jasmine Holloway

Radio One, Inc.

Location: Corporate Office – 1010 Wayne Ave. 14th Floor,  Silver Spring, MD 20910

Web: www.radio-one.com

Executive Team: [2]

Founder, Chairperson and Secretary – Catherine L. Hughes

CEO and President – Alfred C. Liggins, III

Exec. Vice President and CFO– Peter D. Thompson

VP, Assistant Secretary and CAO – Linda J. Vilardo

Overview:

Radio One, Inc. is an urban multimedia company primarily targeting African Americans. The company consists of four subdivisions: radio broadcasting franchise, Radio One; cable television network, TV One; cross platform media company, Reach Media; and internet companies Interactive One, an online platform and Community Connect, specializing in social networking. [5]

In regards to radio, the company is ranked number one among Black listeners with a weekly audience average of 19 million. It is the largest radio broadcasting franchise that targets an African American audience. [5] In 2011, it owned and/or operated 55 stations in 16 U.S urban markets including Atlanta, Houston, Washington D.C and many others. The company also has 9 nationally syndicated radio shows, expanding its geographic reach. [6]

History:

Catherine Hughes’ tumultuous life journey led her to found one of the most successful multimedia companies and become a great business example to African-Americans and aspiring businesswomen everywhere. Born to a scholarly family in 1947, Hughes took to radio and media at an early age. At 16, she became pregnant with her first child, Alfred Liggins Jr., and was disowned by her influential family. After a brief two-year marriage, Hughes decided to attend the University of Nebraska, Omaha and become involved with the campus radio station where she was quickly named general manager. She left the school early to become a lecturer and a general manager of WHUR at Howard University. There she perfected the Quiet Storm format, a collection of love songs played at late night. This would become a successful program format adopted by urban stations across the country in years to come. [8]

Catherine along with husband, Dewey Hughes, gathered $950,000 from personal savings, Syncom, an African-American venture capital firm, investors, and a bank loan to acquire WOL, a 1000-watt AM station located in DC. [8] The financial constraints and difficulty of making the station profitable broke up the Hughes marriage and Catherine bought out her ex’s interest in WOL. After bouts of poverty to keep the station afloat, Hughes’ son began to attract more advertising for the station and it turned its first profitable year in 1986. Using profits, Hughes began to acquire other stations in urban markets across the East Coast and build the empire that would become known as Radio One. In 1999, the company went public with an IPO of $172 million. Using this and additional investors, Radio One acquired 12 additional stations from Clear Channel for $1.2 billion. [9] The company has continued its growth and has branched out to include other media sectors, most notably T.V One, a rival to Black Entertainment Television with a target audience of affluent African-Americans between 25-54. [8]

Financials (2012): [10]

Total Revenue: $424.57 Million

Gross Profit: $288.8 Million

Other Operating Expenses: $217 Million

Radio One Inc. continues to see increased revenue as the urban market continues to grow. Its primary revenue stream is local and national advertising sales on its radio stations. Boasting as the “urban media specialist,” Radio One offers advertisers effective ways to reach urban and African American audiences. Multiple program formats in key urban markets allow advertisers to reach intended demographics and lifestyles. In the company’s 2011 annual report, it notes the rising population, income, and Internet usage of African Americans as well as the growing influence of African American culture on mainstream American society. Advertisers spent $748 million on Black radio in 2009 despite the economic recession. [11]

News:

2013 has been a relatively quiet year thus far for the company. Recent news stories include the renewing of popular programs on TV One including R&B Divas, Rickey Smiley Show, and Family Time. Other notable news stories include:

April 8, 2013 – Radio One Selects WideOrbit Inc.

Radio One selects WideOrbit Inc.’s WO Traffic system for its advertising sales, traffic, and revenue management. The system would allow the company “to view real-time, consolidated reporting, maximize revenue and inventory, and optimize performance across all of its stations and markets. “ [12]

April 2, 2013 – Acacia Subsidiary Enters License Agreement with Radio One

Acacia Research Corporation, which licenses patents to corporations and share the revenue [14], entered into a license agreement with Radio One as part of its settlement with district courts in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Illinois. [15]

March 5, 2013 – Radio One Launches Telemundo Affiliate

Radio One’s WDNI Channel 19 in Indianapolis will launch the market’s first Spanish-language broadcast station. It will feature Telemundo’s full line-up of original programming. [17]

References:

[1] http://www.frequencynews.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/radio_one_logo2.gif

[2] http://www.radio-one.com/about-us/who-we-are/

[3] http://www.blackeconomicdevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cathyhughes_1.jpg

[4] http://www.radiofacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Radio-One-Alfred-Liggins.jpg

[5] http://www.radio-one.com/about-us/

[6] http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/radio-one-inc/index.html

[7] http://i.huffpost.com/gen/788993/thumbs/r-CATHY-HUGHES-AND-SON-large570.jpg

[8] http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/radio-one-inc-history/

[9] http://streamingradioguide.com/blogradio/?page_id=707

[10] http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=ROIA&dataset=incomeStatement&period=A&currency=native

[11] http://www.radio-one.com/investor-relations/sec-filings/

[12] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wideorbit-traffic-selected-by-radio-one-for-its-55-broadcast-stations-that-span-16-urban-markets-2013-04-08

[13] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/wideorbit.png

[14] http://www.acaciaresearch.com/pr/040113b.pdf

[15] http://www.ipwire.com/ip-deals-and-opinion/acacia-subsidiary-enters-into-settlement-and-license-agreement-with-radio-one.html

[16] https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/664552302/Telemundo.jpg

[17] http://www.radio-one.com/2013/03/06/radio-one-launches-telemundo-affiliate-in-indianapolis/

CBS Radio/Infinity Broadcasting

Posted on September 18, 2012 by eapanett

CBS Radio – Courtesy of SportsMediaJournal.com

by Elgin Panetto

The media conglomerate known today as CBS Corporation Inc. was created in 1927, when a talent agent named Arthur Judson started his own radio network in order to showcase his own roster. He named his newly created network United Independent Broadcasters, but after a crippling amount of debt was accrued sold it to a man named William Paley for $400,000. [1] Columbia Broadcasting System, or CBS, has gone on to become one of the largest media companies in the world, with ventures in TV, Film, and Radio. In 2006 Viacom Inc., under the leadership of Sumner Redstone, decided to break up its entities to discontinue the age of media conglomerates and improve stock performance. During the split previously named Infinity Broadcasting, with their 179 stations at the time, was renamed CBS Radio and became a part of CBS Corporation under the leadership of Les Moonves. [2]

Company Overview:

CBS Radio currently holds 127 major market radio stations in 28 major markets throughout the United States of America. CBS Radio station formats run the full gamut including news, sports, talk, rock, country, Top 40, classic hits and urban. [3]

CBS Radio’s radio personalities attract almost 70 million weekly listeners. One of CBS Radio’s greatest strengths is their attention to on-air talent, in an age of radio where more automation usually means more dollars. In a recent interview with CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason, he explains the importance CBS Radio puts on the personalities who speak between playing music. “I don’t think the temptation is there to extract talk to add more commercials, the temptation is there to extract talk and thinking that was the clear pathway to get ratings. I believe that there is a fine line, a balance, that can’t be tilted to one side or another…” The rest of that interview with Mark Ramsey can be seen below:

CBS Radios Dan Mason on Radio’s Brands and its Digital Future from Mark Ramsey on Vimeo.

As stated before, CBS Radio stations can be found in 28 different major markets. In many of those markets CBS Radio finds itself with the #1 total rating. The list below, provided in the CBS Corporation 3^rd quarter 2012 Investor Newsletter, shows CBS Radio’s strong performance regarding revenue in some of the largest markets in the country.

CBS Radio Revenue Ranking in Top 10 Markets
New York No. 1
Los Angeles No. 2
Chicago No. 1
San Francisco No. 1
Dallas No. 3
Houston No. 2
Philadelphia No. 1
Atlanta No. 2
Washington, D.C. No. 3
Boston No. 1
[4]

In each of those markets, CBS Radio’s high arching influence over both music and talk format stations can be easily seen. Below are just some of CBS Radio’s most influential channels across the United States.

WCBS-F in NYC
WCBS in NYC
WINS in NYC
KRTH in LA
KROQ-F in LA
KCBS in SF
KYW in Philly

[5]

Executives

CBS Radio has been led by President and CEO Dan Mason for a total of 12 years. Mason started his position at the helm of CBS Radio in 1995 and continued until 2002. After a brief hiatus he returned as CEO in April of 2007. Mason has championed CBS Radio’s industry leading foray into the digital realm. As a keystone speaker at the 2011 RAIN (Radio and Internet Newsletter) Summit Dan Mason talked heavily about CBS Radio’s entrance into digital media, pointing out CBS Radio’s involvement streaming through Radio.com and Last.FM. He also noted that the profits are not coming yet, but success through digital streaming services will come in the long term. [6] Due to his outstanding leadership of CBS Radio, Dan Mason was awarded the National Radio Award in 2012 by the National Association of Broadcasters. [7]

Dan Mason – Courtesy of CBSRadio.com

Finances

CBS Radio’s performance, as a subsidiary company of CBS Corporation Inc., attributes to the stock performance of CBS Corporation Inc.. At the close of the New York Stock Exchange on December 5, 2012 CBS Corporation Inc. was trading at $35.43 a share. [8]

CBS Radio Stock – Courtesy of marketwatch.com

With $5.33 Billion of reported gross income in 2011, CBS Radio saw an increase of $.82 Billion over their reported gross income the previous year. After a steep drop from 2007 to 2009, CBS Radio has steadily increased gross income to the point of surpassing their 2007 mark. [8]

Recent Events

There have been many news-worthy moves by CBS Radio recently, whether it be format changes, new stations, acquisitions, or partnerships.

WODS 103.3 Format Change

At the end of the summer, WODS-FM in Boston changed formats. The switch moved the station from playing hits from the 60s-80s to yet another contemporary hits radio station, or CHR format. CBS Radio Market Manager in Boston Mark Hannon stated, “When looking at the habits of Boston radio listeners, it is clear the music most favored by the biggest group of people is contemporary hit music.” [9] The most recent ratings made available by stationratings.com have WODS-FM as the 12th most popular radio station in the Boston market. [5]

CBS Radio News receives Murrow Award

This past October the RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) awarded CBS Radio News its fourth consecutive Edward R. Murrow Award. CBS Radio News was given the award due to excellence in broadcast and online journalism. At the awards CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick, who was injured while reporting in Afghanistan, accepted the award for all of CBS Radio news. [10]

Edward R. Murrow Award – Courtesy of HuffingtonPost.com

CBS Radio steps up Hurricane Sandy relief efforts

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and the immense damage done to the east coast, CBS Radio used its vast resources and connections in the Music Industry to organize celebrity endorsements for donations to the American Red Cross. Some of music’s biggest stars such as Usher, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Kenny Chesney recorded messages imploring audiences for donations. Usher’s public service announcement can be heard HERE. [11]

CBS re-ups contract with the Chicago Bears

For 13 years WBBM Newsradio in Chicago has been the exclusive provider of Chicago Bears live play-by-play announcement. The Chicago Bears have granted CBS Radio an extension of the companies exclusive rights to do the football team’s radio broadcast. The Bears have one of the largest fan bases in the entire sport, a size reflected by the astounding five CBS Radio stations that will simulcast each and every Bears game. [12]

Chicago Bears – Courtesy of RadioInk.com

CBS Radio buys 101.9 WRXP in New York

In early November CBS Radio announced the purchase of 101.9FM in New York, NY from Merlin Media for the sum of $75 Million Dollars. CBS Radio purchased the station in order to begin simulcasting WFAN on the higher definition 101.9FM. WFAN became the first ever all-sports talk station in 1987, and has pioneered the now insanely popular and lucrative 24/7 sports radio news cycle. WFAN houses many of sports radio’s biggest stars, including Boomer & Carton, Mike Francesa, and Joe Benigno. It also is the sole broadcaster of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, New York Mets, Brooklyn Nets, and New Jersey Devils. This move by CBS Radio signals a response to ESPN NY’s recent decision to simulcast on 98.7FM. [13]

WFAN Logo – Courtesy of newyork.cbslocal.com

CBS Radio announces launch of CBS Sports Radio Network

Perhaps the biggest news in the radio industry in the past few months has been CBS Radio’s announcement of CBS Sports Radio. In their press release the company called the newly created station, “the largest major market sports radio network in the nation.” The network will launch on January 2, 2013 in at least eight stations full time. At the time of the announcement the station was reported to be carried part time in 14 more stations, and through a distribution deal with Cumulus Media Networks an additional 47 Cumulus stations. [14] Since then it’s been announced that the station will be on around 100 stations, with a reach of about 10 million households. While its estimated that ESPN Radio will continue to dominate with 350 full time stations in 30 million households, Dan Mason stated, “ESPN affiliates are in small markets. Maybe you find that adds up to a lot of audience.” [15]

CBS Sports Radio – Courtesy of CBSPressExpress.com

Footnotes

[1] Museum of Broadcast Communications

[2] Infinity Broadcasting to Become CBS Radio

[3] http://www.cbsradio.com

[4] CBS 3rd Quarter 2012 Investor Newsletter

[5]http://www.stationratings.com/Default.aspx

[6] Dan Mason at RAIN Summit

[7]Dan Mason to Receive National Radio Award

[8]http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cbs/financials

[9] WODS Changes Format

[10]CBS Radio Takes Murrow Award

[11]CBS Assembles Big Names for Storm Relief

[12]CBS Extends Contract With the Bears

[13]CBS Purchases WRXP

[14]CBS Launching Sports Radio Network

[15]CBS Sports Radio to Compete with ESPN Radio

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