#ColumbiaBroadCastingSystem | Principles & Practices

by WYATT DILLON

CBS Radio Logo – Courtesy of Billboard.com [a]

Contact Information: [1]

1271 Avenue of the Americas FL 44

New York, NY 10020

(212) 649 – 9600

www.cbsradio.com

Key Executives:

Dan Mason – President and CEO

Anton Guitano – Chief Operating Officer

Scott Herman – Executive VP, Operations

Michael Weiss – President, Sales

Additional Executive Biographies

Top Competitors:

CBS Radio’s largest competitors are iHeart Media, Inc. and Radio One in addition to digital players such as Pandora.

Brief History:

A division of Columbia Broadcasting System Corporation, CBS Radio was founded in late 1927 by Arthur Judson. In 1999, Viacom acquired CBS Corporation for $37 billion from Westinghouse Broadcasting [2]. Starting in 1996, CBS Corporation’s Radio division was called Infinity Broacasting until it reverted back the historical CBS Radio in 2005.

In 2006, CBS Corp. and Viacom split into two publicly traded companies and are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Current Events:

Going Digital-

In early January of 2015, CBS Radio invested in the digital radio platform and developed the new podcasting network, Play.it [3]. Available online and via mobile apps, Play.it combines hundreds of original podcasts with content from leading media brands ranging from sports to 48 Hours and 60 Minutes. With content available to stream or download, CBS Radio hopes to compete in the growing digital radio market.

By further extending the CBS Radio brand to the digital market, CBS Corp. plans to see a growth in annual radio profits. CBS Corporation CEO and President Leslie Moonves explained in a recent interview:

“Radio also continues to be profitable, … and we continue to build new audiences in radio, by extending our big-market content into the digital world.” [4]

– Leslie Moonves

Financials:

CBS Corporation Stock Index as of 12:50pm on April 17, 2015 [5] courtesy of Yahoo Finance [b]

CBS Corporation is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange and on April 17, 2015, was traded at $60.63 per share. Due to a strong fourth quarter by CBS Corp., the company’s stock value lies between the 52 week low of $48.83 and the 52 week high of $65.24 [6].

CBS Corporation reported a strong fourth quarter on December 31, 2014. Although total revenue for 2014 was down 9.67% from 2013, reporting $13.81 billion, the fourth quarter numbers saw a spike compared to the previous year’s final quarter. Due to Thursday Night Football and the Midterm Elections, the total advertising revenue for CBS Corp. rose 4.1% to $2.14 billion, and CBS Radio revenues increased by 2% in the fourth quarter of 2014 [7].

The 2015 first quarter earnings report for CBS Corporation is scheduled to be announced on May 7, 2015 [8].

Stronghold in Sports-

Thus far in 2015, sports has been at the epicenter of conserving CBS Radio’s dominance in many major markets. In early January, CBS Radio announced its new deal with the Chicago Cubs to stream all games at live performances at Wrigley Field [9]. Purchasing the rights for seven years, CBS Radio’s deal with the Chicago Cubs dismisses a 90 year relationship between the Chicago baseball team and WGN-AM 720.

Also in January, CBS Radio announced it will become the exclusive program provider of the Baltimore Orioles on 105.7 WJZ-FM. After being out-bid in 2010, CBS Radio regains the rights to broadcast Orioles games [10].

These two tremendous deals improve the amount of sports programming CBS Radio controls, adding more content to the already impressive 330 AM and FM stations, including some in each of the top 10 markets [11].

In addition, CBS Radio announced in late March a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles and SportsRadio 94WIP for a multi-year broadcast partnership. This deal furthers CBS Radio’s control in major market sports play-by-play. The deal includes a new HD Radio station devoted to yearly around the clock Eagles coverage.

In addition to the Philadelphia Eagles, CBS Radio provides play-by-play broadcasting to NFL Franchises including the New York Giants, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears and many more.

New Leadership:

Arguably the largest story of 2015 for CBS Radio is the sudden retirement of CBS Radio President and Chief Executive Officer, Dan Mason [12].

After 17 years total with the company and 15 years as President and CEO, Dan Mason finds a successor in Andre Fernandez, previously President and COO of Journal Communications. Dan Mason leaves CBS with a legacy of launching dozens of new stations, refurbishing failing stations in major markets, moving CBS to the digital game with Play.it, and incorporating HD stations to the arsenal of CBS Radio.

As for his successor, Fernandez has a long history of success in the broadcasting industry, working in key financial roles at the General Electric Company and Telemundo [13]. In CBS Radio’s press release on the matter, CBS Corp. President and CEO, Leslie Moonves said:

“Andre is a terrific executive who brings a wealth of experience to this role – operations, financial management, programming and digital distribution, among many other attributes [14]”

-Leslie Moonves

Broadcast Stations:

In addition to housing top-rated play-by-play sports stations in over a dozen major markets in the United States, CBS Radio owns and operates all 10 top rated stations rated by Nielson Audio. CBS Radio claims to reach over 72 million consumer weekly, owning 117 total radio stations in 26 markets [15].

Recently, CBS Radio has been reformatting stations to obtain higher ratings. In early December 2014, CBS Radio traded 14 stations in Tampa, Philadelphia and Charlotte for 5 stations in Miami and Philadelphia [16]. One station, WRDW-FM 96.5, struggled with a consistently low share of the market, constantly being outperformed by iHeartRadio’s WIOQ 102.1. 96.5 Amp is currently ranked 19 in the Philadelphia market with a share of 2.3, and iHeartMedia, Inc.’s WIOQ hold a share of 4.7, currently ranked 8 in the market [17]. On April 10, 2015, CBS Radio announced its Philadelphia station 96.5 FM will reformat from Rhythmic CHR to a pop mainstream contemporary hit format [18].

The Altitude Group:

Leading the advertising department of CBS Radio is the Altitude Group. Directed with connecting consumers with companies, the Altitude Group’s client list includes Walgreens, Allstate, MasterCard, Mercedes, and much more.

On March 9, CBS Radio named Tony Mennuto as Vice President, Branded Content Solutions of the Altitude Group. His position is essential to promoting the CBS Radio brand through original content as well as through live-venues and performances. CBS Radio hopes Mennuto will bring fresh advertising content to be distributed throughout all stations and assets, from television to digital media [19].

Community Outreach:

On June, 16, CBS Radio’s 830 WCCO-AM in Minnesota is receiving the Service to America Award from the National Association of Broadcaster’s Education Foundation. The award honors outstanding community service by local television and radio broadcasters [20].

Due to the WCCO-AM’s Public Service Announcements, events, and fundraisers for the Minnesota community [21], the station assisted the hungry through a year-long campaign, collecting 1.73 million pounds of food [22].

CBS Radio Operations:

While revenues for CBS Corporation have slowed in growth in past years, the company continues to stand behind its radio business, CBS Radio. Despite a hedge fund lobbying the corporation to merge with Cumulus Media, CBS Corp. understands the value of CBS Radio’s assets in the digital market [23].

Because CBS Radio possesses a highly diverse presence in a large number of markets, advertisers see a value in the ability to select a station that fits their target audience. This proves to be valuable to the revenue of CBS Corporation, and with a growing audience in all 10 of the top markets, the value of CBS Radio can not be understated [24].

Although advertising spending on radio has fallen in recent years from 6% in 2013 to 4% in 2014, these numbers do not include digital radio, in which CBS is beginning innovate and create products and platforms to break into the digital industry [25].