Thanks to a national boycott, ‘hate radio’ is facing a $20 billion bankruptcy

[KamaAina]

http://deadstate.org/thanks-to-a-national-boycott-hate-radio-is-facing-a-20-million-bankruptcy/

Bob Pittman, president of iHeart Media, recently begged a San Antonio judge for a restraining order from creditors in order to stop them from putting the company into default and bankruptcy in the face of $20 billion debt.

iHeart Media currently owns 850 radio stations spanning the country. These stations include “hate radio” pundits like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity. All of these talking heads have been accused of fear mongering and spreading messages of misogyny, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia. Rush Limbaugh is so infamous for spreading ignorant ideas that nearly 140,000 people have signed a petition to boycott his sponsors.

Despite the national Rush Limbaugh boycott which led to thousands of sponsors fleeing iHeart Media over the last three years, President Bob Pittman refused to make changes, losing them millions. While this was not make or break for the $20 billion in debt company, the consumer brand name damage and loss of thousands of sponsors and listeners did nothing for the flagging outlet.

Ever since the 2008 Bain Capitol acquisition, which was alleged to be a move by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to control media and get himself elected, iHeart has been struggling. According to Billboard reports, iHeart brought in $6.5 billion in revenue in 2015, but they also had $1.74 billion expense that resulted in a net loss of $661 million.

Call him a

[edhopper]

1. I like the classic rock station they have here in New York

but fuck this company, i am sure this market will get a buyer and a new owner for it and the RW radio stations can go screw themselves.

[pintobean]

79. Here are a couple great streaming classic rock stations

http://theroots.fm/

2 classic rock stations and a jazz station. I like both rock stations. They have a huge library that goes well into deep cuts and rare stuff. The free form is a little mellower than The Rock.
There are only 2-3 minutes of commercials per hour and they have phone apps.

[edhopper]

83. Thanks for this.

[Omaha Steve]

2. They have FIVE stations in the Omaha area

KFAB had to give up Husker radio because of these mounting loses. They carried the Huskers since the 1920's: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026207437



OS

[NJCher]

61. Wow

When I was in Omaha media, KFAB was such a respected name in radio. And the Huskers? That was where everyone listened.

Cher

[AxionExcel]

3. Republican-style HATE radio is a pox upon America's soul

[oldandhappy]

4. good news

[lpbk2713]

5. Fuggem

The type of programming they choose to carry is a business decision they are responsible for. Would they be willing to share their profits if they had gotten into something else that turned out to be wildly successful? Not a chance in hell.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

6. I hope bain and mitt go down the rabbit hole!

[SunSeeker]

7. Karma!

[Hekate]

8. Added to other good news, this makes my day

[LiberalArkie]

9. Sell each one back to a local owner for a decent price.

[rjsquirrel]

53. The real issue is

terrestrial radio itself is on the way out. The market for those "local" stations at the cost it would take to run them just isn't there and thus, neither are advertisers. Or revenues. True for iBarf radio, even truer for local operations. Not enough people care or listen.

Ask the record business how this song goes.

[1939]

68. Talk radio

has been the only thing keeping AM stations viable for the last twenty to thirty years. First FM stereo then 8-track, cassette, and CD players killed the standard AM station format. Talk radio was the only thing they had that people would listen to.

Pre-packaged talk formats delivered to the station meant that you only needed an engineer and a salesman for local commercial spots on your payroll.

[MidwestTech]

76. Terrestrial has been "on the way out" for 30 years

I'm pretty confident it'll still be around when the time of Fallout happens.
Radio is relatively cheap to operate for it's coverage area and is still the best way to get to people not near a computer or in their cars. Radio can make it into the wilderness far beyond what cell phones can reach.

There will always be radio stations, thankfully. There may NOT be hate-radio however for much longer.

[rjsquirrel]

92. Around yes

But a minor part of our culture.

That 20billiom dollar loss is blood. It's just taking a while to die.

[maindawg]

74. Excellent point

When Reagan corporations the media we began our decent into fascism. Millions of people have been hurt by this. Millions of friendships have ended because of these monsters. That they are on Armed forces radio is an abomination. I hope they all fit in hell.

[Frustratedlady]

10. This is wonderful to see coming down. I hope they lose their outlet for spreading these

horrid lies and eventually (best to hope for quickly) go down the drain. They have done so much damage to this country and much of that damage can never be repaired. The misinformation is too ingrained in peoples' minds, they can't be deprogrammed.

I don't wish bankruptcy on anyone, but I'll bend the rules for this group.

[Marie Marie]

11. Not to worry...

Trump has stepped in to spew the hate. And he gets free air time.

[SeattleVet]

58. ...and tRump goes much farther than any of the hate monger ever dared to.

They don't need hate radio much anymore; they have a hate candidate that they have latched on to.

[Initech]

12. Needs some Nelson!

[underpants]

13. The accountant in me doesn't understand these numbers

According to Billboard reports, iHeart brought in $6.5 billion in revenue in 2015, but they also had $1.74 billion expense that resulted in a net loss of $661 million.

Should there be an "a" after had?

[Rex]

22. I thought the same thing, they don't add up at all.

So if revenue is 6.5 billion and operational costs are 1.74 billion, what happened to the 4.76 billion in profit? That would take care of almost a quarter of the outstanding bill! Gee did it get 'spent' somehow?

Something is rotten, he didn't change formats or his business model for a reason and I would be good money that reason is fraud. The GOPs favorite crime. Just a guess on my part.

I LOVE the fact that just like a typical repuke, he saw the end coming and did not a fuck give and now he is begging for his life! Couldn't happen to more horrible people. I hope he loses everything.

[underpants]

29. It's sort of close to a transposition

$6.5 B + 661M = $7.161B
$1.74B ????

Maybe the writer messed it up and the editor (of the letter people) didn't catch it.

[Rex]

30. There ya go.

Or they are using the Donald Trump accounting method ie worth 10 billion, which translates into 4 billion in change.

[underpants]

36. The math is strong in this one

[SFnomad]

46. I found another article on this .. with a filled in missing word.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/14/1499918/-iHeart-Media-president-rushes-to-Texas-to-avoid-the-20-billion-bankruptcy-of-Hate-Radio

Glen Peoples with Billboard reports iHeart’s revenue last year was $6.5 billion, but they had $1.74 billion interest expense that drove a net loss of $661 million.

So filling in the missing information, they also has $5.41 billion in expenses. And without that interest expense, they would have had about a $1.1 billion profit.

[underpants]

67. There you go

Thanks

[ProfessorGAC]

73. I Think You Read It Wrong, U/P

It doesn't say the 1.74 billion was "expenses". It says "a $1.74 billion expense."

It reads more like an extraordinary expense that is on top of operational expenses. Perhaps debt service, and back-end payout on a merger, or transfer costs to get new station ID's or things like that.

The way i'm interpreting this is that they would have made about $1.08 billion on $6.5 billion in revenue (about right, percentage-wise) if not for the added expense.

[underpants]

81. See post #46

It was $1.74 B in interest

[ProfessorGAC]

87. Looks Like Someone GROSSLY Overestimated Economy of Scale

$1.74 billion in added debt? At industrial cost of capital, that's more than $40 billion in leverage.

What kind of idiots are making their financial calls?

[underpants]

89. Acquired by Bain Capital

Playbook. Sapping everything out of it in fees and a few salaries to Bain implants. Declare bankruptcy. As I understand it.

[ProfessorGAC]

98. Classy Business Model

Sounds like the things Silverspoon did in his "business" days.

[underpants]

14. They got the restraining order but ... Hedge Funds killed the Radio Star

Link

[FreedomRain]

15. waiting for the GOP to put together a bailout for them.

nt

[xloadiex]

16. Can we do this with

MSNBC and CNN?

[macandsandy]

40. Yes Please let's do it with MSNBC and CNN too!!

Please - I'd like to see all corporate media go down the rabbit hole.

[AgadorSparticus]

17. FINALLY!!!! This hate radio can't be gone fast enough!

[msongs]

18. sad that liberal radio never took off. no hate spewing to keep the righties listening nt

[Chakab]

60. ...and the few left-leaning shows on terrestrial radio were wiped out as collateral damage

due to the boycott.

The corporations didn't just pull their ads from right-leaning radio shows. They pulled them all political talk radio.

Stephanie Miller, Shultz, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy etc. are all off of terrestrial radio now.

[malaise]

19. Down go agents of the Reagan Revolution

Ailes and Fox are going down too

[Jim Beard]

25. The only thing that made FOX work was the T&A

[Arugula Latte]

91. Thugs & Asssholes?

Oh, wait ...

[Rex]

26. Can you believe this turn of events?

The GOP is falling apart and like their usual moronic selves...they ignore the problem and pretend there is not one. I hope everyone involved with the Hate Machine ends up homeless. A fitting end to such horrible people.

[malaise]

35. The contradictions had to reach that critical point and here they are

naked and exposed and what's on display should scare everyone. What ReTHUGs want is one party government because only their views matter regardless of how backward, racist, misogynistic, or fake they are.

The sad truth is when you spend eons overthrowing governments on behalf of so called 'national interests' (those of the1%), the chickens must come home to roost and those same interests will try that at home. They will fail.

[Rex]

57. Their entire party is controlled by 1%er authoritarians.

The ugly Cruz showed that laws don't matter if they go against GOP Teabagger commandments. Which are all batshit crazy. Deny a woman's basic rights, shit on the environment, kick kids in the teeth and poison their water, waiting for Rambo Jesus to show up and kill the liberals.

They always fail, because reality is on our side. They live on a flat earth. I am glad to see gravity bounce the entire nest of vipers. And yet a disturbing number of Americans are eating up the hate Dump is generating. Wanting to kill each other at rallies.

The GOP can go the way of the KKK, yeah still around but everyone smarter than Dump would hate their guts and avoid them like the plague.

[Turbineguy]

20. They all moved over to the

Trumphumper Club.

[KansDem]

21. I'll join you...

[Rex]

23. Fuck him, I hope he loses everything and has to live in a dumpster.

The Hate Machine is why we are in such a fucked position socially, so all my hopes go toward Bob ending up living and eating out of dumpsters.

Oh wait Bob...here...I got this for you...

[Jim Beard]

24. Stephanie Miller and Bill Press were thrown off talk radio

and NOT because of their numbers but the network wanted to make the stations 100% Right Wing Radio. Stephanie and Bill made the point several time that their programs were getting better numbers than many of the Right Wing replacements.

No wonder they are losing money.

Try this out..... http://dar.fm/

[BumRushDaShow]

33. I have had to pay to hear them on SiriusXM

We need them back on "free" radio.

[rurallib]

38. even in LA where Limpy was on a big boomer station

and Steph was on a dinky little 1000 watt station.

[ancianita]

27. Man, I thought the day would never come. Hope it's not on Armed Forces Radio, either.

[riversedge]

28. whow. good news. thank you

[Politicub]

31. Hahahaha! That's awesome

[mountain grammy]

32. I pay for a Sirius subscription so I can

Listen to Stephanie Miller. Then there's John Fuglesang , Neil deGrasse Tyson, and a few others. Good stuff out there.

[rurallib]

39. me too. Costs a hundred bucks a year but my sanity is worth it

BTW you can watch and listen on the computer at https://www.freespeech.org/

[mountain grammy]

45. Yeah I knew that for Steph and Thomm

But Fuglesang and others are only on Sirius. His show is terrific.

[OldHippieChick]

77. You can also listen on WCPT

in Chicago online, but who knows for how much longer.

[rurallib]

78. I don't think they carry Fugelsang

believe his show is Sirius property.

KTNF in Minneapolis carries Steph and Thom online also.

[OldHippieChick]

86. You are correct

Fugelsang is only on Sirius and I do adore him. Just haven't sprung for that yet.

[Gothmog]

34. This make me smile

Clear Channel changed its name a while back to Iheart

[Upthevibe]

37. This made me happy when I read about it this morning. They took Stephanie, Randi, etc.

off at least two years ago and it's such a bummer. I'd love it if they went out of business especially now during the election! Please God, Please......

[Nitram]

41. Right wing talk radio is largely to blame for Fox and the alternate reality low-information...

...conservatives now believe in. Hence, Trump.

[zentrum]

42. Destroying American

……Democracy, such as it was, for a few hundred billion. What a deal for them.

[Lordquinton]

43. A restraining order against creditors?

Why didn't I think of that?

[Leith]

44. Good Riddance to Bad Propagandists

I hope they are destroyed and never come back.

[libodem]

47. GOOD!

[turbinetree]

48. What "Dark Money"...............is all about for the right wing................control

[JDPriestly]

49. Support Pacifica radio and independent radio.

It's available on the web as well as on the radio in certain areas of the country. It's liberal. It's not just public but LISTENER SUPPORTED.

I'm a member supporter and listener, but I do not have any other interest in the station.

I don't agree with all the attitudes and opinions they express and find some shows utterly uninteresting.

But, you can listen to their past shows online when you want to.

I recommend Ian Masters news show -- 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Democracy Now is one of their shows. Their music shows are great.

There are lots of other internet news shows, RealNews, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz and Democracy Now on its own internet site. Lots and lots of alternatives to the rotten TV and radio news.

Seek the truth. Forget the mainstream media.

[KamaAina]

50. Difficult to listen via the web in a car.

Or even on my local transit agency's crappy WiFi, which makes me long for that of a cheap motel!

[JDPriestly]

52. I agree that that is a problem.

You can stream their programs after they have been broadcast and it is worth it. But you are right, you cannot listen to them in your car if you are not near a station.

I listen to Ian Masters while I cook supper. But I am retired so my time is more flexible. We don't eat out. I cook. It's kind of one of the luxuries of retirement. I like to cook with lots of vegetables. My salads are practically a meal in themselves, and we eat them before we eat a meat or other dish.

[FailureToCommunicate]

51. Good riddance

?list=RDjsaTElBljOE

[TexasBushwhacker]

54. If Bain bought them, you'd better bet they loaded them

up with debt and charged ridiculous "consulting" fees. That's how vulture capitalists work - buy distressed companies, load them up with debt, charge fees which get paid before all debts and then harvest the company by selling off assets.

[mwooldri]

55. Not all of iheartmedia's problems are hate radio related.

Their issues:

1. Too much leverage. Taking on debt to buy station after station after station....

2. Investing in a product whose users are dying off quicker than new users coming on board. The average radio listener is getting older. Also: AM radio... who do you know who listens to AM radio anymore? Round these parts it's the Conservatalkers, the sports/talk, the gospel music stations and the Spanish language stations. We recently got Country Music back on AM radio but that's only because the station owners got a license for an FM translator for the AM station (they couldn't get a regular FM station license)

3. Too much centralization - Oops your local radio DJ's been replaced with RCS Master Control or other automation. and God help you if you're in a rural market and there's a natural disaster. There's no-one around to broadcast the emergency messages when the Emergency Broadcast System breaks down.

4. Too few salespeople and those salespeople are selling products they're not familiar with. Advertising on a hip-hop station is different to advertising on a news/talker ... and you got to know your product. People who were selling on the news/talker were asked to sell for the hip-hop station as well after any Clear-Channel takeover... something that some salespeople weren't comfortable in doing. If they're not effective at making money then... they're screwed.

Granted it's not just iHeartMedia that's having these problems, but they're having the worst time of it. There's a whole lot of automation in radio these days. Radio is a great medium, I think programming on radio needs to be reinvented though to stay relevant to today... though I think it needs to go through its own digital transition too.

[mrdmk]

64. All of the above is true. The Clear Channel "takeover", has been horrible for the music listener

Clear Channel was busted in 2007, of course admitted no wrong doing.

Concern about contemporary forms of payola prompted an investigation during which the FCC established firmly that the "loophole" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions than the legal requirements for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing.[13] Because of the increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel) now flatly refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.

link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola#Third-party_loophole

Here in the Los Angeles area, you cannot get away from iHeart Radio (aka Clear Channel)

104.3 FM KBIG Los Angeles, CA Adult Contemporary

1150 AM KEIB Los Angeles, CA News/Talk

640 AM KFI Los Angeles, CA News/Talk

102.7 FM KIIS Los Angeles, CA CHR

570 AM KLAC Los Angeles, CA Sports

103.5 FM KOST Los Angeles, CA Soft Adult Contemporary

92.3 FM KRRL Los Angeles, CA Urban

104.3 FM KBIG Los Angeles, CA Adult Contemporary

98.7 FM KYSR Los Angeles, CA Alternative Rock

[Eleanors38]

94. We have a "net" of FM terrestrial radio in Austin & Central Texas...

...real-time D.J.s, sensitive to local issues, music off the beaten track. All-solar powered and paying the bills.
Called "Solar Radio."

[SoapBox]

56. Fabulous...hope it folds.

Interesting too that in the LA Times today, article that CBS is putting their radio network up for sale.

KNX1070, a news and traffic channel here in Los Angeles has been BLATANT promoting Rump...they never even mentioned Bernie for months. And if they have over the last few weeks, it's dismissive or with attitude.

[hibbing]

59. I've heard this story before

I'll only be happy when the local station here isn't rwnj 24 hours a day.


Peace

[sendero]

70. I don't think many posters here...

... read the whole article.

It is very unlikely that iHeart will be forced into bankruptcy. And even if they were, someone else will pick up the assets and continue.

I would love to see it happen (demise of all of those stations) but it is very unlikely.

[DAMANgoldberg]

62. I'm surprised that 880 The Revolution is still around...

It's on a daytimer, but still gets good ratings for the Asheville NC area (liberal oasis in the red sea of NC). I believe they still program the Madison station, but if I am correct, that may be it now for iHeartRadio progressive talk.

[Lee-Lee]

75. I was about to mention 880

The only decent station left in the Clear Channel/iHeart conglomerate.

I hope it gets sold off to local owners in Asheville, but since it is all run and broadcast from the same studio as their other stations splitting it off would be hard.

[DownriverDem]

96. Chicago too

WCPT Chicago Progressive Talk Radio is excellent!

[nikto]

63. Bleed, baby bleed.

[Sam_Fields]

65. All Radio Stations are going away with smart phones.

They might be able to save FM radio, but AM radio is dead except for some news station formats that are still popular with the 50-65 yr old crowd. It has nothing to do with talk radio on it's own.

[pstokely]

72. many sports on still on AM,you need an internet connection to stream things

but the AM band isn't even on the radar for people under 30, and kids today don't even bother with the FM band, most the products advertised on hate radio (and cable news) would have no use for anyone under 50, the advertisers during progressive talk radio aren't much different

[Betty Karlson]

66. May I suggest that the aging listeners are a dying breed?

And that too explains part of the failing business model? No appeal to younger listeners?

[Surya Gayatri]

69. K & R most enthusiastically.

[briv1016]

71. Hopefully Z100 gets its own app or moves to radio.com.

It was really the only reason to download that app.

[FighttheFuture]

80. Maybe he should beg those RW Dicks, the Koch brothers, for a bailout! Ah, sweet Karma...

[freebrew]

82. The only NPR station in my area...

Warrensburg,(U of MO) sold their station a few years ago.
I turned to that frequency yesterday...Rush was rambling about something.
Immediately changed the station.

I can't believe anyone still listens to this asswipe.

[Diremoon]

84. Most of my local radio stations are owned by iHeart. . .

Hence, I don't listen to radio anymore. Not in years.

[yardwork]

85. Good.

[vkkv]

88. Things that lack true substance don't pass the test of time.

False fabrications collapse due to having no sound structure like writing checks on an account with no money in it.

[Bad Dog]

90. Hit them in th pocket.

It always works. Great news.

[Lorien]

93. We can do better than that Berners

Other than voting, donating to Bernie, and talking to people you know about Bernie's policy positions and history, THE SINGLE GREATEST THING you can do to help his campaign is to WRITE A HARD COPY LETTER to the media protesting their Bernie Blackout and wall to wall Trump coverage! Mention that you will be contacting and boycotting their advertisers if they continue the Bernie blackout and Trump "infomercials". I know people who work in newsrooms, and I am told that one hard copy letter has the weight of 100 emails to a news director. This is, they have added, a huge reason why the media skews to the Right; right wingers mail in letters frequently, the Left never does, so the perception is that only the right wing is dissatisfied with their "reporting". Let us change that notion TODAY!

Please borrow time from posting here and on Facebook TODAY to write letters to FIVE of the organizations listed below. When finished, post the text of your letter and who you contacted to this thread.

ABC News: 147 Columbus Ave. New York, NY 10023

CBS News: 524 W. 57 St. New York, NY 10019

NBC News: 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10112

MSNBC: One MSNBC Plaza, Secaucus, NJ 07094

CNN: One CNN Center, Atlanta, GA, 30303

New York Times: 620 8th Ave. New York, NY 10018

The Washington Post: 1301 K Street NW, Washington DC 20071


Timing is CRITICAL, DO THIS TODAY for Bernie!!

[DownriverDem]

95. WCPT

I love it. Ever since the Detroit area lost it's progressive talk radio I have been streaming WCPT - Chicago Progressive Talk Radio. The station has saved my sanity. The Norman Goldman Show is one of the best. He's on from 6-9 pm (eastern time). He was the guy who use to fill in for Ed Schultz. If you want to save you sanity, check it out.

[geretogo]

97. I would like to see all the right wing stations burn down and the end this 35 years of

treasonous Joseph Goebbels broadcasting Network destroying this country .

[titaniumsalute]

99. Let's be honest here

Boycotting Rush isn't what is bankrupting iHeart (Clear Channel.) The over-leveraging of hundreds of radio stations and paying huge mutiples is why they are in so much debt. They just took on way too much debt. The revenue for the radio stations overall are still strong but the profit margins can't pay for the debt owed. Yes Rush and the hate network isn't helping, but it is a much bigger picture than that.

I have a lot of friends who work for iHeart and I feel sad that they are stuck in the middle of this.