Just a quick note…..I saw a news flash come across my MarketWatch screen yesterday that captured my attention. This news flash (www.marketwatch.com/...) reports that the parent company of iHeart Radio is sinking like a rock:
The company IHRT, -33.33% which also owns billboard ad company Clear Channel Outdoors Holding Inc. CCO, +5.19% is currently in talks with lenders to restructure and refinance the massive $20 billion of debt it took on as part of a $24 billion leveraged buyout of then-Clear Channel Communications Inc. by private-equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners in 2008.
Based on the uncertainty of achieving those goals, “management has determined that there is substantial doubt as to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following November 8, 2017,” said the filing.
According to Wikipedia, iHeart Media is the owner of the radio consortium that airs:
Programs that appear on many iHeartMedia talk stations include the Glenn Beck Program (Beck having gotten his talk show start at iHeartMedia (then Clear Channel) owned WFLA (AM) in Tampa), The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, America Now with Meghan McCain and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, all of which are affiliated with Premiere Radio Networks in some fashion. The Mark Levin Show and The Dave Ramsey Show are non-Premiere shows who air on many (if not most) iHeartMedia stations, as did The Savage Nation prior to its ending in September 2012. Limbaugh is almost universally carried on iHeartMedia stations in markets where the company has a news talk station, including recently New York City: WOR was acquired in 2013 by Clear Channel and began carrying Limbaugh's program in 2014 following a long relationship with now-Cumulus Media-owned WABC. In markets where iHeartMedia-owned news talk stations have not been profitable (such as Boston and Atlanta), iHeartMedia has chosen to sell shows such as Limbaugh and Coast to Coast AM to their rivals and change the stations to other formats.
While most of iHeartMedia's news/talk stations carry some combination of Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and Noory (of Coast to Coast AM), this is not always the case. Many stations (particularly in the larger markets) like KFI, KFYI, KOA, WZZR and WLW broadcast a lineup with significant local programming.
So what this is telling us is that the radio network that broadcasts Rushbo, InSannity, Beck, et al is in deep deep deep shit financially. Now, what exactly does ‘going concern’ mean? As the AICPA explains
“Going concern” refers to the concept that users of financial statements can expect that the company will continue to operate in the near future unless conditions or events occur that may contradict that assumption. Even in a strong economy, companies can lose significant contracts, face cash flow problems or be in danger of missing loan payments.
A public announcement of a ‘going concern’ is usually followed by bankruptcy - either reorganization or liquidation. (Those darn “cash flow problems”!) Years of FlushRush and other endeavors to cleanse our AM radio airwaves are finally bearing fruit!!!
It is wonderful to see that this news comes at the same time as the r’s are shitting their pants over Trumpism, Virginia and the failures of their candidates in that and other elections across the country, and Mueller’s relentless investigation which has already begun to bear fruit.
To me, looking at the situation from 20,000 feet, I see a republican party in disarray and showing signs of implosion across many fronts. Even Paul Ryan, in his Speaker’s noon press conference today, could not emphasize enough how critical their tax plan is for getting the repubs re-elected; he was pleading, begging and dang near crying for passage.
So anyway, good news about our public airwaves getting some hope of fresh air in the future. Keep the faith, baby!