CBS Radio - Entercom Merger

[The Fat Man]

It's been written about across the internet. What are your thoughts about Entercom basically buying CBS Radio (offically a merger with Entercom controlling the new company)? I'm watching the Boston FM and AM bands closely, as the new company will be beyond the cap for ownership in a single market.

 

[harshness]

In the Portland Oregon market, most of the Entercom properties have slashed their talent pools. They've cut themselves down to one "show" (two or more personalities) per day (either morning drive or afternoon drive) or no "shows" at all. In some cases, they've broken up the top shows in their time slot.

 

[DWS44]

They've cut themselves down to one "show" (two or more personalities) per day (either morning drive or afternoon drive) or no "shows" at all. In some cases, they've broken up the top shows in their time slot.

You mean they actually (gasp) play music in between the commercial breaks?

 

[harshness]

You mean they actually (gasp) play music in between the commercial breaks?

Our Entercom stations have half-hourly "commercial blitzes" where they play around 10 minutes or more straight of commercials. The music in a talk show is annoying and had increased substantially in recent history such that there was only 20 minutes or less of live talent in a one hour "show".

I'm convinced this is a result of the tables turning on who paid to have songs aired from the station paying royalties to the record label paying promotional monies.

 

[The Fat Man]

In Boston, the big question is the Sports Talk stations. The new company will own both the FM sports talk stations that competed with each other (WEEI-FM and WBZ-FM). The irony is that Entercom's station (WEEI) was trailing the CBS station (WBZ). So, the speculation around here is what will happen. Some argue that they will keep both in tact, while others say that they will keep the best from both lineups and move the WEEI brand to the WBZ frequency, and sell off WEEI's current frequency, which has a weaker overall penertration. I think that I see them selling WEEI-AM, which has been ESPN Radio since the local programming moved to FM. I see them then moving ESPN Radio to the weaker FM frequency to cover spillover, as the new company will have radio rights for all Boston professional teams.

 

[Carroll A]

Will be interesting to see how everything unfolds. Hopefully Entercom does not jack around with the stations that are making money, but work on the stations that need some help. I'm curious to see what will shake out in Boston, Seattle, Portland, and other markets where both CBS and Entercom are both maxed out.

Sent from my Z932L using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[harshness]

Will be interesting to see how everything unfolds. Hopefully Entercom does not jack around with the stations that are making money, but work on the stations that need some help.

In Portland, it seems like "jack around" is the best term to describe the shake-up. It really isn't clear what they hope to accomplish as confusion and drive shows being converted to automation seem to be the most obvious byproducts.

Thank heavens for the listener supported and more or less independent commercial radio stations.