iHeartMedia Bankrupt

What Happened?

• Huge Debt
• Weak Revenue
• 2008 Recession
• A Decade of Losses
• Digital Platforms

iHeartMedia is filing for Chapter 11. That means they want to halve the debt load down to $10 Billion.

IHeartMedia, largest U.S. radio station operator, files for bankruptcy to cut huge debt load

In Connecticut, iHeartMedia owns 9 stations including KISS, The River and Country 92.5.

Perhaps they paid too much when they bought all these stations? 

Inflated Value

In 2004, a decent FM signal was selling for $20 million in the Hartford Market. We were looking for a signal at that time to split our news and classical formats. The price was too high for us to move forward. The price was inflated because of demand and a hot market driven in part by Clear Channel buying up available frequencies. We found that servicing the debt would have been too big of a load. Looking back, it was the right decision.

Classical Music Moving in Houston

KUHA 91.7 FM Moving To HD Radio

Houston Public Media (HPM) announced that classical programming is moving to HD2. The announcement says the programming will be moving from KUHA 91.7 to 88.7 HD 2. Classical Music will also be available at HPM's website, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and TV 8.5...a digital TV channel.

Digging Further

All Access and Houston Public Media is reporting that KUHA is for sale. Houston Public Media bought KUHA from Rice University in 2010 for over $9 million. Economic trouble became evident when HPM laid off eight full time staff at the station in 2013. The move cuts expenses further and will unload some debt for HPM.

American Public Media recently cut its losses by selling off the three stations that made up Classical South Florida. In these instances, classical music was unable to sustain itself. The debt load was to heavy to be carried through voluntary support.

Classical music is losing ground. In both cases the music will be available digitally, but free over the air broadcasts are going away. The move to HD 2 and TV 8.5 in Houston is free. They will be hard to find. HD Radio has not reached deep market penetration. Finding HDTV 8.5 is viable for at home listening...not in the car.

WNYC & Clear Channel Join Forces

WNYC Talk on A New Platform
WNYC's talk programming and the Takeaway will be offered on iHeartRadio...the digital service for for Clear Channel. That's according to a release on the Market Watch Website. This offers a new platform for WNYC's offerings on a digital platform. Digital delivery is becoming more popular with the rise of mobile media. Some automakers will offer 3G capable adapters in their cars soon.  

Will there be a negative reaction to this alliance?
It will be interesting to see and hear reaction from public radio insiders and its listeners.
For those of us on the inside, there's ample research to suggest that public radio listeners come to public radio to get away from commercial radio. This alliance may test our assumptions. Public radio listeners certainly use and appreciate commercial media.

You can read more about the deal here.