Unpayable Debt

Bloombery sours on iHeartMedia

 

You don’t have to be a financial analyst to figure this out:

PRIVATE EQUITY’S IHEARTRADIO CHOKES ON DEBT IT CAN’T REPAY

All of the radio industry is being hurt by the stories surrounding our two biggest consolidated (meaning: over-leveraged) groups, iHeart and Cumulus. For all practical purposes, both are basically bankrupt. They can’t repay their debt.

The irony is, many smaller radio groups are doing just fine, and would, in fact, be doing better if they didn’t have to lower their own rates to compete with those over-leveraged stations in their markets desperate to get any revenue on the books.

Radio has become the airline industry of the 1990s: bloated with debt and controlled by the pricing set by the least successful competitors.

If your group is the Southwest Airlines of Radio, I feel your pain. I, for one, will keep telling your story to anyone who calls.