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Audacy, the radio and podcast giant, it filed plans for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce its debt. The restructuring agreement will allow Audacy to slash its total debt load by 80% to about $350 million from around $1.9 billion ... Audacy , the radio and podcast giant, said Sunday it filed plans for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas to reduce its debt. The restructuring agreement will allow Audacy to slash its total debt load by 80% to about $350 million from around $1.9 billion ... The Philadelphia-based company owns hundreds of radio stations and is one of the...

Continuing to sell off stations to reduce debt, Cumulus Media has inked a deal to hand over talk WABC New York (770) to Red Apple Media for $12.5 million in cash. Red Apple is headed by chairman John Catsimatidis, who hosts the syndicated “Cats Roundtable Radio Show.” Calling the purchase the “next step in building a new broadcasting business,” Catsimatidis says he plans to “retain the excellent staff and talent working at the station now.” The sale leaves Cumulus with only one station in the New York market—“Radio 103.9” WNBM, an urban AC licensed to Bronxville, NY. Cumulus earlier sold...

After first taking Jaime Allman off the air indefinitely today, Entercom has parted ways with the morning host of “FM NewsTalk 97.1” KFTK-FM Florissant/St. Louis MO. Entercom VP/Corporate Communications Esther Mireya-Tejeda told Buzzfeed that “After looking into the matter we have decided that Allman will no longer be a member of KFTK-FM and his show has been canceled, effective immediately. We have parted ways.” We have confirmed with Ms. Mireya-Tejeda that Allman has been terminated from the company. Original Report 4/10: As Entercom deals with the fall-out created by a tweet by yet-to-debut “97.3 The Machine” KEGY San Diego morning...

BOSTON, MA – One of the more public divorces in Boston media history turns out to have been just a trial separation. Howie Carr and WRKO (680AM and 93.7FM HD-2) announced today that the legendary author, columnist and talk show host will return to the Entercom station on Monday, March 16. Carr will assume the weekday afternoon time slot he occupied on WRKO for decades, 3-7 p.m. Entercom Boston’s VP / Market Manager Phil Zachary said he believes Carr’s return was meant to be. “As the holidays passed, it became obvious to me that WRKO and Howie belong together,” he...

In sports lingo, you might say Dennis and Callahan have been boxed out. Entercom Communications Corp., the parent corporation for WEEI sports radio, has cut a syndication deal to place its sports content on 11 Nassau Broadcasting radio stations around New England. But more importantly, Entercom also is buying 50 percent of a 12th station, WCRB, a classical music station owned by Nassau that was said to be in negotiations with WEEI’s premier sports talk hosts, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, who have been off the air in a contract dispute with WEEI. Under that possible deal, WCRB would have...

ENTERCOM has purchased CBS RADIO's MEMPHIS, ROCHESTER, AUSTIN, and CINCINNATI clusters for $262 million. The buyer will take over all of the stations except for the ROCHESTER stations in a time brokerage agreement starting in OCTOBER (the company will have to divest two ROCHESTER stations to remain within FCC ownership limits). In AUSTIN, ENTERCOM gets AC KKMJ (MAJIC 95.5), Modern AC KAMX (MIX 94.7), Top 40/Rhythmic KXBT (THE BEAT 104.3), and Talk KJCE-A. In CINCINNATI, the stations being sold are Country WUBE (B-105), Hot AC WKRQ (Q-102), Oldies WGRR, and Alternative WAQZ (NEW ROCK 97.3). In MEMPHIS, ENTERCOM adds Hot...

The owner of radio stations WEEI and WRKO, fresh from signing one of Major League Baseball's most expensive radio rights deals, has found a way to get some money back: selling naming rights to the Red Sox radio network. ``We'll be right back on the WEEI/WRKO (Your Company Name) Red Sox Radio Network," proclaims promotional material for the deal. Entercom Communications Corp., parent of the two stations, plans to mail out requests for proposals to 25 top advertisers this week to gauge their interest in the five-year agreement. The asking price: several million dollars a year.

In a stunning turn of events, radio company Greater Media this morning pulled out of the long-running bidding war with Entercom Communications for broadcasting rights for Boston Red Sox games. Sources say Entercom has won the hotly contested battle for Red Sox play-by-play. Entercom, parent company of local stations WEEI-AM (850) and WRKO-AM (680), is the only remaining bidder. WEEI, the top sports talker in the country, has been the longtime partner with the Sox. Entercom’s bid was said to have offered the Sox an option to buy an equity stake in WRKO in the future. Sources say that under...

"Radio bases loaded : Sox to change channels "Red Sox, Entercom, and Greater Media are all about to end playing hardball any minute now. While Sox and Greater Media managements remains mum, some of their personnel are now openly bragging around town that the Sox broadcasts will move from WEEI AM 850 after 12 years. The shortly-to-be-announced "done deal" has the Sox purchasing a majority interest in WBOS 92.9FM with Greater Media retaining a remaining share of the station. A Sox source tells BRW that the deal may be announced as soon as Monday(4/24)."

The Boston Red Sox are within days of announcing a blockbuster multimillion-dollar radio-rights deal that could dramatically reshuffle the team’s broadcast lineup, executives close to the deal said. The Sox are in ninth-inning negotiations with media companies vying for the deal, with Greater Media’s WBOS-FM (92.9) having an edge, executives said. An agreement could be announced early next week, if not sooner, executives said. The price could hit $14 million per year. Sources say both Greater Media and Entercom, whose WEEI-AM (850) is the incumbent, have offered that much. But Entercom is said to be offering cash, while Greater Media...

Clear Channel, CBS, Citadel and Entercom Will Be Investigated in First Federal Payola Investigation in More Than a Quarter Century April 20, 2006 The FCC has launched formal investigations into pay-for-play practices at Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting. The story was broken by Charles Duhigg in an L.A. Times Page One story. As Duhigg notes, this is the biggest federal payola inquiry since the congressional payola hearings of 1960. The story cites two FCC officials as revealing that the FCC had requested “letters of inquiry” from the four radio powers in search of evidence that...

Team in talks to buy 25% stake in station The Red Sox are negotiating with the owner of radio station WBOS to take an ownership stake in the station and move its radio broadcast rights there, a move that would effectively end the team's relationship with Boston's dominant sports station, WEEI. The talks are ongoing, and no deal has been reached, according to three executives briefed on the situation. WEEI could still make a rich, last-minute bid to retain the right to broadcast Sox games, though the executives said that appears less likely than it did last year. If WBOS...

For Seattle's Mike Webb, calling for President Bush's "execution" had no effect on his position. In fact, his show was subsequently expanded by an hour. Nor did his on-air hope that Ronald Reagan had "really suffered" before his death make any difference. While it's hard to imagine conservatives getting away with similar rhetoric, somehow one of America's most extreme, hate-filled radio programs managed to remain on a major radio station in Seattle for years, despite marginal ratings performance. To find something similar on the extreme right, one would have to look to shortwave radio broadcasts. Mike Webb was to the...

Seattle fans of talk host Tom Leykis are upset because the station that had run him, The Buzz 100.7, changed to country as The Wolf. A different station, KISW, picked up Leykis but will be airing him tape-delayed (THE HORROR!) Leykis, with his hepcat dee jay voice and relationship talk, has had a colorful history including mistaking his wife for a Duraflame log back in his days at Boston's WRKO (threatened to kill her and shoved her into the fireplace at their Back Bay residence, mere blocks from Casa Kerry) to getting beat up himself at a bar in Seattle...

Clear Channel, Entercom and Local Independent Stations Combine Resources to Provide Continuous Information to New Orleans and the Surrounding Area New Orleans, LA – September 2, 2005 – In response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the radio groups serving New Orleans and the surrounding area have come together to form the United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans. The United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans is a joint effort to provide the region with the most complete, reliable and consistent radio broadcast of emergency recovery and relief information. It is comprised of stations operated by Clear Channel Radio (NYSE: CCU),...