The Business of Radio

by Tom Gordon & Jeff McKay

 

5/06/19

 

Watch stock in Entercom as CEO David Field has been buying shares over the past three months, including a larger block share this month - Field has bought back $8.5 million in Entercom (ETM) shares and now owns 15% of the company.   There has been good news and bad news for Townsquare Media - While they announced an uptick in revenue in their last earnings report, Townsquare (TSQ) stock has continued to drift slightly lower in the last 30 days, and remain under $6.00 per share - Townsquare had their IPO just 4 years ago opening at $11.00 and reaching a high of $14.00 in March, 2015.  The news wasn't good for Urban One, which posted decreases in net revenue and a net loss in their latest quarterly report.  There are rumors that Urban One may look to sell some of their under-performing stations as soon as June.   Urban One CEO & President Alfred C. Liggins, III, says, "While our Radio division finished the quarter a little softer than expected, the Q2 pacings show a strong rebound, with April up mid-teens and Q2 overall pacing up high single-digits."  Emmis Communications will also be a stock to watch heading into the summer - their quarterly results released this month showed a hard-to-swallow 22% decrease in radio revenue, and this may be linked to the sale of their Los Angeles and St. Louis station sales, while full-year revenues dropped 24%.  A statement released by Emmis says, "While the fourth quarter didn't finish as strongly as we would have liked, we are seeing significant strength as we commence the new fiscal year.