Radio+Television Business Report

LAKE WALES, FLA. — The co-founder and Chief Executive of vCreative, who established the media workflow-focused technology company with her husband, is moving to the role of President Emerita.

This gives the couple more time to devote to weddings, grandchildren, “exploring the world” and perhaps enjoying their lakeside home in Central Florida a little bit more as Susie Hedrick assumes the CEO role.

The changes for Jinny Laderer and husband John Laderer, vCreative’s Chief Technology Officer, will come April 1. At that time, Hedrick will rise from President/COO. Hedrick joined vCreative in February 2019 after serving as SVP/Sales for North America at WideOrbit, overseeing successful TV, radio, network and digital divisions.

What does this change mean for the Laderers’ involvement in the company they created in 2007?

In her new role, Jinny Laderer will attend company executive meetings and industry events, providing “guidance and historical context to ensure that the vCreative legacy continues.”

She will also remain a Broadcasters Foundation of America board member and as an Honorary Trustee for Alliance for Women in Media. Mrs. Laderer also remains on the Nominating Committee for the National Radio Hall of Fame and says she will invest more time with the Mentoring and Inspiring Women (MIW) organization to help nurture the next generation of strong female leaders.

“The timing is perfect,” said Laderer, who has been based in the small town of Babson Park, due south of Lake Wales and Orlando’s theme parks, for the last few years. “While I remain committed to our company, the industry and its people, vCreative is now perfectly positioned for its next chapter under Susie’s leadership, which allows John and I the freedom to focus on our next phase of life.”

John Laderer will continue to serve the company in a consultative technical role.

After working at a small firm offering copywriting, production and voiceovers to agencies and advertisers, Jinny Laderer in 2005 teamed with John in creating SaaS technology enabling her to work remotely as a Creative Director for 8 radio stations while she simultaneously operated her production company, TLCreative.

Two years later, vCreative was born. Today, its software is used by 19 of the top 20 broadcast radio groups, supporting more than 35,000 daily users.

In 2019, the Laderers sold vCreative to Banyan Software, an investment company with a unique buy and hold model.

Commenting on Jinny Laderer’s decision to hand chief executive duties to Hedrick, Banyan CEO David Berkal said, “Jinny and John built a strong and profitable software business with deep relationships. We have made a commitment to continue the Laderers’ people-first culture and the principle of trust that was built over many years. We 100% support Jinny and John as they step back from daily operations while retaining supportive roles in the company.”

Hedrick added, “Jinny and I share a kindred spirit. We both have a strong work ethic and passion for helping people and solving problems. Jinny will continue to have a strong influence on the company as we continue to innovate and grow.”

William W. McCutchen III a decade ago was described by the Waco Tribune-Herald as “the force behind Waco Entertainment Group LLC.

Based in the Los Angeles area, McCutchen in January 2010 acquired two Spanish-language FMs for $1.95 million from the now-defunct Border Media Partners. It was added to an FM in Sherman, Tex.

An Abilene property was also added to the mix. Now, the FCC has given its blessing on its sale.

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Vic Michael has been an active buyer of noncommercial low-powered and full-power facilities across the U.S. West, and in Hawaii, of late.

Now, he’s agreed to buy an expanded-band AM with an all-important FM translator at 94.7 MHz.

It serves much of the Cheyenne, Wyo., market.

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She’s widely known as a Partner with Wiley Rein LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where she serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Telecom, Media & Technology group.

Now, this legal eagle is tacking on the title of Secretary and General Counsel of the Broadcasters Foundation of America.

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TORONTO — A provider of digital products to the radio industry has just added a longtime broadcast sales professional known for stops in the Big Apple as its Managing Director for Advertising and Research.

He’ll be tasked with ensuring that SoCast broadcast partners get the sales training, support and tools they need to become digital advertising experts.

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A U.S. patent has been issued to an independent media metrics technology company devoted to measuring individual media viewing behavior at “their most granular level.”

For those dissatisfied with the products offered by Nielsen, ComScore and others in the space, the patent is certainly attention-grabbing.

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They’ve long been associated with some of the nation’s leading music radio stations.

Now, they’ve been added to the programming team at Gary Spurgeon-led Clear Media Network.

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The Dallas-based syndicator now counts Smokey Rivers and Tom Calococci among its programming staff.

Rivers will be consulting and programming the Adult Contemporary and Oldies formats.

He’s a former VP of AC Programming for CBS Radio, served as a VP/Programming in Phoenix for iHeartMedia and circa 1984-85 was the Program Director for WAVA-FM in Washington, D.C., a Top 40 station where he butted heads with then-nighttime air personality Don Geronimo prior to his morning pairing with Mike O’Meara.

“Clear Media Network is providing a turnkey solution for broadcasters to easily deliver a quality audio product,” Rivers said. “That’s my kind of thing.”

Meanwhile, Calococci will consult and program Clear Media Network’s Classic Hits format.

His extensive programming career includes successful programming stops at WFLC-FM in Miami, which was converted from Hot AC “Coast 97-3” to Top 40 “Hits 97-3”; crosstown WPOW-FM in Miami; Urban KKBT-FM in Los Angeles, and pioneering Rhythmic Top 40 WERQ-FM “92Q” in Baltimore some 30 years ago. He is also responsible for Content Creation for Sheet Happens Prep services.

Calococci said,  “As the media landscape continues to evolve, we must adjust to the ever changing demands of listeners and find ways to provide great content for radio stations. I am looking forward to being a part of providing a great resource for our Network clients.”

Both Calococci and Rivers report to President of Programming Mark McCray.

Clear Media Network offers 11 formats to broadcast radio across the U.S.

In the radio industry, investment in eSports is nothing new. Beasley Media Group even owns a franchise in Houston.

It now appears broadcast television companies harbor a similar interest in a segment of the sporting world that continues to explode in growth and has withstood the COVID-19 pandemic with flying colors.

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Entercom (NYSE: ETM), home to premium podcast companies Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, today announced the acquisition of Podcorn, the largest marketplace for brands to find and collaborate with the most relevant podcasters to create native advertising and branded content at scale. The transaction values Podcorn at $22.5 million today, with an upfront cash payment of $14.6 million and a performance-based earnout over the next three years.

“The acquisition of Podcorn expands Entercom’s product offering for advertisers and builds on our position as one of the country’s three largest podcast publishers and the #1 creator of original, premium audio content,” said David Field, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Entercom. “By making it easier for brands to collaborate with targeted podcast creators of all sizes, we are addressing an important market opportunity in the fastest growing segment of media.”

Podcorn’s marketplace includes nearly 40,000 creators and has facilitated thousands of podcast ad campaigns. Podcorn creates an infrastructure for enabling direct podcaster and advertiser relationships, surfacing the most relevant matches to scale native branded content, drive higher ROI for brands, and enhance how podcast creators monetize their content. Podcorn was founded by Agnes Kozera and David Kierzkowski following the successful acquisition by Google of their previous company FameBit, the leading marketplace for video influencers where brands and YouTube stars collaborated for branded content. Kozera and Kierzkowski will continue to lead Podcorn, joining Entercom’s leadership team.

“Given the success that podcasters and brands have seen on Podcorn, we’re excited to join Entercom’s growing audio platform to accelerate our vision and help brands and podcasters succeed in an even bigger way,” said Agnes Kozera, Co-Founder, Podcorn. “Together, we hope to provide the most effective podcast influencer marketing solution for brands and become the largest driver of brand deals for podcasters of all sizes.”

The acquisition fills an industry-wide gap in helping brands of all sizes tap into the hard-to-access micro-influencer community. Podcorn offers highly immersive, native formats for brands to authentically reach engaged audiences, such as host reads at scale as a way to maintain and elevate rate and ROI, and drive podcast market growth. The marketplace connects advertisers to podcast creators through workspaces where they can craft the ideal relationship and explore deeper formats including reviews, unboxings, guest interviews, panels and topical discussions, which provide true listener value. While Podcorn provides brands with a self-serve platform, it also offers a full-service option that unlocks more managed support and consultation to help them accelerate, curate and manage their podcast campaigns to exceed their KPIs.

Podcorn’s marketplace of niche creators will complement Entercom’s existing critically-acclaimed roster of the largest and most influential podcasts, while helping it identify talented new creators. With Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, Entercom is one of the three largest podcast publishers with the industry’s most award-winning, critically acclaimed content, and consistently has the most shows ranked in the top 100 on Triton’s U.S. Podcast Report.

“Introducing Podcorn’s marketplace of nearly 40,000 creators to our robust podcast audience network will enable advertisers to target the right listeners with the most effective media available to brands today – custom, host-read, branded audio content at scale,” said J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Entercom.

Podcasting has been steadily expanding and diversifying programming – and widening audiences – consistently in the past decade. There are now more than 2.5 million podcasts, 60% of which were created in the past two years.

“Remarkably, only a fraction of podcasts generate revenue. We want to change that,” said Crowley. “Bringing together independent creators, chart-topping talent and advertisers under one roof, and providing the tools to streamline collaboration, transparency and efficiency provides greater value for advertisers, creators and listeners alike.”

Some 26 Entercom spoken word radio stations will continue to receive business and consumer news supplied by Key Networks-affiliated Bloomberg Radio, thanks to a new agreement signed by the audio media entities.

The deal includes such all-News stations as WINS-AM in New York, KNX-AM in Los Angeles, and WBBM-AM & WCFS-FM in Chicago — all former CBS Radio stations.

It extends a relationship that dates “several years,” Key Networks notes.

In addition to news content, Bloomberg Radio provides live, customized reports, Bloomberg Money Minutes, and Bloomberg specialty features including Bloomberg Business of Sports, Green Report, Small Business Report, Real Estate Report, and similarly themed vignettes.

Other Entercom stations that will continue airing Bloomberg Radio content are:

• WPHT-AM in Philadelphia
• KCBS-AM & KFRC-FM in San Francisco
• KRLD-AM in Dallas
• WJFK-FM in Washington, D.C.
• WWJ-AM in Detroit
• WCCO-AM in Minneapolis
• KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh
• KMOX-AM in St. Louis
• WTIC-AM in Hartford
• KXNT-AM in Las Vegas
• WBEN-AM in Buffalo
• WRNL-AM & WRVA-AM in Richmond

Key Networks Chief Revenue Officer Dennis Green notes, “This partnership brings Bloomberg-created content to listeners and advertisers and we look forward to building on this successful partnership with Entercom.”

Chatter across the media finance landscape indicated a move was imminent.

On Wednesday morning, those rumors became reality: The entirety of Oaktree Capital Management L.P.‘s stake in Townsquare Media has been repurchased by the local media company headed by CEO Bill Wilson.

To do so, $80,640,000 will be paid by Townsquare, publicly traded on the NYSE.

The transaction effectively concluded Tuesday (3/9), with Townsquare snapping up the 12.6 million shares and warrants in the company held by Oaktree at a price of $6.40 per security.

Townsquare subsequently retired those securities.

It’s a great value for Townsquare, as its common stock closed at $10.51 on Tuesday, its best finish since July 2017.

With programmatic and local digital key revenue drivers for a company steeped in mid-size and smaller markets across the U.S., Townsquare has enjoyed strong growth on Wall Street since the 2020 U.S. presidential election. On October 26, 2020, TSQ was valued at just $4.52.

That amounts to 132.5% growth in less than five months.

The $80.64 million share buyout follows the January 25 Townsquare Media announcement that it was repurchasing at least 10 million of the 12.5 million shares of Class A and Class B common stock — and warrants — held by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management L.P. for $64 million.

The $64 million question, if you will, for shareholders then is whether or not Townsquare would execute an option at a later day to acquire the remaining 2.5 million shares.

That’s now transpired.

As such, Townsquare’s total payout is the $80.64 million amount.

And, the company’s reacquisition is comprised of 100% of Oaktree’s  1.6 million shares of Class A common stock, 2.2 million shares of Class B common stock, and 8.8 million warrants.

“Based on current share counts, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive on a free cash flow per share and adjusted earnings per share basis in excess of 70%,” Townsquare said in a release distributed at 7am Eastern and immediately Tweeted by RBR+TVBR. “At 10 million securities, the repurchase would have been accretive by
approximately 50%.”

How did Townsquare make the transaction happen? Cash on hand was used to pay $80.4 million aggregate purchase price.

Townsquare will also pay Oaktree a $4.5 million consent fee related to the transaction in four installments, the first of which is due on April 1.

With the repurchase’s completion, Townsquare will have approximately 16 million securities outstanding, inclusive of common stock and warrants.

“We could not be more pleased to share that given our strong cash position, we were able to repurchase 100% of Oaktree’s ownership interests in Townsquare, capturing a strong return for our shareholders,” Wilson said in prepared remarks. “This is a beneficial transaction for our investors and the company. The Oaktree share repurchase is significantly accretive on an earnings per share and free cash flow per share basis in 2021, and entirely eliminates Oaktree’s ownership overhang for current and potential shareholders.”

Wilson also thanked Oaktree for their long-term support of the company.

Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc., which acquired MVP Capital, home of Elliot Evers, served as financial advisor to the Special Committee in connection with the repurchase.

Oaktree’s investment in Townsquare Media dates to August 2010, when the company was created from the post-Chapter 11 ashes of the former Regent Communications. With Oaktree’s dollar infusion, Regent was merged into Gap Broadcasting; the resulting entity was renamed Townsquare.

Townsquare Media CEO Bill Wilson tells RBR+TVBR that Tuesday (3/16) will see the unveiling of the company’s Q4 and full-year 2020 results. They’ll be distributed prior to the day’s NYSE Opening Bell. And, as has been a tradition for Townsquare, a big pot of coffee will be brewing as C-Suite members will host a earnings call for investors and analysts starting at 8am Eastern/5am Pacific on March 16. 

Deloitte has created what it calls an “equity imperative.”

What’s the reason for Deloitte’s action? It says it has done so with the goal “of inspiring better understanding, deeper insight, and more meaningful action now toward greater racial equity.”

It is composed of three linked sections that “acknowledge the legacy and realities
of racism in the United States, imagine various potential futures for racial equity
in the United States over the next decade and beyond, and suggest specific
steps leaders can take to promote more equitable outcomes, both in their
organizations and more broadly.”

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The Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee is now accepting suggestions for 2021 nominees.

Hurry! The nominations window closes in three weeks.

Suggestions can be made through March 31, 2021, in the following categories:

Longstanding Local/Regional (20 years or more)
Active Local/Regional (10 years or more)
Networks/Syndication (10 years or more)
Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more)
Music Format On-Air Personality
Spoken Word On-Air Personality

Inductees will be honored at the annual Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony, with plans to be held live in Chicago at a date to be announced later this year.

Radio imaging and production company The Mix Group is a presenting sponsor of the 2021 Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The Radio Hall of Fame was founded by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. The Museum of Broadcast Communications took over operations of the Hall in 1991.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications is recognizing Radio’s 100th anniversary with a variety of events in 2021, including special tributes and recognition of the many talented men and women who’ve contributed to the medium’s ongoing success.

A 1kw Class C AM serving Sylvania, Ga., is presently dark under a STA.

It’s been dark for a while. In fact, it’s been silent for so long that the station has been designated for a license renewal hearing by the FCC.

As such, Tampa-based owner Neal Ardman has a potential battle on his hands to save the station.

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The FCC has been active in sending out of late Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture with respect to the untimely filing of a license renewal application.

The latest licensee to get a proposed fine? It is the owner of a Class A noncomm in Iowa used by a station housed at Maharishi International University.

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Entercom Communications on March 5 signed off on Amendment No. 6 to an October 17, 2016, credit agreement it struck with JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Specifically, Entercom is amending the financial covenant set forth in Section 7.09 of the agreement.

What will this accomplish?

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A special meeting of Comscore Inc. shareholders is now over. And, the results of the Tuesday event are now known.

It’s good news for one of America’s biggest MVPDs and internet service providers.

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In Washington, D.C., Adonis Hoffman has been a leading voice on media and communications law and policy, in particular FCC regulatory moves, for years. In February 2008, as SVP and Council for the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4 A’s), Hoffman was one of several key participants in a “No Urban/Hispanic Dictates” meeting held between the FCC and key advertising and marketing associations.

Hoffman would later serve as a former FCC Chief of Staff and as a senior legal advisor to former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, and is the founder and Chairman of “Business in the Public Interest” and Adjunct Professor of Communication, Culture & Technology at Georgetown University.

As of last month, he was in Fort Lauderdale, speaking to a China-owned news channel as the founder of the “Responsible Technology Initiative.” And, until this morning, an additional role was in the works for Hoffman.

That’s been scratched, TEGNA has announced.

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TEGNA on Tuesday provided the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) e-mail communication sent to shareholders that outlines, in detail, the decision by Adonis Hoffman to withdraw his nomination for a TEGNA board seat.

TEGNA also submitted to the SEC another piece of e-mail communication.

It’s a letter to employees from TEGNA CEO Dave Lougee that addresses Hoffman’s decision to withdraw his candidacy for a company board seat.

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