Industry News

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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Entercom has added to its podcast business with an acquisition of Podcorn. It says the acquisition will help advertisers “tap into the hard-to-access micro-influencer community.”

Podcorn calls itself a marketplace of podcast influencers, “connecting unique voices to unique brands for native advertising.”

The transaction values Podcorn at $22.5 million, with an upfront cash payment of $14.6 million and a performance-based earnout over three years. Founders Agnes Kozera and David Kierzkowski will stay on.

Entercom head David Field said the deal “builds on our position as one of the country’s three largest podcast publishers and the #1 creator of original, premium audio content.”

The big media company also owns Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios in the podcast space.

Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley noted the explosion in podcast programming over the past two years but said only a fraction of those shows generate revenue.

Field said Podcorn makes it easier for brands to collaborate with targeted creators. According to Entercom, this marketplace includes 40,000 creators and an infrastructure for enabling client relationships

“The acquisition fills an industry-wide gap in helping brands of all sizes tap into the hard-to-access micro-influencer community.”

Among the benefits Entercom cites to advertisers are “highly immersive, native formats,” “host reads at scale” and “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.”

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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. 

Sure enjoyed the trip down memory lane with Kevin Curran’s story on the Electro-Voice 635A microphone. 

I started in radio back in 1961 at WCCW in Traverse City, Mich., and I remember the day in 1966 when Dave Veldsma of Audio Distributors fame rolled into town with a basket of EV 635A microphones. Dave made the rounds to the various stations in T.C. and sold all but one. 

Years later, EV salesman Greg Silsby came to town to demo the EV Sentry 100A speakers and brought a “squashed” EV 635A with him for show-and-tell. If I recall, Greg said that mic had been squished into the tar parking lot by an 18-wheeler on site at an NAB Show. He plugged it in and demonstrated that it still worked. 

EV was then located in Buchanan, Mich., so we engineers in the state didn’t have far to go to hear the latest offers from EV.

Michael Bradford, CPBE, Broadcast/Audio Services, Jackson, Mich.

Good piece about EV’s 635A. As Paul Harvey used to say, “The Rest of the Story” is about the “Son-of-635A.”

A few years after the EV masters gave us the 635A, they came up with an interesting, upgraded design for TV and radio field ops. It was the RE50. That great technical team took a 635A and placed it inside a rubberized tube for shock mounting, and put a foam and metal screen on top and, violà, the RE50. 

If you were to unscrew the top windscreen, you’d discover a 635A body inside the tube. One basic design, two must-have mics.  

Personally I favor the 635A, it’s lighter and with a windscreen, performs great. But generally, my field mic of choice for the last 50 years has been the RE55. There is no better choice.

Larry Barr

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Connectors specialist Neutrik is acquiring a German company, Connex, that specializes in event and installation AV interconnection hardware.

Connex is perhaps best known for its Fiberfox fiber-optic network hardware brand.

A release elaborates, “The [Connex] product portfolio comprises solutions for mobile or stationary applications. These include power distribution systems, fiber-optic solutions, video products, Ethernet components, splitters, patching systems, stage boxes, cabling and measuring devices.”

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