That’s according to Les Moonves, who told a media conference in Los Angeles that its radio division was staying put. It has a healthy balance sheet, and in case anybody failed to notice, CBS just entered into the radio sports network business.
Moonves’ remarks came at the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Telecommunications Conference.
He said there is simply no corporate desire to get rid of the radio group, and noted that the brand new CBS Sports Radio Network is expected to grab 10% of the sports radio pie almost instantaneously and bring in $10M-$15M of “found money.”
Earlier, CBS Radio honcho Dan Mason had explained the company’s strategy with it comes to radio in an August editorial published by Hollywood Reporter. He said that once again, reports of radio’s imminent demise were exaggerated and premature and underscored CBS’s commitment to innovation and change. “But when it comes to the entire radio marketplace,” Mason concluded in his price, “our job is to create content that appeals to a wide range of listeners and advertisers — whether that’s talk, music or news. Our future is not determined by one specific format or the people who pioneered a genre. I’d say it’s just the opposite: Our diversity and the ability to adapt to the changing environment will always put us in a position to win.”
Despite the positive comments concerning CBS radio, the question keeps coming up since it is a small part of the conglomerate’s empire – and observers cannot help but notice the recent $50M sell-off of five FMs in the West Palm Beach market to a local ownership group headed by Dean Goodman.
Further, CBS’s local broadcasting properties gained only 2% year over year during Q2 2012, its most recently completed and reported quarter – and radio was a drag on the results. The television side was up 6%, but the radio side declined by 2%.
So with all this in mind, RBR-TVBR did a quick headcount of the CBS Radio group for those who may lack the wherewithal to buy the group in its entirety but may be interested in trying to pry loose a local cluster here or there.
#1 New York 3 AMs/3 FMs
#2 Los Angeles 1 AM/5 FMs
#3 Chicago 2 AMs/5 FMs
#4 San Francisco 2 AMs/4 FMs
#5 Dallas 1 AM/5 FMs
#6 Houston 2 AMs/4 FMs
#7 Philadelphia 3 AMs/2 FMs
#8 Washington 1 AM/5 FMs
#9 Atlanta 1 AM/2 FMs
#10 Boston 1 AM/4 FMs
#11 Detroit 2 AMs/4 FMs
#13 Seattle 1 AM/3 FMs
#15 Phoenix 3 FMs
#16 Minneapolis 1 AM/2 FMs
#17 San Diego 2 FMs
#19 Tampa 1 AM/5 FMs
#21 Baltimore 1 AM/3 FMs
#22 St. Louis 1 AM/2 FMs
#24 Charlotte 2 AMs/5 FMs
#25 Pittsburgh 1 AM/3 FMs
#26 Riverside 1 AM/3 FMs
#27 Sacramento 1 AM/4 FMs
#30 Cleveland 4 FMs
#32 Las Vegas 2 AMs/4 FMs
#34 Orlando 3 FMs
#49 West Palm Beach 2 FMs
#52 Hartford 1 AM/3 FMs
#132 Palm Springs 1 FM
