Radio: March 2, 2018
Inside Music Media’s Jerry Del Colliano (insidemusicmedia.com)
is predicting that iHeart Radio, owner of numerous local stations
including KIIS-FM (102.7) and KFI (640 AM) is going to be bankrupt soon
... perhaps by the time you read this. Thursday March 1st was the day he
predicted. And he’s often right.
What
would that mean for the world’s largest radio group owner? A huge mess,
says Del Colliano. And he’s right, due in part to the company having
kicked the can of debt payments down the road for too long. Basically,
iHeart owns too many stations, owes too much money (over $20 billion)
and has helped devalue radio to the point where ad revenue continues to
decrease. We’ll see next week if the prediction is correct.
Emmis Sells St. Louis
While
iHeart continues to avoid the obvious -- selling stations to pay down
its huge debt -- Emmis Communications, former owner of Power 106, is
doing just that. In fact, Power itself was sold to pay down its
relatively minor debt, and they just sold its four stations in St. Louis
to reduce it even more. Emmis owes about $80 million and the St. Louis
sale will generate about $60 million for the company.
Losing a Gem?
Construction
has begun at Ports O Call Village in San Pedro, the one-time thriving
retail village that was allowed to decay by the landlord, the Port of
Los Angeles, which is run by the Harbor Commission.
While
the owner of the namesake Ports O Call Restaurant -- one of San Pedro’s
treasures -- tries to negotiate with the Port and developers of the new
San Pedro Public Market, lost in the details is a little radio studio
just outside the restaurant that is a podcasting voice for Southern
California.
Basically,
if an agreement for the restaurant is not made, the Los Angeles Radio
Studio, funded as a public service by restaurant owner Jayme Wilson and
run by Michael Stark, the eight-year old studio may have to shut down.
That
would leave numerous local voices in limbo. The studio serves as the
recording room and distribution center for numerous programs heard
locally and around the world:
•
Phil Hulett and Friends, heard on KFWB (980 AM) until the station was
sold and changed formats. Hulett’s popular program is heard in over 60
countries and covers just about everything except politics.
•
Talk Time Internet Radio, hosted by Zeke Vidaurri, spotlights issues
important to San Pedro and includes discussions and interviews with
local leaders and politicians.
•
Thrashpie Radio, hosted by former KNAC now KBUE, 105.5 FM) personality
Ted "Thrasher" Pritchard, featuring music you haven’t heard on local
radio since KNAC left the air.
•
Radio Waves, hosted by Stark and Yours Truly, covering local radio
while promoting this column and the newspapers that carry it, along with
career-spanning interviews with the people who make radio great like
Shotgun Tom Kelly and Dr. Demento.
Numerous other shows are recorded at the studio weekly; they can be heard via iTunes and more, accessed at LARadioStudio.Com.
“In addition,” according to Stark, “the studio does a lot of work with
the CSULB radio program, with internships and hosting shows that are
featured on the student station that broadcasts on line and over the air
via K-JAZZ’s digital HD stream (88.1 HD3)”
Wilson
says that he is in talks with the new developer for the studio (and
restaurant) to be part of the new San Pedro Public Market. “A small
glassed studio in the Market would connect the development with the
world,” he explained. “We could broadcast live musical performances and
other events” that are expected to be part of the development.
Hopefully
an agreement can be made, as the loss of the only studio of its kind in
the area would be huge for the community, just as podcasts are gaining
in popularity.
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