Shot in the Dark

Air Davos

George Soros and his, uh, “activist” investment operation are set to take a controlling interest in Audacy, the nations’ second-largest radio station chain:

The Soros investment firm, which is listed alongside other Audacy lenders that are members of the “ad hoc first lien group,” is poised to have its debt converted into Audacy stock as part of a restructuring of the company.

Audacy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year in order to reduce and restructure its $1.9 billion debt, converting most of it into stock.

“Through the restructuring, Audacy and its debtholders will undertake a deleveraging transaction to equitize approximately $1.6 billion of funded debt, a reduction of 80 percent from approximately $1.9 billion to approximately $350 million,” the company said in a Jan. 7 press release.

There were a number of critical reactions as word spread on social media that Mr. Soros’s investment firm is set to assume a major stake in America’s number two radio station chain.

There’s concern from the right that Soros might turn Audacy’s stations into a huge progressive media nexus.

I’m less convinced. Audacy’s major holdings in the Twin Cities are a couple of the bigger music stations, and the once-mighty WCCO. If progressives took complete control of ‘CCO, I’m not sure we’d notice any more than if they’d taken over the Strib.

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Mitch Berg

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7 responses to “Air Davos”

  1. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I’m less convinced

    I agree. The loss, as it were, would be in shutting down right-wing voices, but the customers are going to go elsewhere. Soros investment, $400M in debt f’chris’sakes, will never pan out.

    But that to me is the unmentioned and more important aspect of this. Soros is willing to take a $400M loss for his politics. Where are the right-wing billionaires?

  2. SmithStCrx Avatar
    SmithStCrx

    JDM,
    It’s less of an investment than getting something for the money previously loaned out. We’ll have to see if the new ownership does any restructuring with an eye to profitability, or if they try to unload their new stock to get something more than nothing back on the loan.

  3. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    ^ You misunderstand me or disagree.

    I see Soros’ action as ignoring the money (the so-called investment) to exert or buy political control. He has enough money that he doesn’t care who or what he damages as long as he gets his way (his role in the 1992 currency crisis when he was still acquiring his wealth is proof of that). Soros is a reliable lefty who puts his money where is mouth is.

    And I repeat, where are the right-wing billionaires who will do the same for “our side”?

  4. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    He doesn’t need to realize the loss immediately. He needs to keep conservatives off the air until after the election, at which time some Democrat will sponsor the Preserve Our Precious Democracy Airwaves Act to give him a bailout. It will be bundled in a thousand pages of other spending to avoid a government shut down next January. After that he sells debt free and makes a fortune (minus 10% for the Big Guy of course)

  5. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    One thing I notice about radio is that there are more and more Christian stations, which typically operate on a shoestring. They used to be at the bottom end of the FM dial, but now they’re spread throughout. That means they’re buying frequency bands for a bargain, which is probably what Soros is doing as well.

    That noted, the ease of buying licenses for radio these days tells me that it is probably not the best way of getting the message out these days, and I see it with my own kid, who tend to feed their Spotify through bluetooth to the car while driving instead of listening to the radio.

    So for all kinds of things that I care about–politics and religion alike–I’m starting to think that “we” are going to need to figure out new ways of getting the word out. Shortwave gave way to AM/FM, which gave way a lot to TV (at least before Rush Limbaugh), and that’s going Internet and who knows what.

  6. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    ^ Completely plausible.

  7. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    (my completely plausible response referred to the bigmans’s 2:44 comment)

    It was my understanding – and there’s a radio expert or two here to tell me I’m wrong – that Rush kind of saved AM radio. Except for the various mega(watt) stations like ‘CCO that had (have still?) a rural/agricultural audience, any station that played music was moving on to FM. Steely Dan’s “FM (No Static At All)” is a song mentioning that very reason why.

    I believe Rush’s fame was built on getting the message out on small forgotten AM stations throughout the country as conservatives (finally) found someone who spoke their language. Many of these stations were daytime-only (man, this all takes me back as a radio listener).

    Is the situation the same or similar now? I’m asking. I don’t know. I mean, can Soros be defeated, so to speak, by an army of small AM stations serving conservative voices again?

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