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Thursday, September 29th, 2016

Signing off: CBS is getting out of the radio business — is this finally the end of the medium?

Author:     Angelo Young
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Tuesday, Sep 27, 2016 03:00 AM PDT
Link: Signing off: CBS is getting out of the radio business — is this finally the end of the medium?
Stephan:   Researchers and marketing specialists who study the issue predict that about half the broadcast AM and FM radio stations now operating will be gone by the end of the decade. Along with newspapers, radio's share of the market is shrinking and its profit potential is drying up. Many  Millennials and those even younger never read a newspaper nor listen to broadcast radio. This report lays out the issues.
Walter Cronkite Credit: Associated Press

Walter Cronkite
Credit: Associated Press

More and more Americans, and particularly young people, don’t tune into radio stations at all anymore. But is that the end for radio, the medium that’s survived existential threats from TV (and MTV), CD players and iPods?

If it is, it appears to be a slow and painful goodbye, as advertising dollars gradually evaporate and audiences dwindle.

The biggest indicator that terrestrial radio (the traditional broadcast) is once again at death’s door is CBS Corp.’s bid to spin off its 88-year-old radio business — once home to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite —  in order to focus on its more profitable television and cable broadcasting segments. If CBS can’t find any buyers for its 117 stations in 29 U.S. markets, it will offer shares of CBS Radio via an initial public offering. So far, no buyers have stepped forward publicly, so the most likely scenario is an IPO that will have absolutely none of the fanfare that Facebook’s did.

While CBS Radio is profitable — thanks […]

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