Townsquare Has High Hopes For Q2

5-7-15

CEO Steven Price says he's very pleased with the results his company put on the board in the first quarter and gave some hope the second quarter will be even brighter. Cold weather was to blame for fewer selling days in January, February, and March, and that resulted in a flat local ad revenue quarter for Townsquare. While overall company net revenue increased $2 million (2.5 percent) to $81.1 million, local advertising revenue decreased $200K (0.3 percent) to $65.1 million. Live events revenue increased $400K (5.1 percent) to $8.2 million, and other media and entertainment revenue increased $1.8 million (29 percent) to $7.9 million. Price expects the second quarter revenue to increase in the high-single digits.

(5/7/2015 10:42:18 AM)
Look, a broadcaster that's actually reporting growth!!

Digital is critical at TSM and that's why they will continue to deliver good results. Cumulus? Not so much.

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SEC Filing Shows Townsquare Salaries

4-14-15

Townsquare Chairman/CEO Steven Price brought in $450,000 in salary and a $600,000 bonus in 2015, according to a Townsquare Media SEC filing Tuesday. EVP/CFO Stu Rosenstein received $400,000 in salary and a bonus of $600,000. But due to accounting rules related to Townsquare's IPO, their total compensation technically adds up to a great deal more: About $11.1 million for Price and $6.05 million for Rosenstein. The apparent huge jump resulted from the exchange of the executives' previously held incentive shares of Townsquare Media LLC, which were traded for Class B shares of the newly public Townsquare Media Inc.

Breaking it down, Price's stock award is worth $1,385,351, and he also received option to purchase Class B stock worth $8,536,409 -- again, in exchange for previously held Townsquare LLC incentive units. Those amounts, plus "other compensation" of $84,610, brings Price's total compensation for the year up to $11,056,370. His total compensation in 2013, with Townsquare LLC, was $1,069,744.

EVP/CFO Stuart Rosenstein built on his base salary of $400,000 with a $600,000 bonus. His stock grants and options -- granted under the same circumstances as Price's -- added up to $692,670 in Class B stock and  $4,268,202 million in options. Other compensation of $84,610 brought his total compensation to $6,045,485 for the year. That's compared to $969,744 in 2013.

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Townsquare Announces Successful Refinancing

4-1-2015

Townsquare Media announced on Wednesday the closing of an offering of $300 million in aggregate principal amount of its 6.500 percent senior notes due 2023. Townsquare also announced a $325 million senior secured credit facility, including a new seven-year, $275 million term loan. Both were to complete the company's previously announced redemption of the outstanding 9.00 percent senior notes due 2019, in aggregate principal amount of $410.9 million.

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Can Townsquare Deliver Another Big Quarter?

11-5-14

This will be our second chance to hear from radio's newest public company. Townsquare reports earnings before the opening bell Thursday and will host a conference call at 8 a.m. Three months ago, Townsquare executives reported a 7.8 percent revenue increase while most other radio companies were flat. Townsquare focuses on being diversified (see WE Fest purchase) and experienced an increase of nearly 40 percent in its digital and events business in May, June, and July. The company also reported flat advertising revenue, blaming it on four markets, so we'll see if CEO Steven Price and his team addresses those markets on the earnings call. Since early August the Townsquare stock price has risen from about $10.75 to nearly $12.80.

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Townsquare Purchases Country Music Festival

11-3-14

WE Fest is a country music and camping festival founded in 1983 and based in Detroit Lakes, MN. Townsquare pays $21.5 million in cash and 100,000 Townsquare Media Class A common shares for the festival located at the Soo Pass Ranch, a 500-acre lakefront facility comprised of a natural amphitheater and more than 9,000 campsites. Townsquare Executive VP for Live Events Dhruv Prasad said, ?The addition of WE Fest to our portfolio of music festivals positions Townsquare Media as one of the leading country music festival owners in the United States. We look forward to continuing to grow the audience at WE Fest, along with the operating leadership team of the festival, including Bob Bliss, John Gourley, and Mark Schultz, who will be joining Townsquare.?

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Opening Day on Wall Street For Townsquare

7-25-14

It was the first radio company to go public in about a decade and it closed down from its opening price of $11.00. Townsquare wobbled between $9.93 and $10.84 before closing at $10.25 and dropping a little more in after hours trading. Volume was about 5.5 million shares. Originally the company was hoping to price the stock around $15.00.

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Townsquare Chooses Compass For Two Shows

5-14-15

Townsquare Media has chosen Compass Media Networks as the exclusive national advertising and affiliate sales agent for the Loudwire Nights and Taste of Country Nights programs. Townsquare EVP Erik Hellum said, ?Townsquare Media has invested, and will continue to invest, significant resources to ensure the success of Loudwire Nights and Taste of Country Nights. These brands have tremendous momentum and will continue to help drive radio listenership for our affiliates.?

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Summers To Brand Townsquare Boise

1-7-14

Rich Summers is the new Brand Manager for Townsquare's Country station WOWCountry 104.3 (KAWOFM). He'll also take over as AM Operations Manager for News Talk 580 KIDO and Sports Radio 630 The Fan (KFXD), all serving SW Idaho. Townsquare Media Boise?s Market Manager Kevin Godwin said "Rich is a terrific addition to our talented programming team here in Boise. He has a track record of success and brings a wealth of brand development experience to our operation.?

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Townsquare Picks Up 71 New Stations

8-30-13

Townsquare Media is picking up 71 new radio stations thanks to Cumulus' need to raise cash to purchase Dial Global. Townsquare Executive Vice President Alex Burkett tells Radio Ink, "We are excited about the brands we are acquiring and the teams that make those brands great. We hope to learn more about how these brands have been built and operate over time and hope to bring Townsquare?s growth oriented operating strategy into the mix going forward."

Townsquare announced three transactions with Cumulus and Peak II Holding which, upon consummation, will result in Townsquare acquiring assets including 71 radio stations in 15 markets. Pro forma for the Transactions, Townsquare will own 312 radio stations in 66 markets and have operations in 25 states, making it the third largest owner of radio stations in the United States and the largest, best-capitalized owner and operator of radio stations solely focused on small and mid-sized markets.
Townsquare CEO Steven Price said, "These transactions represent the continued evolution of Townsquare Media into one of the nation?s largest local media companies and allow us to reach a scale which opens the door to new strategic opportunities. The assets we are adding to our portfolio are market-leading brands with strong competitive positions in their respective small and mid-sized markets. We are excited by the opportunity to deploy our differentiated local-media strategy across a broader footprint in order to better serve our communities and our advertising clients."
In connection with the Transactions, Townsquare is acquiring assets including 53 radio stations (three of which will be assigned to a divestiture trust) in 12 markets (Battle Creek, MI; Cedar Rapids, IA; Danbury, CT; Faribault-Owatonna, MN; Kalamazoo, MI; Lansing, MI; Portland, ME; Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester, NH; Quad Cities, IA-IL; Rochester, MN; Rockford, IL; and Waterloo, IA) from Cumulus for cash. Townsquare is also acquiring Peak, which owns assets including 11 radio stations in 2 markets (Boise, ID and Fresno, CA) for cash and equity units of Townsquare. Finally, Townsquare will exchange certain assets including 5 radio stations, in Fresno it is acquiring from Peak, for Cumulus assets including 15 radio stations in two markets (Dubuque, IA and Poughkeepsie, NY) and a de minimis cash settle-up payment in favor of Townsquare. Intotal, Townsquare will be acquiring 68 stations from Cumulus, three of which will be assigned to a divestiture trust, and eleven Peak stations, five of which will be exchanged to Cumulus, resulting in a net increase of 71 stations.
Townsquare expects to finance the Transactions with a mix of secured and unsecured debt financing,Townsquare equity units and cash on hand. Townsquare has received debt financing commitments from its various financing partners in connection with the transactions and will complete its financing in compliance with the covenant package of Townsquare Radio LLC?s existing Senior Unsecured Notes indenture.

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Townsquare Names Gaines Ops Manager In Texas

7-25-13

Scott Gaines is the new operations manager in Tyler/Longview, Texas, where Townsquare has four stations (KNUE, KISX, KKTX, and KTYL). Gaines most recently served as Dial Global?s morning show host of Country Today and Country Today Gold. Market Manager Johnny Lathrop said, ?Scott?s background and passion for the business was a perfect fit for what we wanted in Tyler-Longview to grow our heritage brands. We?re excited to get him in the building."

Gaines said, ?I couldn't be more excited to take on this new challenge as the Operations Manager at Townsquare Tyler-Longview. Townsquare Media has the same vision and drive to move the stations to the next level of success and getting to work with Townsquare SVP Programming Kurt Johnson again is exciting. I am thrilled to be working with Johnny and everyone in the building.?

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Townsquare is Movin On Up.

7-22-13

The folks at Townsquare likes to operate below the radar, but there?s no hiding the fact that after only three short years, the company is now 3rd in number of stations owned, with 242, and, per BIA/Kelsey, was ninth in billing in 2012, with nearly $190 million. Continuing his yearly climb up Radio Ink's 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list, Townsquare CEO Steven Price moves from 16th to number 9, after another year of activity growing the company. Price says Townsquare?s story, in its 51 small and medium markets, is live and local for audiences, while for advertisers, the story is to help them grow their businesses. Here's more about one of our biggest movers on the list, Townsquare Media.

Oaktree Capital is the money behind Price?s vision of a media and entertainment company with radio, digital, and live event properties. Most recently,  Townsquare purchased the digital assets of AOL Music and ComicsAlliance and Price says everyone understands the vision. ?Townsquare has been focusing on continuing to build out our product offering and audience experiences within radio and across complementary platforms, integrating the Townsquare Media story into our business practices and culture, and sharing the Townsquare Media story externally with our advertiser and agency partners. We are focusing on creating what we call the ?Townsquare experience,? which is rooted in radio?s strength as a community engagement and activation medium. We attract desirable and scaled audiences through original and live and local content, we get them to lean in and participate with our content, and we motivate them to do something, whether it?s creating a relationship with a favorite on-air personality and following them across platforms or taking advantage of an advertiser?s product or service.

Price believes that getting the radio message out is key to the success of the industry. ?Radio delivers an exciting and needed product to consumers,? he says. ?It is local entertainment, supported by local brands, with human personality and community engagement. It is not a homogenized jukebox. In my view, the industry?s challenges have been less about the reality of our consumer offering and more about the perception of our medium. With that said, I do believe that the radio industry has been telling a much better story recently, both on the local and national levels, and that story is resonating with marketers, advertisers, and consumers alike.?

But telling a better radio story is only one piece of the puzzle, according to the Townsquare CEO. "Telling a bigger media story should be our focus as an industry. We need to stop talking about what we have and talk about what we do. And what we do best is drive demand for our advertisers? businesses and services. This is bigger than a radio story, bigger than a media story, and bigger than a marketing story. This is an advertiser success and survival story. Radio works! We all have to redefine the business we are in. If we focus on our share of the radio advertising pie, none of us will be successful. If we focus on driving successful client outcomes and becoming a flexible, trusted, and indispensable business partner, then we will open up expanded revenue streams for our clients, ourselves, and our category.?

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Townsquare Extends Grand Rapids Morning Show

7-10-13

Townsquare Grand Rapids has announced a deal through 2018 with the Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show which is heard on WGRD-FM. The show, hosted by Gregg "Free Beer" Daniels, Chris "Hot Wings" Michels, and Eric Zane, began full syndication in 2004. VP/GM Russ Hines said, "Gregg, Chris and Eric continue to entertain and grow their audience every day and amuse their listeners with quality humorous content. Their decision to stay in West Michigan and continue to raise their families here is another indication of what makes Grand Rapids special.?

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243 Townsquare Stations Now Use Marketron

2-4-2013

Marketron announced an expanded, multi-year and multi-million dollar agreement with Townsquare Media to deploy Marketron software and services across the company's entire business.

Executive Vice President and CFO of Townsquare Media Stu Rosenstein said, "Marketron's open platform delivers on Townsquare's goal to improve efficiencies and increase the revenue potential of all our stations. By optimizing the backend of our business with Marketron, we will be better able to utilize data-driven business intelligence to run a smarter and more efficient organization."

Marketron President and CEO Jeff Haley said, "We are very proud to add Townsquare's 243 stations to our fast-growing list of customers who are utilizing our expanded suite of services. Townsquare's increased investment in Marketron is a strong confirmation of our commitment to leadership and innovation in the business software and solutions space for the media industry."

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Janoff Joins Townsquare

1-3-13

Janoff gets to stay in his neck of the woods with his new gig as Regional VP for Townsquare. He fills the New Jersey slot recently vacated by Zoe Burdine-Fly who jumped to Clear Channel in Chicago. Janoff was VP of Sales for Merlin Media during that company's start-up days. He's also worked for 1010 WINS in New York and WBZ in Boston

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Bob McCuin Joins Townsquare

11-19-2012

The former Director of Sales for Clear Channel joins Townsquare as the Senior Vice President for Sales. McCuin will oversee all sales for Townsquare. CEO Steven Price said, "We are excited to have Bob join the Townsquare Media team and oversee our sales organization. With the combination of his leadership ability, strategic skills, and expertise, we have no doubt that he will have a very positive impact on our organization.?

For three years, McCuin was Director of Sales for Clear Channel in New York City where he oversaw all revenue for the operation. He says, ?I am thrilled to be joining Townsquare Media Group. In a very short period of time the company has become a major player in the local media business with a strategic vision for success. I look forward to working with the Townsquare Media team to realize the full potential of the company?s multi-media brands.?

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Townsquare Purchases MOG's Ad Network

9-23-2012

The official announcement is expected to be made at 9 a.m. this morning. This Townsquare purchase, believed to be a little over $10 million, has more to do with Townsquare's national websites than its 242 local radio station websites. The MOG network, which has 60 million unique monthly users, sells ads from about 1,500 publishers (a third party provider serves the ads), and Townsquare was already using the network to serve ads for its consumer site www.tasteofcountry.com.

In addition to radio, Townsquare is building a digital business, so this purchase fits into their big-picture strategy. Other national Townsquare websites include www.popcrush.com, www.screencrush.com, and www.ultimateclassicrock.com. The company has about a dozen of these consumer-focused sites. The MOG network has offices in Berkley, Santa Monica, Chicago, and New York. All offices will remain open and all employees will remain employed.

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Townsquare Gives Giuttari New Chair in Albany.

8-3-2012

Townsquare Media welcomes Stephen Giuttari as Operations Manager at its Albany cluster. He?ll oversee programming operations for Country WGNA, Sports 104.5 The Team, Adult Hits Crush FM, Hip Hop Hot 99.1 and Rock Q103. In addition to his Albany duties Giuttari will serve as east regional country format brand leader for Townsquare?s country stations.

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Townsquare Cumulus Station Swap Closes

8-1-2012

This was a deal announced back on April 30th. Cumulus moved 55 stations to Townsquare in exchange for 10 stations in two markets plus $116 million in cash. The stations sold by Cumulus to Townsquare are in Augusta, ME; Bangor, ME; Binghamton, NY; Bismarck, ND; Grand Junction, CO; Killeen-Temple, TX; New Bedford, MA; Odessa-Midland, TX; Presque Isle, ME; Sioux Falls, SD and Tuscaloosa, AL. Cumulus picked up 10 stations in Bloomington, IL, and Peoria, IL.

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Townsquare Hires Former Kraft VP

5-17-2012
Townsquare creates the position Executive VP and Chief Strategy Officer for Mark Stewart. Stewart is responsible for overall positioning of the company?s diversified assets, including Townsquare's 244 radio stations, a live event business, and digital properties. Stewart was at Kraft Foods, where he was VP Global Media overseeing Kraft?s global media budget. Stewart reports directly to CEO Steven Price.

Price said, ?We are extremely excited that Mark Stewart is joining our management team. Mark is a recognized leader in our industry with an incredible depth and breadth of marketing and media knowledge across all media platforms and product categories. His blue chip media agency and client experience will be invaluable in helping us continue to assemble and deliver a portfolio of compelling media assets that connect and resonate with our audiences and drive activation and growth for our advertisers.?
In his three years with Kraft, Stewart contemporized their strategic media approach, drove a dramatic increase in digital investment, and segmented media deployment more effectively to drive brand growth. 

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Townsquare Now 7th-Largest Radio Company By Revenue

It hasn't taken Steven Price long to steer Townsqaure Media toward the top of the radio revenue charts. In just under two years, the private company backed by Oaktree Capital has experienced phenomenal station - and revenue - growth, rivaled only by Cumulus. For the first year, Price kept Townsquare very much under the radar, shunning publicity while picking up some of radio's broken pieces and standing them back up. Townsquare now has 244 stations in small markets all over the United States; only Cumulus and Clear Channel have more. And perhaps, if Clear Channel were in a financial position to shed some of its smaller market stations, Townsquare would have more. It has more Oaktree money to spend and it's no secret the company is continually looking to grow. Tomorrow, Townsquare will celebrate its second birthday and, with its recent 55-station pickup from Cumulus, will do so as the 7th-largest radio company by revenue at approximately $240 million. As we reported in the 2011 "40 Most Powerful People In Radio" issue last July, (where Price debuted at number 17), Townsquare was ranked 12th in revenue with $133 million. At $240 million, Townsquare now generates more revenue than the radio assets of Radio One, Hubbard, Greater Media Salem, and Emmis, all of whom were ahead of it only 10 months ago, according to 2011 BIA numbers. And just an FYI: The 2012 "40 Most Powerful People In Radio" issue is only two months away. According to our calculations based on public financial documents, research, information from analysts, and other estimates provided to us over the past few weeks, here is how radio's top 10 companies are now aligned in terms of revenue (these numbers are our best guesstimates involving radio assets only):1) Clear Channel - 2.88 billion
2) CBS - $1.34 billion
3) Cumulus - $1.14 billion
4) Entercom - $383 million
5) Cox - $375 million
6) Univision $323 million
7) Townsquare $240 million
8) Radio One - $221 million
9) Hubbard $182 million
10) Salem - $179 million

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