Last week, we looked back at 2024, this week we’re looking ahead at 2025. What might happen in 2025?
The big theme of 2024 was cuts, but I don’t think we will see as many in 2025. In a story I saw a month or so ago about iHeart’s debt restructuring, a slight increase in advertising revenue was projected for 2025. The only exception might be at Audacy, which just emerged out of bankruptcy a few months ago. We’ve been expecting cuts there for months, but none have materialized. Also, what is up at Alpha? Outside of that company’s major cuts in May and June, very few changes have taken place there.
Going into 2025, Salem is in a much better position than they were even last week. The company paid off all its debt with a sale of its last seven Christian AC stations to EMF yesterday. That deal is expected to close in early February. In the two markets I’m most familiar with, this has me a bit perplexed. In Portland, EMF already has 97.9 KLVP, 88.7 KZRI, and 90.3 KPOR.The 88.7 and 90.3 signals broadcast from a tower at Timberline, some 50 miles away from the city itself. KZRI is fairly audible in Portland, but KPOR is not. It would not surprise me if Radio Nueva Vida, which is currently heard on 90.3, is upgraded to 88.7, but what does that leave 90.3 to do? In Los Angeles, EMF has 100.3 KKLQ, and Air1 on a set of suburban signals at 92.7. The purchase of 95.9 would suggest Radio Nueva Vida coming to that frequency, but the press release says all the stations will join either K-Love or Air1 as needed. To me, it wouldn’t make sense to break up the 92.7 trimulcast though.
Other than those two things though, there really aren’t any trends I see in the new year, though it will be interesting to see how Classic Hits continues to evolve. I suspect Classic Alternative will become a bigger thing in the years to come as well.
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