Report: Entercom Could Be On The Move

Artist's rendering

Entercom Communications Corp., the nation’s No. 2 radio station group owner, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from suburban Bala Cynwyd to a refurbished and modernized industrial building on the Schuylkill River waterfront in Philadelphia, according to philly.com citing multiple sources in radio and real estate.

The company is expected to take space at the new Aramark headquarters at the 2400 Market Street. Aramark announced in 2016 its plans to relocate there from 1101 Market Street.

Entercom is expected to take a floor in the office building, or about 60,000 square feet, sources say. They describe the lease signing as close but not finalized. They did not want to be identified for business reasons.

Entercom spokeswoman Esther-Mireya Tejeda declined to comment.

Entercom now leases 14,000 square feet in Bala Cynwyd, according to private industry data. The company also operates six former CBS Radio stations in Philadelphia: KYW, WPHT-AM, WXTU, WOGL-FM, WTDY-FM (Today’s 96.5) and WIP-FM. It was unclear whether the six stations would locate to 2400 Market.

Current location

Entercom closed on its deal to merge with CBS Radio in November, vastly expanding its national radio reach to more than 100 million listeners. The company has been consolidating CBS Radio operations around the country, even selling a parcel of land in Chicago for $46 million.

If it makes the move into Philadelphia, the city will be the headquarters for the nation’s second-largest radio group and the nation’s largest cable-TV and residential-internet provider, Comcast Corp.

Entercom and other companies based their operations in Bala Cynwyd over the years to avoid the city wage tax. Entercom has been located at 401 East City Ave. in Bala Cynwyd. But in recent years there has been some migration by companies with suburban operations back into the city to tap into the region’s younger labor pool and the urban vibe.