Orlando, Tampa Radio: CXR Must Sell 2 Stations Quickly

The FCC has rejected a request for a year's extension  and has ordered the CXR Radio to divest of two radio stations in Florida.   The stations are CHR WPYO Power 95.3 in Orlando and Alternative  WSUN 97X in Tampa FL.

The commission instead has given the Elliot Evers led CXR Radio LLC divestiture trust a 60 day extension until February 15, 2022 to file divestitures to an unaffiliated buyer. 

WSUN and WPYO have been in the Elliot Evers-run trust since 2019 after Cox Media Group was swallowed by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management as part of a pair of deals totaling $3.6 million, giving the firm 56 radio stations across 11 markets. As part of its approval of the deals, the FCC gave Evers/CMG two years to sell the FMS.

While Denying the request for another year to divest, the FCC stated, “We believe that this extension will provide CXR with sufficient time to complete a marketing process and reach a final agreement to sell the Stations. After careful consideration of the record, we conclude that it is in the public interest to grant CXR this limited extension to provide additional time in which to complete its pledge to divest the Stations and ensure long-term compliance with the Local Radio Ownership Rule. Moreover, we believe that a 60-day extension is consistent with the “limited” extension to which SBS, the only opponent, does not object.”

Last month SBS revealed it made three separate offers to Cox since August to buy WPYO. But each was rejected, and Cox’s counteroffer was several million dollars above the highest appraised value of $6 million that SBS said it received for WPYO. That led SBS to tell the FCC that it believed Cox “had no serious intention” of selling the stations before the FCC-mandated Dec. 17, 2021 deadline.

But Cox said the economic impacts of the pandemic have been far reaching, with a significant disruption that led to a “basically non-existent” radio deal market with several potential bidders remaining on the sidelines. It notes that even SBS did not approach with a bid for WYPO until three months before the divestiture deadline was already in sight. Cox told the FCC if it’s forced to quickly find a buyer, it would amount to the FCC requiring it to accept an artificially low price.