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Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Boston Radio: Judge Okays Audacy Real Estate Sale


A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has given Audacy the green light to sell two of its Massachusetts properties in separate deals totaling almost $22 million.

The Philly Business Journal reports Audacy Chief Financial Officer Richard J. Schmaeling on Friday signed a pair of emergency relief requests asking for quick approval of the sale of a building housing the company's office and studios in Boston for up to $18.1 million by March 6 and the sale of a parcel outside the city that houses radio towers for $3.5 million by Feb. 28.

Judge Christopher Lopez approved the orders Tuesday, the same day he signed off on Audacy's reorganization plan, as the Philadelphia-based audio content provider attempts to pare down costs amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Audacy Massachusetts headquarters building at 83 Leo M. Birmingham Parkway is home to all of Audacy’s Boston radio stations, including popular sports talk station WEEI and adult contemporary music stations Mix 104.1 and Magic 106.7. The company will lease back the property from the buyer, identified in court documents as 83 Leo Property Owner LLC.

As part of the sale agreement for the radio tower property at 1555 Central Ave. in Needham, Massachusetts, Audacy has a perpetual easement arranged with buyer ATS-Needham LLC so it can continue to use the tower to operate WEEI.\

This is not the first real estate deal for Audacy in recent months. In December, it sold the property that houses its Phoenix radio stations for $10.5 million.

The company has said it would be cutting costs but has not specified from where the cuts would come. Industry experts pinpointed areas such as personnel, real estate, station sales and vendor contract terminations.

Late last month, Audacy confirmed it had cut about a quarter of the staff at its Pineapple Street Studios podcast division.

Audacy owns more than 200 radio stations across the country and has faced sagging advertising revenue and rising debt since its 2017 acquisition of CBS Radio. 

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