'Vulture' Fund Trying To Get Tentacles Into Radio

Heath Freeman, president of Alden Global Capital, will hold a 31.86% voting interest in a reorganized, debt-reduced Cumulus Media through Next Gen Radio Enterprises LLC, according to Transfer of Control Amendments filed with the FCC earlier this month, pending regulatory approval.

The stake makes Freeman one of the largest post-bankruptcy stakeholders in one of the nation’s biggest radio station ownership groups. Industry observers note the move could signal significant job cuts, echoing Alden’s record of deep staff reductions at newspapers.

Heath Freeman

Alden has drawn widespread criticism in journalism circles for gutting newsrooms in cities where it has owned once-major dailies since acquiring MediaNews Group out of bankruptcy about 16 years ago. A union effort in Fort Lauderdale blocked planned cuts at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Similar patterns have played out across the beleaguered print industry.

Alden was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith as an investor in distressed debt. By 2010 it had entered media through MediaNews Group, eventually controlling titles including the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Boston Herald, New York Daily News, Orange County Register and dozens of other daily and weekly papers. These were largely consolidated under Tribune Publishing, which Alden fully acquired in 2021.Critics have long labeled Alden a “vulture” fund. 

On the day it completed the Tribune acquisition, NPR described its signature approach as making deep newsroom cuts. NewsGuild reported that Alden offered buyouts across Tribune newsrooms within days of taking control, reducing news staff by roughly 20%. 

NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss has said Alden cut nearly three-quarters of its newspapers’ combined workforce between 2012 and the end of 2020. Nieman Lab has described a consistent pattern: acquire a distressed paper, sell real estate and other assets, cut staff until margins recover, and reinvest little back into the newsroom.