Radio broadcaster Audacy has sold six of its transmission towers for $17 million as the company works to bring in more capital amid a downturn in business.
The six towers include those used by Los Angeles rocker KROQ (106.7 FM); WLZL (107.9 FM) in Washington, D.C.; WBEE (92.5 FM) in Rochester and WLKK (107.7 FM) in Rochester.
The property was sold to K2 Towers, a company that owns more than 5,000 transmission towers and sites used for traditional radio broadcasting, business-to-business radio services and other wireless communication products.
The towers were sold through a shell company called Audacy Atlas that was set up by the radio broadcaster for the divestiture of certain tangible and non-tangible assets. The sale was first reported by broadcast trade publication Radio Insight on Wednesday.
This week, Audacy reported its quarterly revenue declined to $342 million, about 1 percent less than the $344.7 brought in during the same period in 2021. Net income fell to $12.2 million for the quarter, down from $21.4 million reported last year.
Like other media companies, Audacy has been hit particularly hard by certain macroeconomic effects in the traditional advertising market, and the company hasn’t diversified itself enough to offset the losses with additional revenue pipelines. Its podcast business brought in 8 percent less money compared to 2021.
The issue has forced Audacy to get creative with how it brings in new capital: Last year, the broadcaster put its Radio.com domain up for sale through an auction listed by domain registrar GoDaddy. The asking price for the domain is at least $2.5 million; it wasn’t clear if Audacy had solicited any serious buyers for the web address, which it acquired as Entercom through its purchase of media assets from CBS Radio several years ago.
Audacy’s stock price reflects the company’s woes: Last March, Audacy’s per-share average was more than $3. Today, its stock price hovers around 15 cents.
