WPRO’s Big Problem Filling the Cianci Time Slot — Who’s Next

WPRO’s Big Problem Filling the Cianci Time Slot — Who’s Next

Buddy Cianci was not just the controversial former Mayor of Providence turned radio talk show host, he was the money maker for WPRO AM, and its parent company Cumulus Media, company in the Providence market.

There are a few scenarios driven by cost, considerations of gender, and maybe most importantly the company's dire financial condition, as to who will fill Cianci's drive-time slot on WPRO.

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For Cumulus, a company that does a more than a billion dollars in sales annually, but has seen its stock fall from a 52-week high of $4.51 per share to a Friday close of $0.26 — a 94 percent decrease in stock value, the decision is much more complicated due to a potential bankruptcy.

Cianci Drove As Much as 40% of the Revenue

According to sources, Cianci was by far the biggest revenue generator. Often his show was sold out both for drive-time spots and for live reads - the format in which the host personally endorses a product or service for a fee. Cianci, between his base salaries, incentives, and live reads made over $300,000, and drove the entire revenue machine and a time when both of the two largest U.S. radio groups have over 20 billion in debt and a shrinking audience. 

According to Pew Research Center, listening to radio news has decreased from 50% of the population to just 33% in 2015. Moreover, as the mega corporate groups continue to try to reduce costs, shifting WPRO from “live and local” from morning to night to a line-up that includes some syndicated content like a Michael Savage may be attractive during this time of corporate financial collapse. Public radio too is facing significant loss -- especially with young listeners.

"Average–quarter-hour (AQH) listening during morning drive time has dropped 11 percent in the past five years, and afternoon drive audience has declined 6 percent. The only age bracket that has increased listening to NPR stations is the 65-plus audience," reports Current, a publication that cover public broadcasting. Talk and news formats are decreasing and graying.

The WPRO brand used to be hosted by affable local voices like Salty Brine and Sherm Strickhouser and has morphed to tough nose conservative political talk fueled by Cianci and the controversial John DePetro. For two years union leaders have demanded that Democratic candidates and elected officials boycott spending on the station and appearing in interviews over DePetro.

As GoLocal reported in December:

The two biggest radio companies in the United States are on the verge of massive restructuring or bankruptcy, as they each have billions of dollars in debt and little chance of managing the building financial obligations.

How bad is the situation?  According to one leading radio analyst, the problem is catastrophic.  “$20.5 billion in debt for iHeart — billions more than the city of Detroit when it went bankrupt.  As I have been reporting, the venture capitalists are circling the carcass for a 2017 bankruptcy.  At Cumulus, new CEO Mary Berner has done nothing new except hire another person from outside the industry…They want to go bankrupt and her experience taking Readers Digest into Chapter 11 is her qualification to be CEO,” said Jerry Del Colliano, Publisher, Inside Music Media.