Entercom/CBS Radio Place Future Spin-Offs In Divestiture Trust

Entercom and CBS Radio have filed with the FCC to create the Entercom Divestiture Trust to handle the divestiture of the stations in seven markets that it is required to spin-off.

While Entercom will only be required to divest fourteen stations to get under the current FCC market caps, it is seeking permission to assign the licenses of 43 different stations into the trust. This will give Entercom flexibility to choose which stations it will seek to keep and which ones it will spin-off. Among the stations being filed for placement into the divestiture trust are all of CBS Radio and Entercom’s stations in the Boston, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Seattle markets.

Entercom will be required to spin-off 2 FMs in Boston, 1 FM in Los Angeles, 3 FMs in Sacramento, 1 FM in San Diego, 4 FMs in San Francisco, 2 FMs in Seattle, and 1 FM in Wilkes-Barre PA where it will lose its grandfathered status.

The filings do however, let us know what the company’s plan is in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Wilkes-Barre. In Los Angeles, CBS’ Variety Hits “93.1 Jack-FM” KCBS-FM and Entercom Classic Rock “100.3 The Sound” KSWD will both go into the trust giving the company the option to sell one or the other. In both San Diego and Wilkes-Barre, the Entercom Country station will lose its rimshot simulcast used to increase the station’s reach. 92.1 KSOQ Escondido CA currently rebroadcasts 97.3 KSON San Diego to the northern reaches of San Diego County, while 95.9 WGGI Benton PA brings “Froggy 101.3” WGGY Scranton to the Bloomsberg area.

Entercom will decide which stations need to be placed in the trust prior to closing of their merger with CBS Radio pending that any divestitures have not been completed by that time. The trust will be overseen by MVP Capital’s Elliot Evers.