Big Country Radio Station Owner Cumulus Files For Bankruptcy. Again.
Cumulus Media, the owner of some 65 country music radio stations in the United States, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yet again. The company first filed for bankruptcy in 2017. The company owns 394 radio stations overall in 84 separate markets.
The announcement on Thursday, March 5th by the company claims the move will help the company reposition their debt for future growth. But with the continued decline of radio, it’s another troubling sign for the format, especially in the current consolidated and nationalized approach of companies like Cumulus that take the local and live aspect out of the format.
The Atlanta-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas to eliminate $592 million of the company’s $697 million in debt. In the last Cumulus financial report, they cited $553.6 million in net revenue for the nine previous months that ended on September 30, 2025, with a net loss of $65.6 million over that time.
The company cited increasing competition from digital audio and streaming platforms, changes in advertising markets, and continued declines in its radio audiences as the culprit for their debt woes. Cumulus employs about 3,000 people, but insists the bankruptcy with cause “no disruption to our operations, our people, and our strategies,” according to CEO Mary Berner.
But perhaps it should disrupt their strategies. Laying off local talent and nationalizing playlists has made radio unappealing to many consumers, along with the ability of consumers now to find the music they want to listen to via alternatives to radio as the format continues to attempt to dictate taste as opposed to serving the public what it wants to hear.
In 2018, the then VP for Cumulus country, Charlie Cook, listed off his favorite artists as Bob Seger, Steely Dan, and Tears for Fears. He said of Sturgill Simpson who was a year removed from winning the Grammy for Best Country album, “I know I’m supposed to listen to him. He’s a huge act, sells out six shows at the Ryman in a blink. But I am a hit-oriented listener and I need a sing-along hook. I do not believe he is about that.” Cook left the company in 2024.
If the Cumulus bankruptcy goes through, it will completely eliminate the company’s equity shares and make Cumulus solely the property of its lenders.
Cumulus is not the only major radio station owner who has filed for bankruptcy. The biggest radio company iHeartMedia declared bankruptcy in 2018. Audacy filed for bankruptcy in January of 2024.
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March 5, 2026 @ 7:54 pm
Listening to radio in 2026 is crazy. Just stream whatever you want to hear off the internet.
March 5, 2026 @ 9:10 pm
That requires high speed internet access. On many longer drives in my part of Oregon we don’t have that, and since most new cars don’t have CD players, that leaves radio as the only option. Unless you preload stuff on your phone beforehand, which is a level of planning I never achieve. But yeah, the car is the only place I still listen to radio at all. Otherwise I usually stream like you suggest.
March 6, 2026 @ 7:02 am
Spotify allows you to download music to your phone that can be streamed offline outside of cell coverage. I also tend to buy cassette tapes from thrift stores and Discogs – which is great if you have an older car.
March 9, 2026 @ 11:49 am
Most new cars have usb ports. Load up your favorite albums (or create your own playlists) onto a drive and listen to what you want to hear on those long trips. I have most of my CD collection on two thumb drives that are connected in my car at all times. Beats having to hear what someone corporate suit thinks I should be listening to.
March 5, 2026 @ 9:56 pm
Brother, some of us like to pay cash for dinocars that don’t connect to the interwebs. Also, no smartphone.
March 9, 2026 @ 11:51 am
Hahahaha. Those Dinocars have cassette and CD players, though. Unless you’re going way back and buying ones with eight-tracks! 😂
March 6, 2026 @ 2:00 am
Well, by today’s standards, Steely Dan could be in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
March 6, 2026 @ 8:00 am
The Country Music Hall of Fame is not the institution we should imply is permissive. We can’t even get Dwight Yoakam in there.
March 6, 2026 @ 9:56 am
That is my point.
Just recently they made room for Ray Charles, Toby Keith, Keith Whitley, Kenny Chesney and even the fucktard Joe Galante.
But no Cali guy with a big hat.
March 9, 2026 @ 11:52 am
Like him or not, Galante did a lot for country music.
March 6, 2026 @ 5:26 am
If Cumulus is liquidated (as perhaps they should be after two bankruptcies) it would leave FM very silent.
March 6, 2026 @ 7:17 am
The few times I try to listen to the radio I get annoyed with the low power signal of the few good stations and turn it off. Of course all the stations playing crap come in clear. I can’t even pick up the roots radio station WMOT anymore. With cell phone providers contiually dipping into the frequency bandwidth that traditional radio had I don’t see there being any effort to save FM radio.
March 6, 2026 @ 7:26 am
Cumulus has been turning in the licenses of some of their AM stations and just shutting them down over the last few years. This may help expedite that as they are now privately owned by their debtors.
Classic Country along with conservative talk are about the only 2 formats that still kind of work on AM, so it may be bad for classic country listeners. I’m not sure if Cumulus has any classic country AM stations, as they don’t have a presence in North East Ohio. Seems they usually run Westwood One syndicated programming like Nash Icon from what I’ve read.
March 6, 2026 @ 8:03 am
Cumulus does have a handful of stations they still operate that call themselves “classic country.” They also still have their “NASH Icon” brand, which works in more ’80s – ’00s hits than Top 40.
March 6, 2026 @ 8:30 am
Thanks, I just read an article from a site I follow called Radioinsight that lists some leases they are trying to get out from under on their silent AM Stations.
“The four tower leases that the company is seeking to have cancelled are the sites for the currently silent 1490 WLAW and 97.5 WLAW-FM Whitehall MI, 1440 KPUR Amarillo TX, 560 KZAC San Francisco CA, and an STL antenna on a building in San Francisco. The four stations whos site leases are not being retained all went silent in March 2025.”
It does say they are bringing back 2 stations that had been silent it says, one of them will be back as a Nash Icon
“Cumulus did however resurrect two of the stations that had gone silent. 101.5 WLXX Richmond/Lexington KY has returned to its former Variety Hits “101.5 Jack-FM” identity. Instead of its previous Sports format, 1050 WAYS Conway SC is currently simulcasting Classic Country “106.5 Nash Icon” WLFF Georgetown/Myrtle Beach.”
March 6, 2026 @ 10:07 am
Oh, no. What will we do without bland radio that is programmed nationally and has no personality. Oh dear.
May iheart be next.
March 6, 2026 @ 11:57 am
Maybe bankruptcy will mean the end of the ear-splitting, unfunny morning duo of Kincaid & Dallas… only to be replaced with a duo just as bad.
March 6, 2026 @ 1:36 pm
What are some examples of profitable terrestrial radio stations? Do they lean heavy on local talent and programming?
Trying to figure out who is doing this right and why Cunulus (and other conglomerates) keeps making the same mistake, apparently.
March 6, 2026 @ 2:28 pm
WBRF, https://www.classiccountry98.com/, is a successful family owned radio station that gets it.
Local announcers, broadcasts some sport events, partners with local television weather personalities for weather reports and supports local events.
March 6, 2026 @ 5:05 pm
Thank you, Jim. That station appears to be owned by Blue Ridge Radio Inc which is hard to find online.
If these conglomerates are serial bankruptcy filers, I wonder why someone doesn’t buy the assets out of bankruptcy and turn them into a money maker with a local focus? There are people with money looking for lucrative investments. Something does not make sense.
March 9, 2026 @ 11:56 am
People with money looking for lucrative investments know radio is on life-support and will soon be dead.