Broadcasters lost one of our legends last week. Lew Dickey, Sr. passed away. He had a great run in radio and TV and will be missed. My condolences to Lew Jr., John, and their family.
Here is the story from "Radio World:"
Fifty-year broadcaster Lew Dickey senior passed away Thanksgiving weekend.
He was 86.
The father of Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey Jr. and co-COO John Dickey began his career at Storer Broadcasting’s WWVA(AM), Wheeling, W.Va. He was promoted within Storer to leadership positions at KDKA(TV), Pittsburgh followed by WAGA(TV), Atlanta. In 1958, he founded Midwestern Broadcasting by acquiring WKWK, Wheeling, W.Va. Dickey turned around the station in 24 months. He started expanding Midwestern by adding Toledo, Ohio stations WOHO(AM) in 1965 and WWWM(FM) in 1973.
Shortly afterwards, Dickey bought WLIO(TV), Lima, Ohio in partnership with the Toledo Blade newspaper. In 1992, he purchased WALR(FM) and WCNN(AM), Atlanta.
“My dad was an enormously talented broadcaster and, more importantly, a deeply devoted husband, father and mentor. He touched the lives of many people and will be dearly missed,” said Lew Dickey Jr. in a statement.
Lew Dickey Sr. is survived by his wife of 57 years, Patricia; six children: Pat, Lew, David, John, Michael and Caroline; and eight grandchildren. As of press time, services plans had not been publicly mentioned.
Showing posts with label Lew Dickey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lew Dickey. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
A few words about last week’s 2013 Radio Show in Orlando . . .
Things were a lot more upbeat this year; the “buzz” was
good. And the venue (Rosen Shingle Creek) was comfortable and convenient.
Here is a link to Radio Ink’s
“10 Reasons The NAB Radio Show Rocked!”
Media Services Group gathered for a meeting the day before
the show started. It is always a good
opportunity for us to compare notes on the state of the industry. With our national footprint of eleven offices,
we are able to get a handle on trends, particularly in the area of station
values.
We believe that radio station prices are fundamentally
trading in a range of 6.0x to 7.0x Broadcast Cash Flow, with “outlier” deals as
low as the 5s and as high as the 8s. Our
confidence level on this position is quite high; and the meetings we had in our
suite with buyers and sellers supported the thesis.
Lew Paper’s (Pillsbury) breakfast was jam packed this
year. This is a good barometer of the
state of the trading business. Marci Ryvicker (Wells Fargo) kicked off the session with her annual
state-of-the-industry report. It was
generally upbeat, though she pointed out that radio’s gains at the expense of
local newspapers had pretty much run its course. Still, radio is trending up somewhat for the
year.
The group head panel consisted of:
- Jeff Warshaw – Connoisseur
- Larry Wilson – Alpha; L & L
- Mary Quass – NRG
- Lew Dickey – Cumulus
Jeff made some salient points about radio being radio’s
worst enemy. He noted our tendency to
shoot ourselves with massive spot loads and the failure to provide compelling
local content.
Larry noted that you can once again buy stations at
reasonable prices (putting his money where his mouth is once again with his
recently announced $13 million deal for Columbia, SC). He also cited our early stage position in
monetizing digital, and the need to improve the quality of commercials.
Mary noted that investment capital is returning to radio,
including some community banks. Along
with Jeff, she touched on the need to bring new people into the industry.
Lew talked about Cumulus’ recent acquisitions of Rdio and
Westwood One (formerly Dial Global). He
cited XM/Sirius as a competitive threat, but stressed that they still receive
less than 5% of listening.
Fred Jacobs posted a great list of “remarkable Radio Show
quotes” which you can check out HERE.
Here is a list of the Marconi winners.
Next year’s show takes place
September 10-12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Finally, thanks to all who came by our suite. It provided a great opportunity to catch up. Planning starts now for the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 5 – 10, 2014.
George
Media Services Group
Friday, December 17, 2010
Lew Dickey removed from Farid's Christmas card list
The news today that Citadel has rejected two offers from Lew's Cumulus Media certainly breaths some new life into what has been a very slow station trading year. It also represents the opening act to what will be a fascinating show.
Lew Dickey has plenty of fans as well as detractors. And I’m squarely in the camp of the former. Yes, he’s been a great customer over the years (he bought over a hundred stations through Media Services Group), but there is more to it than that.
Lew is a broadcaster. He was literally raised in the business. He has seen it from all sides (and is probably one of the best researchers ever to serve the industry -- pre-Cumulus). He knows how to run a radio station and is as comfortable doing so in Atlanta sized markets as he is in Savannah sized markets.
And he’s smart. Not just well educated (B.A. from Stanford and MBA from Harvard), but radio street-smart. If he succeeds in his effort to acquire Citadel, he will know what to do with it and how best to integrate the two very different cultures.
I believe that Lew has had his eye on Citadel for a long time. And now that it has emerged from bankruptcy court with a squeaky clean balance sheet, and station prices are at a decade’s low level, what better time?
Plus, Lew never took my stock in his company to zero.
The drama will be fun to watch. If Lew is successful, look for some new station acquisition opportunities in the new year. For one thing, the deal will likely require some spin-offs (in markets where both companies compete). For another, transactions like this have a way of fostering new, unrelated deals. They establish a pricing comparable. Potential buyers and sellers will pay close attention to the multiple on the deal.
Last but not least, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Let’s have a prosperous 2011.
George
Media Services Group
Lew Dickey has plenty of fans as well as detractors. And I’m squarely in the camp of the former. Yes, he’s been a great customer over the years (he bought over a hundred stations through Media Services Group), but there is more to it than that.
Lew is a broadcaster. He was literally raised in the business. He has seen it from all sides (and is probably one of the best researchers ever to serve the industry -- pre-Cumulus). He knows how to run a radio station and is as comfortable doing so in Atlanta sized markets as he is in Savannah sized markets.
And he’s smart. Not just well educated (B.A. from Stanford and MBA from Harvard), but radio street-smart. If he succeeds in his effort to acquire Citadel, he will know what to do with it and how best to integrate the two very different cultures.
I believe that Lew has had his eye on Citadel for a long time. And now that it has emerged from bankruptcy court with a squeaky clean balance sheet, and station prices are at a decade’s low level, what better time?
Plus, Lew never took my stock in his company to zero.
The drama will be fun to watch. If Lew is successful, look for some new station acquisition opportunities in the new year. For one thing, the deal will likely require some spin-offs (in markets where both companies compete). For another, transactions like this have a way of fostering new, unrelated deals. They establish a pricing comparable. Potential buyers and sellers will pay close attention to the multiple on the deal.
Last but not least, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Let’s have a prosperous 2011.
George
Media Services Group
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The bottom is in
The Crestview Partners $500 million investment in Lew Dickey announced today marks the turnaround for the radio industry. With leverage, it represents new liquidity for the radio business in excess of $1 Billion. I believe that we saw the real pricing bottom mid-year 2009 with the purchase and sale of WQXR in New York.
This deal brings renewed life to station trading. We have weathered the storm. Congratulations Lew!
George
Media Services Group
This deal brings renewed life to station trading. We have weathered the storm. Congratulations Lew!
George
Media Services Group
Monday, April 6, 2009
Dickey, Field, Morgan Join NAB Radio Board
"Cumulus Chairman, President and CEO Lew Dickey, Entercom Communications President and CEO David Field and Cox Radio Executive Vice President and COO Marc Morgan have joined the NAB Radio Board of Directors. The appointments were announced by NAB Radio Board Chairman Steve Newberry."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)