Exclusive: All Access Power Player Interview With Cumulus Chairman/Pres./CEO Lew Dickey And Co-COO John Dickey

Lew & John Dickey

Last FRIDAY (8/30), as most were packing up for the long LABOR DAY WEEKEND, the landscape of the radio business took another seismic shift with CUMULUS MEDIA's announced purchase of DIAL GLOBAL, and spinoff of a large chunk of stations to TOWNSQUARE MEDIA, (NET NEWS 8/30).

ALL ACCESS President & Publisher JOEL DENVER caught up with CUMULUS MEDIA Chairman/Pres./CEO LEW DICKEY and Co-COO JOHN DICKEY over the holiday weekend for an exclusive ALL ACCESS POWER PLAYER interview.  They explained what this transaction, (expected to close before the end of the year), means to the company going forward, as well as the impact on the radio and network industries at-large.

CUMULUS MEDIA has transformed again.  With this merger on the network side and making WESTWOOD ONE the surviving brand on the content delivery side, can you tell us what this does for you, the company, your portfolio focus, and the radio stations that currently do business with DIAL GLOBAL/WESTWOOD ONE?

LD: This transition is very good for both CUMULUS and the radio industry. We started CUMULUS in 1997 with a focus on acquiring small and mid-sized market radio stations.  As we built the company we wanted to move up market and in 2005 we bought SUSQUEHANNA which gave us positions in four of the Top 10 markets.  Shortly after signing the deal, we then tried to buy ABC Radio because the broadcast assets were highly complementary to SUSQUEHANNA and the ABC RADIO NETWORK would give us an entry into the content business.  Unfortunately, we were outbid by CITADEL, but we ended up buying the whole thing five years later.

For the rest of this exclusive ALL ACCESS POWER PLAYER interview, please, click here.

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