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Two news stories

Posted by John from Wisconsin <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=John+from+Wisconsin' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on April 24, 2026, 4:54 pm

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/25/americans-now-listen-to-podcasts-more-often-than-talk-radio-study-shows/

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/348679/bloomberg-iheartmedia-holding-merger-talks-with-siriusxm/

Re: Two news stories

Posted by JJSPC1372 <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=JJSPC1372' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on April 24, 2026, 6:09 pm, in reply to "Two news stories"

The IHeart/Sirius XM story strikes me as another K-Mart/Sears type turnout, but we'll see. Maybe it will delay the inevitable for a decade or so.

Re: Two news stories

Posted by WYTZZ95FM <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=WYTZZ95FM' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on April 24, 2026, 6:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Two news stories"

The IHeart/Sirius XM story strikes me as another K-Mart/Sears type turnout

JJSPC1372, iHeart is trying to eliminate a competitor by buying them out. They want a near monopoly on the streaming app AND to transition terrestrial stations to "national feeds" and then off of radio waves to online. They will buy SXM for all assets + intellectual property and just slash offerings for customers and gut staff. This is unimaginable.

This is a WORST possible scenario. If this happens we are f'ed beyond anything you can imagine. They are pushing it due to the Trump administration being pliable and approving the Tegna/Nexstar merger.

Z

Re: Two news stories

Posted by Jeremy Andrews <iframe src='https://members.boardhost.com/chicagomediachat/info/user=Jeremy+Andrews' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on April 24, 2026, 7:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Two news stories"

Actually it's Liberty Media (SiriusXM) buying iHeart.

Either way, it couldn't be a good thing.

If anything, they might add SiriusXM channels to iHeart's premium service and maybe commercial free iHeart stations to the SiriusXM streaming lineup.

The real thing they want here is Podcasts. iHeart has the #3 Podcast network and I believe SiriusXM was at #1. Merging these would make them a very large Podcast operation.

Re: Two news stories

Jeremy thanks for pointing that out. Refreshing my mind, Liberty also has major stake in Pandora. Formula1. Big part of Live nation.

Trust me Jeremy, the business end is my wheel house. They will do a lot more than you stated. This will be a) Domination b) Slashing/Consolidation/Cost cutting.

They got approval to merge Sirius and XM due to competition reasons as they stated they could not survive being 2 companies. What happened when they merged? MAJOR cuts and consolidation in staff and less offerings for the listeners and they became a monopoly. Now they want to merge the only Sat caster + #1 podcaster, so they can corner that market and gouge. Add on the largest terrestrial radio operator which has 2x listener reach compared to Cumulus @ #2. Insanity.

Z

Re: Two news stories

The "Google" of radio, suffocating competition?

"another K-Mart/Sears type turnout" had me thinking. Line of the year so far, for me!

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