Cumulus, a Growing Radio Power, Sells 55 Scattered Stations

Cumulus Media, the nation’s second-largest broadcaster, has sold 55 stations and gained 10 others as part of an effort to move into larger, more closely clustered markets.

The company announced that it would sell the stations — in 11 small cities in Maine, Texas, North and South Dakota, and elsewhere — to Townsquare Media for $116 million and 10 of Townsquare’s stations in two Illinois cities, Bloomington and Peoria. Cumulus, which last year paid $2.4 billion for a rival broadcaster, Citadel, has about 570 stations, second only to Clear Channel Communications. (CBS Radio, however, which has fewer stations, is the second-largest radio group by revenue.) Most of Cumulus’s stations have been in small to midsize cities. But it has been moving into bigger markets and has also begun to challenge giants like Clear Channel with its programming, like a talk show featuring Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate. Townsquare has about 200 stations, also mostly in small markets.