Citadel Broadcasting Declares Bankruptcy

Citadel Broadcasting, the massive national radio network of over 200 stations, has filed for bankruptcy. Citadel syndicates wingnut Don Imus and some of its stations, such as flagship New York City-based WABC, are home to Rush Limbaugh.

Citadel owns and operates 224 radio stations, including KABC-AM in Los Angeles, WLS-AM in Chicago, WABC-AM and WPLJ-FM in New York and KGO-AM in San Francisco. Citadel's WABC is home to several syndicated hosts, including Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough and Mark Levin. In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Las Vegas-based Citadel listed total assets at Oct. 30 of $1.4 billion and total debt of $2.46 billion. The company said in a statement it has reached an agreement with more than 60 percent of its lenders on a deal that would erase about $1.4 billion of debt in exchange for control of the company. "Our business will continue as usual and the company will work to emerge from the restructuring process as quickly as possible," CEO Farid Suleman said in a statement. Citadel has retained turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC as its restructuring adviser. Such deals usually wipe out shareholders completely.

Most of Citadel's debt comes from its 2007 acquisition of ABC Radio from Disney.