Radio has always had the power to entertain and inform people.
If you go back before the advent of television, radio was the only way to get live news and entertainment. Even after television became the dominant medium, radio had a place in people’s cars and on the go, where listening to sound alone was beneficial.
Streaming music services and podcasts have eaten into that profit.
By the 1960s, every car had a radio, and that gave the industry a captive audience. That has changed.
“Podcasts have officially surpassed AM/FM talk radio as the most popular form of spoken audio in the United States,” according to Edison Research’s Share of Ear study.
Radio lost its power quickly, and not just in spoken content.
“Between April and June of 2024, listeners devoted 67% of their daily time to ad-supported audio on radio, 19% to podcasts, 11% to streaming audio services, and 3% to satellite radio,” Nielsen shared in The Record: Q2 US Audio Listening Report.
The radio still has a large audience, but it’s much smaller than before which has led to multiple Chapter 11 filings, including the April 8 filing by the Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), Inside Radio first reported.
SBS is a multimedia company serving more than 60 million people covering the $4 trillion US Hispanic market, the fifth largest economy in the world, according to the company’s website. Top radio brands and popular audiences in major US metro areas include Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco/San Jose, Orlando, Tampa, and Puerto Rico, including La Mega New York City.
The company operates AIRE Radio Networks, Mega TV Network, the LaMusica digital ecosystem, including the LaMusica and HitzMaker mobile apps and CTV’s LaMusica TV platform, as well as its live events and advertising arm, SBS Entertainment.
In March, the company entered into a forbearance agreement with its major creditors as part of ongoing discussions about its debt.
“SBS revealed back in its second quarter 2025 earnings that it did not have enough cash to repay a $310 million loan and did not make a firm commitment to refinancing, prompting a further warning,” Radio Ink reported.
A period of patience and negotiations led the company to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“The Spanish Broadcasting System is moving forward with the pre-filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy under a Restructuring Agreement with a group of major creditors, a move the company says will strengthen its balance sheet and position it for long-term growth,” according to Radio Ink.
SBS shared more details of the filing in a press release.
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The deal is supported by funds and accounts managed by Brigade Capital Management, subsidiaries of Man Group, and Bayside Capital, which hold more than 72% of the outstanding principal of SBS’s 9.750% Senior Secured Notes due 2026.
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Under the terms of the agreement, those noteholders will receive 100% of the equity in the reorganized company, subject to a new management incentive plan and the issuance of new secured notes.
“SBS said the restructuring will ‘significantly reduce’ debt, reduce interest costs, and extend the maturity of its obligations by more than four years, while also improving liquidity. The company expects the adjusted capital structure to free up resources for reinvestment across its core business,” reported Inside Radio.
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The radio’s decline was slow and steady. The declining market share of spoken content reflects that.
“In 2015, AM/FM radio accounted for 75% of the time Americans spent with spoken audio sources. AM/FM radio was not only the most dominant spoken audio listening platform, but it was a full sixty-five percent more than podcasts, which accounted for 10% of listening time back then,” according to an Edison Research report.
Those numbers continue to decline, which has contributed to many of the industry’s bankruptcy filings.
“Quarter over quarter and year over year, time spent using AM/FM radio listening to spoken audio has declined significantly and shifted to time spent on podcasts,” the data showed.
Advertising drives the radio business and it’s declining, according to a report from S&P Global.
“The US radio industry is facing a bifurcation, with traditional local ad revenue either flat or declining, while digital methods such as podcasting, streaming, and connected device integration are driving growth….However, national and local local ad markets are expected to decline over the forecast period,” the data showed.
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Cumulus Media, Chapter 11 (March 5, 2026): Cumulus Media, one of the largest US radio broadcasters with about 395 stations and the Westwood One network, has filed for Chapter 11 in the South Texas district under a restructuring support agreement that has been put together, with creditors to eliminate about $592 million in debt and continue operating, according to court documents in the Pacer Monitor.
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Audacy, Inc., Chapter 11 (January 7, 2024): Audacy, the largest US radio company with more than 220 stations, filed for Chapter 11 pre-packaged in early 2024 to reduce its nearly $1.9 billion debt by nearly 80%, enabling creditors (including major investors) to take ownership stakes. The plan was confirmed by the bankruptcy court as part of its restructuring, according to documents on PacerMonitor.
Previous Chapter 11 filings include:
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HeartMedia. Chapter 11 (ended 2019): Unlike the others above, IHeartMedia received a massive Chapter 11 for 15 months from 2018 to 2019, reducing debt and exiting bankruptcy, a major restructuring of the radio industry, according to court documents filed with Kroll.
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AMFM Broadcasting, Inc., Chapter 11 (2018): Filed for Chapter 11 in March 2018 as a radio/television broadcasting corporation; the case was closed in 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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This story was originally published by TheStreet on April 9, 2026, where it appeared first in the Marketing section. Add TheStreet as a favorite source by clicking here.
