The Market for Radio Station Sales

After almost three years of stalled radio station mergers & acquisition (M&A) activity, 2011 started with several major transactions.
  “Challenging industry fundamentals and a lack of capital had stalled radio station M&A for the better part of three years, especially for cash flow negative (stick value) stations. However, we saw three interesting transactions that affirmed radio station multiples somewhere in the low to mid-8.0x EBITDA area. First, Hubbard tested the waters, paying in the low 8.0x area ($505 million) for 17 stations in four markets, purchased from Bonneville International. Second, Cumulus completed an impressive radio rollup, using a complex set of transactions to create the second-largest radio station company in the United States, by acquiring the 75% of CMP Susquehanna it did not own and larger rival Citadel Broadcasting in a deal worth $2.4 billion. Last, we were surprised to see one stick value transaction, where Emmis Communications sold three large market stations for approximately $130 million to Merlin Media,” Cheen and Hebert, analysts with Wells Fargo Securities, said.
  So is there a prospect for more action?  The analysts noted that in 2008, both Clear Channel and CBS explored selling up to 50 stations each, before the collapsing economy soured prospects. As conditions improve this year, those stations may yet come back on the market.  (Although Les Moonves of CBS has indicated that their is currently no interest in putting those stations back on the market).

Source -  Trying to gauge the market for radio transactions,  RBR.com