Bala Cynwyd’s Entercom has reported a nearly $10 million loss for the first quarter of 2017. This is in stark contrast to the $3.9 million in profit for the same period last year, writes Jeff Blumenthal for Philadelphia Business Journal.

The loss is largely due to additional costs relating to its pending $1.7 billion merger with CBS Radio and the weaker performance of the radio industry as a whole.

While Entercom saw its net revenues increase by 1.4 percent for the quarter, expenses rose by five percent. However, despite the results, CEO David Field said he was pleased with Entercom’s performance and the progress of the upcoming merger.

“This will truly be a game-changing event for Entercom as we will achieve a number of scale-related benefits, including the ability to compete far more effectively against other media for a larger share of advertising spending,” said Field.

He added that the company had experienced an unusually high number of one-time expenses during the first quarter which were responsible for pushing expenses above their normal levels.

“Looking ahead to the completion of the merger with CBS, we expect synergies that will drive margin expansion,” said Field.

Read more on Entercom’s first quarter results at Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.

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