Entercom Communications Corp. has closed its $1.7 billion acquisition of CBS Radio, in the process becoming the second largest U.S. radio company.

The Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based company now just trails iHeart Radio and has a nationwide footprint of 235 stations, including virtually all of the 25 largest markets, and has broadcast rights deals with 45 professional sports teams and several college teams. David Field, Entercom’s CEO and son of company founder Joseph Field, will run the combined company, writes Jeff Blumenthal for Philadelphia Business Journal. 

[uam_ad id=”54865″]

“We look forward to capitalizing on our unique positions in sports, news, music, podcasting, live events, digital and more to provide outstanding experiences for our listeners and compelling integrated marketing opportunities for our advertisers,” Field said in a statement. “We now have the scale and capabilities to drive meaningful growth and to compete more effectively with other media for a larger share of advertising dollars. We also look forward to helping to elevate the radio industry, which remains massively undervalued by advertisers despite having emerged as America’s No. 1 reach medium, delivering outstanding [return on investment] to customers.”

Entercom got off to a quick start Friday morning, announcing that stations in New York and Dallas would convert to alternative rock formats and that it had agreed to a broadcast rights partnership with the Minnesota Twins.

To read the complete story click here. 

[uam_ad id=”54875″]