WHO IS CBS RADIO'S NEW SUITOR?

Rumor has it that Townsquare Media is a front-runner to acquire CBS Radio and its radio.com. The company owns 309 stations in medium and small markets as well as music/celebrity websites such as Just Jared and Brooklyn Vegan.

CBS Chairman/CEO and God of all TV Leslie Moonves recently sent the media gossip machine into overdrive when he announced that The Eye was looking to either sell or spin off its radio wing so as to “create value for our shareholders.” One imagines Moonves wouldn't have made such a pronouncement if he didn't have real buyer poised and ready to pounce.

CBS Radio has in its stable some of the highest-profile radio execs around, notably Programming leaders Kevin Weatherly and Michael Martin. Will these and other highly regarded CBS folks become free agents, or would they remain with the radio division under its new umbrella?

Finance guy Steven Price has been Chairman and CEO of Townsquare since its inception; former CBS programming exec Kurt Johnson is their SVP of Programming.

In terms of stations owned, Greenwich, Conn.-based Townsquare is the third largest station group in the country. A CBS Radio purchase would add 117 stations to its holdings, including L.A.’s KROQ and K-Earth and NYC’s WCBS, WNEW and WFAN.

Regulatory hurdles would likely be few should the deal go through.

Insiders says Townsquare, launched by parent company Oaktree Capital in 2010, is flush, having reported a gross profit of $123m on revenue of $441m for 2015.