Merren selling radio stations to Compass
(CNS): Randy Merren, the owner of Hurley’s Media, is selling his stable of radio stations to the owner of the Cayman Compass. This follows the forced closure of the local TV station last year, which was also owned by Merren, after a dispute with the regulator left him with outstanding licence fees. The deal with Compass Media, the parent company of the newspaper, which recently laid off staff and introduced a paywall on its website, will include Z99, IRIE FM, Bob FM and Rooster 101.
While most of the radio group is focused on entertainment rather than news, Rooster’s morning call-in show, currently hosted by Woody DaCosta, is a popular public opinion platform that has been a critic of government over the years. It has also provided a launching point for some political careers, such as Ellio Solomon, a former MLA for George Town, and Austin Harris, the MP for Prospect.
In a post announcing the potential sale, Merren, who also owns the more lucrative Hurley’s supermarket, gave no reason for offloading the stations, stating only that he was sad to see them go and that the company was in talks with Compass Media to acquire the business.
“The negotiations are at an advanced stage but remain subject to approval by OfReg,” Merren stated. “While I am incredibly saddened to say goodbye to Hurley’s Media after 28 years of service, I am excited for its future as part of Compass Media under the direction of James Bergstrom. To my loyal and talented staff, I am incredibly proud of your hard work and I wish everyone all the best.”
In a release from Compass Media, also posted on social media, the company confirmed the plans to buy the stations but gave no indications what its plans are for the radio stations. It said the company had recently gone through a “major transformation into a modern, multi-media company that includes the weekly Cayman Compass newspaper and its website” and added live-streamed programmes via o-line media channels.
The Compass has made it clear that it is struggling with costs during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of a shifting media landscape. It recently reduced the number of days it prints the paper, introduced a paywall for the news website and laid off several staff members across the board. This week another news reporter was let go.
Since the closure of CITV and in particular Cayman27 News, the Compass has attempted to move into the video news space supplying government television with local content, which undermined the media house’s claims of independence.
This proposed acquisition has fuelled concerns that the independent opinion, comment and public platform provided by Rooster on CrossTalk may now be lost with this consolidation of media ownership and government influence.
Well if the genius of the Compass management recently is anything to go by, expect the radio stations to broadcast only once per week, lose most of their adverts, and someone ask us to pay to listen to each song.
Oh my wa gon happen wailer on Rooster. Oh James will hopefully bring him in and make sure he is trained to become a “real” journalist.
So happy for Randy now he doesn’t have to spend time listening g to the constant vapor emanating from the most conceited and I did think of that megalomaniac in the radio industry in the Cayman Islands. Ya reap what ya sow
Lots of things will be for sale soon. Hotels, restaurants, stores, homes, land, and a government. The island itself has already been sold.
How is any of that different from today? The only thing that will change is the price.
Expats will get payed the same for the same life, Caymanians will be paid less and they will be paying a lot of what they have to service their many loans. Yes they will try and raise taxes to get expats to pay off the debt but it is already the most expensive place to live on the planet because of high taxes. Do the math. Caymanians will soon spend themselves out of power.
7:16 I think you mean”paid” right not payed. Come on now if you gonna criticize check your spelling or are you on the way outa here a d need a slight push only.
It’s criticise
Oligopolist is ruling supreme and government helping to tow the line. May 2021 can’t come quick enough to dump their asses.
Woody for Savannah…2021. Got my vote.
Why and how can a struggling newspaper which can no longer afford to keep staff or print daily be able to purchase half a dozen radio stations? Something about this doesn’t pass the smell test.
Suggest you read up on acquisition financing to understand the various ways how it is possible to do it. Note the ‘owner’ of Cayman Compass is the buyer, not Cayman Compass itself. Those are 2 different legal persons with 2 separate sets of accounts and financial capacity.
Once again, business doctorate with an economics certificate.
As far as most people are concerned, this move is just the rich kids trading toys and the 99% only being good enough to build them up from scratch but not allowed to share in any resulting substantial success or profits.
Please do not condescend everyday people with corporate jargon while questioning which group really does the most grueling work, looking out above the horizon from the CEO office penthouse.
A leftist business doctorate education clearly isn’t helping you. Capitalism rules.
You people that listen to that crap are part of the problem, not the solution
@2:22 what are you smoking? Never happen.
Jimmy won’t allow Woody to continue on Crosstalk and most likely will fire him for someone more sympathetic to the current government as he will need the government’s help to make this work.
Randy had balls and would stand up to the Government, Jimmy not so much.. Greed will prevail over ethics!
Woody is terrible and pushes conspiracy rhetoric so I say Jimmy will be doing cayman a favour getting rid of that guy.
/but WHOM will replace Woody WHOM has abandoned ‘who’ and replaced it with WHOM ?
No one is asking how much? What’s used broadcasting equipment and an office lease worth? The people and the shows have a negative value right now. Many of you could have swung this deal yourselves. Stop bitching.
You’d have to be “brave or stupid” to call out governments dirty laundry on tv or air and not think there are consequences.
Remember who said corruption, then got called treasonous and had to leave the island with bodyguards!
I also remember being on the same flight Miami bound with two freshly fired Z99 hosts who had spoke out about a member of government that morning.
Good journalism or accountable government? One can happen without the other.
Trumpians haven’t learned that when you work in public office under DEMOCRATIC process, you need to be transparent within your leadership and serve toward the needs and issues of the general public, not personal arrangements, self-enrichment, and abuses of power. That type of leadership lends itself to all sorts of authoritarian treats like dictatorships and oligarchies. You should be prepared to handle public scrutiny and have nothing to hide like treason of state or foreign interests and interference in domestic affairs. 2016, sound familiar?
What are you on about?
If that ho jo is who you’re speaking of that dude had huge issues and should never be allowed back
No more Crosstalk..sorry Woody..Government don’t like you but they will do anything for Jimmy if he gets rid of you..
I wonder what’s going to happen if Alden and gang don’t get back into the LA? What will all of this be for then? Does Jimmy think it can always be in the back pocket of the government. Be careful what you wish for because this is the year of change and my firm belief is that both the CDP and PPM will be eradicated from the hallowed halls of the Legislative Assembly….oops forgot I have to call it Parliament now..
Radio is also a dead sector. Stupid purchase by Compass.
Randy is a very smart business man. Any form of paid advertising is dead in the cayman islands right now as most business CAN NOT afford advertising costs much less health insurance. The typical person can buy digital media instantly and effectively.
It was wrong what the owners of the Compass did to it’s staff. Nothing new here but backroom moves to fill private agendas. Our media is now monopolized by non-caymanians.
Both are advertising/propaganda machines serving the developer master.
Randy is selling because he’s ran the stations into the ground.
Shout out to Woody. I will miss you terribly. I have been listening to you for years. Please keep your voice in the public sphere, it will be sorely missed otherwise,
CNS sometimes we really miss the LOL button.
Don’t see you or anyone else putting themselves out there on the radio like he does?
LOL at YOU!
Don’t you think it’s suspect how Alden never goes on there. Kenneth is the only one who does and we all know Kenneth is a special (in a great way!) MP.
Errybody runnin’ scared from Woody because they know he asks the hard questions that nobody has the balls to answer on the spot in a public forum that aren’t cherry picked by the handlers first.
I would follow Woody and CNS over any other news source in Cayman.
Worry about who buying up George town.
All the Uniregistry money in the world can’t revitalize George Town
Me? pay compass to open the news page of half ass news when there are how many other sites for free lol.
C’mon people…Mac had it in for Tammy for years…it was their opportunity to get rid of the news station…they didn’t want the people to see first hand what was going on in the LA… now you have to go to “YouTube” to see there unprofessional conduct…and even then, they edits some of the meetings..come 2021.Shame on Alden, McKeeva, Blondie, Tara,Julie..the whole bunch.
From one son of the soil to another! This is most excellent news!
Your overlord Dart wishes all his subjects a pleasant day. Please be sure to drive safely on the Dart roads whilst listening to Dart state media.
Cayman’s new national song: God Save Our Dart.
This is so sad. In January, somebody need to tell President Biden come get this guy. So tired!
Boy some of us Caymanians fool..Compass asked us to help them out by buying subscriptions and to save their employees jobs while along negotiating a multi-million dollar deal to buy radio stations..
I tell you this much, I will never ever pay any subscription ever again. I’m done with this organization. From the time Brian Uzzell, sold this, it has deteriorated and continues to do that..Let’s see how long these radio stations last..especially the one Caymanians listen to..
You got it Pontiac!! Terrible.
We know who really owns both businesses. This happened long time ago.
They just formalizing everything now.
It is possible for a business to be losing money on the micro-scale and having to make operational adjustments, e.g., the Compass laying off staff to cut costs, while on a macro-scale getting financing for mergers/acquisition/expansion in the hopes that the ‘new’ company will turn a profit through management magic. In this case I assume by offering advertisers a combined print & radio advertising package while saving costs by having reporters/hosts/writers work across the various media, i.e., one reporter produces a story for both print and radio broadcast, like they now do for CIGTV (I assume, I don’t watch it), or the DJ also writes a weekly article about whatever DJs talk about. Compass Media could even add a podcast & YouTube/TicTock & social media channels to spread their market. (Whether just for name recognition, or to sell add space as well.) It might work.
At the very least it will be an interesting/frightening time in local media to see how the various media houses fare.
It will also be interesting to see if anyone reminds OffReg that the cable companies’ licences still say they have to broadcast a certain amount of local content, while they are reviewing this media conglomeration.
What, like a ponzi scheme?
OffReg? Ha ha ha ha ha!
OfReg — good luck with getting them to do anything!
Bunch of losers there at OfReg — collecting fat paychecks for doing nothing.
Exactly my thoughts on how this is likely expected to work
Well, there goes the neighborhood..
And Elizabeth St. West bay.
Compass was looking for donations to keep it running then started requesting payment to read the news online and laid off employees. This is just as strange as “pay as you go” electricity.
Tricked us into paying for his newspaper and staff while he was out negotiating to buy 4 radio stations..doesn’t sound like a company I want to do business with?
James Bergstrom knows exactly what he is doing.
He cracking corn and we don’t care.
1pm – omg people are staring at me laughing out loud at this.
Gold!
He obviously knows what he’s doing, the problem is who is he doing it for…
Caymanians are either blind, deaf or dumb to the ones fronting for the big man in the West, and if they are not so sensory afflicted they are definitely on his payroll.
You forgot ignorant, third world educated, and Bush is the second coming.
Working for Dart?
Owned by Dart. Word on the street is you don’t work for Dart, he owns until your contracted penance runs out or he cuts his bottom line, whichever comes first.
Well that’s what you get for messing with the power of big brother!We are living in the land of Dart and will be told what to d and when to do it. Only if you are rich and connected will you have a wonderful lifestyle, the rest can just take what you are given. Don’t like it then leave!
Probably found himself in the same position Dave Legge did when he ‘decided’ to sell the Compass – someone made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“couldn’t” is the operative word…play by the rules or get kicked to the curb..
I thought the Compass was broke.. why the hell were they begging people to support them and letting go staff if they had all this money sitting around to buy Hurley’s Media.
I didn’t jump on the band wagon to pay them anything but I do feel sorry for those people who were hoodwinked into believing they were supporting them to keep the business alive and its employees employed.
The Compass needs to do the right thing now and refund those people their money. What a farce!
Jimmy, I expected better if you!
Nah. He crackin’ corn and we don’t care..(courtesy of the 1pm poster – too funny not to repeat)
Dart will own all of Cayman in a few years.
He owns over half already.
Noooooo! First our only independent tv station and now our radio stations gone..
Cayman we are screwed. Free speech no longer welcomed here.
For those that haven’t connected the dots, CIGtv was created to replace CITN because leadership personalities had grown tired of being “called out”.
When CITN was first majorly in trouble of closing in 2012, what was established? Who trained the majority of this newly established station? Which one was being funded while the other was left out in the dark to fend for itself like a scorned child? What did government do when one was forced to close?
This was a plan coordinated long time ago, and “Unity” and Co. wanted to pretend it just fell out of the sky.
They have no idea that they are playing right into hands of these oligarchs, because CITN was the only local television that aired all their dirty laundry and kept them all in check!! Now the rich and affluent can bulldoze and colonize Cayman in every way imaginable with the help of the politicians they have bought to do their bidding, make it legal, and call it progress and development.
Couldn’t see it in 2017, but everybody better see it in 2021, and vote accordingly. Only proved these money grubbers and power tyrants want mouth pieces they can control and sling poli-tricks with their political friends any chance they can get.
Such a hollow narrative. CIGTV was created in 2010. Nothing to do with CITN. Main thing was to broadcast meetings of the LA. It’s a meager channel with lots of repeats and little live content. How can it ever compete with CITN?
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=508792535828271&id=387996724618019&ref=page_internal&__tn__=-R
As far as I remember, consistent GIS weekly recaps started in 2010 on YouTube before the television roll-in.
There’s still DMS lol
“subject to the approval of OF Reg”.. what a joke!
Just say subject to someone inking their signature on the paperwork.
This so wrong on many fronts!
I appreciate business is business but this conglomeration of media will now effectively silence the Caymanian public’s access to free speech…and did everyone notice, just in time for elections.. things that make you go hmmm..
Randy, thanks for standing up and allowing free speech for all these years..The Compass has a solid track record of just the opposite and I suspect it will continue once this acquisition is completed.
Our little islands are no longer for us!
Wow can afford likely spending millions to buy these businesses but can’t pay staff! Very unkind Mr Bergstrom. How do you justify letting people and instead building your empire at the same time🤔😔. At the end of day how I see it, we all gonna die and you can’t take it to the grave. Maybe good the staff got let go, probably not a nice company to work for with such cold hearted actions.
Well, Dart will control all the media in Cayman now.
CNS: Ahem!
Why is it that everyone jumps to the conclusion that it is Dart? Maybe some members of parliament decided to purchase,maybe CIG. who knows who Bergstrom is fronting for.
Did Dart pay you to say this, or are you just stupid?
Dart might have pay him but I say he stupid. Maybe superstupid.
Compass was already Darts propaganda machine…..like how to start planning infrastructure for 100K population….some people are really clueless.
Comment of the year CNS!!!
Thank Gawd for CNS, big up!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy CNS! Truly thankful for your news, all the time.
strange….out of the frying pan and into the fire….
The paywall has been the kiss of death for many traditional paper media/papers/magazines around the world. If your editorial quality is so poor, or so politically/commercially biased that advertisers won’t use you anymore, that’s the signal that you’re not listening to the hull creeks of your sinking ship.
I’m not sure if this makes sense considering their current situation either but let’s see if this was good move
If they also purchased the supermarket they could make a meal of it.
😍😜
DART … DART….DART.
Thought they owned Hurley’s Media already? At least that’s what you all said, isn’t it?
No, they are the backers in some form or another of JB and the Compass. However they provided financing to Hurley’s Media when they moved lock stock and barrel to CB – that’s not a cheap proposition.
Then with that financing hanging over Randy’s head it’s a gradual creep of Dart control over your business. Its happened many times already to businesses in CB. Eventually you either jump on board by effectively selling out, or you jump off entirely. Your choice as Dart doesn’t care one bit whether you live or die as a business.
Yup…standard format…give us your detailed business plan, get the business running so we can learn how youre doing it and then BOOM, didnt you see X, Y and Z in your cpntract/lease agreement? We own you now or theres the door.
You got it.
Bazinga!!! Cayman need to wake up, stop caving and selling out to Dart and the like for their “big payday”. These little bits of selfishness are adding up and has made these money grubbers “too big to fail” and increasingly so every single day in Cayman.
Defeating this Doctor Octopus gets 10 times harder when people are helping grow new tentacles and cannot see beyond their nose.