Taking your radio company private is all the rage these days. Salem Media announced Tuesday it’s entering that same phase, with WaterStone — formally The Christian Community Foundation, Inc. — set to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock at $1.00 per share. The move takes the broadcaster off the public markets entirely.
It’s a bold step. It’s also the right one.
Audacy did it. You’d struggle to find anyone who’d argue the company is in worse shape because of it. Cumulus is attempting to do it, albeit as part of a second bankruptcy.
Now Salem Media joins that club — and the circumstances surrounding its move make a compelling case that going private isn’t just a trend, but a genuine strategic tool for broadcasters with a clear sense of mission.
It’s worth noting that Salem didn’t arrive at this moment haphazardly. The company spent 2024 dramatically restructuring its balance sheet — repurchasing $159.4 million in senior secured debt at a $37.1 million discount, selling seven Contemporary Christian Music stations to Educational Media Foundation for $80 million, and bringing WaterStone in as a major investor through a $40 million convertible preferred stock deal. Tuesday’s announcement is a natural next chapter, not a sudden pivot.
Freedom From the Stock Price
Here’s the thing about being a publicly traded company: the stock price becomes the scorecard. Every programming decision, every content investment, every strategic bet gets filtered through a lens of how it’ll play on Wall Street. For a company like Salem — one that operates with a very specific set of values, a very specific audience, and a very specific mission — that’s a structural mismatch.
Salem’s identity isn’t complicated. It wants to serve conservative news/talk radio audiences. It wants to remain a fixture in Christian media. Those aren’t incidental features of the company. They’re the whole point. And it’s easy to see why operating in service of a stock price can create friction with that kind of mission-driven focus.
Going private removes that friction. Instead of making decisions about what’ll benefit the quarterly earnings, Salem’s leadership gets to make decisions about what’s best for the content, the company, and the people it serves.
That’s a meaningful shift. It’s one that WaterStone, as a Christian Community Foundation, is clearly aligned with. CEO David Santrella said it plainly: “WaterStone understands who we are and why Salem has mattered for over 50 years.”
A Steward That Gets It
The deal values Salem Media shares at $1.00 each — roughly a 250% premium over recent trading prices. But the dollar figure isn’t really the story here. The story is who WaterStone is and what they represent for Salem’s future.
WaterStone describes itself as an organization dedicated to “honoring God through the transformational power of giving.” They’re not a private equity firm looking for a quick return. They’re not a hedge fund with an eye on asset liquidation. The values of that company aligned with Salem’s. And they clearly liked what they saw enough to go all the way. That kind of alignment matters enormously for a media company where content and conviction are inseparable.
Some observers will look at Salem’s 2025 numbers — a $35 million loss, a revenue decline, the sale of its Texas headquarters — and wonder whether this is a rescue more than a reinvention.
Fair points. But private companies don’t have to perform for the market. They have to perform for their mission. Salem Media’s the type of company where those two things don’t always point in the same direction, and now it won’t have to pretend otherwise.
The transaction, unanimously approved by Salem’s Board of Directors, is expected to close in August 2026, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. When it does, Salem won’t be a public company anymore. It’ll just be Salem — which, honestly, is all it ever really wanted to be.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
Respectfully, you are wrong. If in your words “and that’s all Salem ever wanted to be”… then why did they go public in the first place? Greed, that’s why. And now, because of mismanagement- actually lack of leadership especially in Los Angeles- over the last 10+ years – Salem failed miserably, Miserably. Waterstone is just picking up the scraps.
Salem lots its way when it diluted its Christian “mission” with Politics. I remember Ed Atsinger telling me, when I worked there… about the big push to become a Christian Nation through Politics. In time, I saw the company take on an aggressive push to become significant in the Christian Community. Today they have local “Talk Shows” that slander, denigrate and defame anyone who doesn’t worship their politics. In some cities these shows define the moniker Hate Talk Radio. This is a complete contrast to the original mission that I thought they had.
I don’t know what the new owners will do with Salem….as AM Radio is dying a slow death and its future is getting darker every day. This is obvious by witnessing Auto manufacturers no longer including AM radio in their Cars anymore. Salem owns many AM radio stations and their audience is dying…. Thank GOD for K-Love !