CINCINNATI -- Regent Communications, the owner of four Utica-Rome radio stations, is once again facing the prospect of being dropped from the Nasdaq Stock Market. The company has struggled for more than a year to bring its stock price above Nasdaq's standard minimum of $1.00 per share.
In a press release issued Friday, Regent stated it had received a warning from Nasdaq on November 30, that its stock (RGCI - Yahoo! Finance) would be delisted "unless the Company requests a hearing before a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel on or before 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 7, 2009."
The release goes on to state Regent did file the request for that hearing on Friday. The hearing would give Regent the chance to explain the present situation in the broadcasting industry. The stock would remain listed until the NLQP comes back with a ruling -- a ruling which could grant Regent another extension as radio continues to ride out the economic storm -- or, the ruling could result with RGCI removed from the Nasdaq.
This wouldn't be Regent's first extension. You may recall the company was first threatened with delisting in August 2008. At the time, Nasdaq gave Regent 180 days -- until February 2009 -- to bring its stock price into compliance. That first deadline came and went, and RGCI was given additional time to recover.
In order to regain good standing, the stock must close at or above $1.00 for 10 consecutive trading days.
Regent's not the only radio company struggling on Wall Street -- you'll recall earlier this year, Citadel Broadcasting, which owns 4 Syracuse stations, was dropped from the NYSE. In over-the-counter trading since March, the CTDB.OB (Yahoo! Finance) stock has failed to break the 20-cent mark. Regent closed Friday at 26 cents; Citadel at a nickel.
CNYRadio.com makes it easy for you to keep an eye on how the owners of local stations are performing on Wall Street. Check the sidebar at right for stock quotes, updated constantly every day when markets are in session. We've listed every company that's publicly-traded and owns stations in any of the four markets we cover. For comparison's sake, we've got the Dow Jones average and XM Sirius Radio's stock listed too.