Salem Media Pushes Beyond Radio With New Investments.

Plenty of radio groups have expanded into digital, but no company may be more diversified than Salem Media Group. It owns 91 radio stations, even after some sales, but it also has expanded into streaming television, motion pictures, podcasting and publishing. And its latest investment points to a continued focus on that diversification.

Salem has struck a deal to buy investment strategist Jim Fink’s suite of investment advisory products, including Seasonal Stock Alert, Options for Income, Velocity Trader, and Inner Circle. Salem sees the addition of Fink’s financial publications as a way to build on the financial publishing success that its Eagle Financial Publications division has seen.

“Salem has long maintained a diversified portfolio, and the recent sale of several contemporary Christian music radio stations has made that diversification even more apparent,” CEO David Santrella says. He tells Inside Radio that he sees Eagle Financial Publications, which has been part of Salem for more than a decade, as a “key part” of Salem’s broader content strategy.

“While not directly aligned with Salem’s traditional media focus, Eagle’s audience overlaps with our core demographic,” Santrella explains. “Salem’s audience — engaged, values-driven, and often active investors — made the initial acquisition a logical extension of our brand. The recent addition of Fink fits well within that framework.”

Salem acquired Eagle Financial as part of its acquisition of Regnery Publishing in 2014. It is primarily a subscription-based business, offering newsletters and financial insights from qualified experts across a wide range of investment topics. Eagle’s portfolio already includes top investment authorities such as Mark Skousen, Bob Carlson, George Gilder, Bryan Perry, Jim Woods, Hugh Grossman, Jon Johnson, David Phillips, Todd Phillips, Richard Durfee, and Melodie Gatz. Eagle also operates major financial and retirement sites, including StockInvestor.com, DividendInvestor.com, SeniorResource.com, and CoveredCall.com.

“Jim brings a unique depth of expertise in option spreads and seasonal trading strategies that perfectly complements Eagle’s existing offerings,” says Roger Michalski, VP and Publisher of Eagle Financial Publications. “We are excited to welcome Jim and his colleague Derek Myers to our growing team and to offer their proven insights to our subscribers.”

Terms of the deal were not immediately released, but earlier arrangements reached with online publishers have included a split on revenue generated from subscription sales.

Demonstrating Salem’s commitment to the financial vertical, when it sold Regnery Publishing in 2023, it opted to hold onto Eagle Financial. Its results offer another incentive. Conservative websites like Townhall and RedState, along with several church product websites, have been behind much of Salem’s digital media revenue. But financial resources are a growing component.

Salem hasn’t yet reported second-quarter results, but Salem had $45 million in digital media revenue last year. That was a 7.2% increase from a year earlier as revenue from Eagle Financial publications like DayTradeSPY and Gilder Technology Report posted growth. To put that digital media revenue into perspective, Salem had four-time as much broadcast revenue — it totaled $186 million last year, while book publishing brought in about $7 million.

Now Playing: A Salem Documentary

Salem is further diversifying with the release of a new documentary film called “What Is A Doctor?” It was released last week on its streaming video service Salem Now in partnership with America’s Frontline Doctor. Salem says the film exposes what it sees as a dangerous shift in modern medicine, as ideology and censorship replace ethics and trust.

“Our investment in this most recent film production is another part of Salem’s ongoing diversification, aimed at serving audiences interested in Christian and conservative content,” Santrella says. He explains it is content they are able to deliver this across multiple platforms, including the Salem Podcast Network, its SVOD/TVOD movie platform SalemNOW, its OTT offering Salem News Channel, and its extensive suite of standalone websites like Christianity.com, Crosswalk.com, BibleStudyTools.com, Townhall.com, and RedState.com.

The moves come as Salem has scaled back its exposure to radio. In December, it struck an $80 million agreement to sell its seven Christian music radio stations to Educational Media Foundation. That followed a deal to sell stations in Nashville; Honolulu; Little Rock, AR; Sarasota, FL; and with several properties, buildings, and transmitter sites also sold.

Salem’s annual report shows divestiture proceeds during 2024 added up to $23.7 million, which followed $13.8 million worth of sales in 2023. But while it may shed some radio assets, Santrella says Salem remains committed to the business.

“Radio remains a cornerstone of Salem’s media portfolio and continues to be a foundational distribution channel for the content we produce,” he says. “That commitment is not changing.”