Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Basis of Presentation

v3.22.4
Basis of Presentation
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation
NOTE 1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION
Description of Business
Salem Media Group, Inc. (“Salem” “we,” “us,” “our” or the “company”) is a domestic multimedia company specializing in Christian and conservative content. Our media properties include radio broadcasting, digital media, and publishing entities. We have three operating segments: (1) Broadcast, (2) Digital Media, and (3) Publishing, which are discussed in Note 19. Segment Data.
The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements of Salem include the company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated.

Impact of the
COVID-19
Pandemic
During 2020 we implemented several measures to reduce costs and conserve cash to ensure that we had adequate liquidity to meet our debt servicing requirements. As the economy began to show signs of recovery, we reversed several of these cost reduction initiatives during 2021. We continue to operate with lower staffing levels where appropriate, we have not declared or paid equity distributions on our common stock, and the company 401(k) match was not reinstated until January 2022.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) provided emergency economic assistance for individuals and businesses impacted by the
COVID-19
pandemic, including opportunities for
 
additional liquidity, loan guarantees, and other government programs. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (“CAA”) included a second relief package, which, among other things, provides for an extension of the Payroll Support Program established by the CARES Act. We utilized certain benefits of the CARES Act and the CAA, including:
 
  •  
We deferred $3.3 million of employer FICA taxes from April 2020 through December 2020, of which approximately 50% was paid in December 2021 and the remainder was paid in December 2022;
 
  •  
A relaxation of interest expense deduction limitation for income tax purposes;
 
  •  
We received Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans of $11.2 million in total during the first quarter of 2021 through the Small Business Association (“SBA”) based on the eligibility as determined on a
per-location
basis; and
 
  •  
In July 2021, the SBA forgave all but $20,000 of the PPP loans, with the remaining PPP loan repaid in July 2021.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. See Item 7 – Management Discussion and Analysis within this annual report for a discussion of our Critical Accounting Estimates.
Reclassifications
Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior year financial statements to conform to the presentation in the current year, which had no impact on the previously reported financial statements.