Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan may be more focused on the September date for reaching compliance with a new set of financial covenants. Emmis should be able to pay down at least $100 million in debt with the proceeds of the sale of a majority portion of its two Chicago FMs plus WRXP, New York to the newly-formed Merlin Media. Indianapolis-based Emmis would otherwise be facing a potential default on its senior bank debt, based on an SEC filing at the beginning of this year. On the word of yesterday's deal with Randy Michaels-led Merlin, Emmis stock ("EMMS") grew about 8%, or 8 cents, to $1.14. It has been trading slightly lower most of today, as you can see in the stock chart here.