Going Private Transaction	12 Months Ended
Feb. 29, 2012
Going Private Transaction [Abstract]
GOING PRIVATE TRANSACTION	9. GOING PRIVATE TRANSACTION On April 26, 2010, JS Acquisition, Inc., a corporation owned entirely by our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Jeffrey H. Smulyan, and Alden Global Capital (together with its affiliates and related parties, “Alden”) entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (the “Letter of Intent”) with respect to a series of transactions relating to the equity securities of Emmis. Subsequently, JS Acquisition, LLC (together with its wholly owned subsidiary, JS Acquisition, Inc., “JS Acquisition”) and Alden entered into a formal Securities Purchase Agreement, and Emmis and JS Acquisition entered into a Merger Agreement, all of which were designed to take Emmis private in a series of transactions that involved (i) JS Acquisition offering to purchase all of the Class A Common Stock at a price of $2.40 per share (the “Tender Offer”), (ii) Emmis offering to exchange (the “Exchange Offer”) all of its 6.25% Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Existing Preferred Stock”) for 12% PIK Senior Subordinated Notes due 2017 (the “New Notes”), (iii) the adoption of certain amendments to the terms of the Existing Preferred Stock (the “Proposed Amendments”) and (iv) a subsequent merger of JS Acquisition into Emmis (the “Merger” and together with the Tender Offer, the Exchange Offer and the Proposed Amendments, the “Going Private Transaction”). On September 9, 2010, Emmis announced that the Proposed Amendments had not received the requisite shareholder votes to pass and that the Exchange Offer had terminated. The Exchange Offer was conditioned upon, among other things, the adoption of the Proposed Amendments. The same day, Emmis was informed that the Tender Offer, which was also conditioned upon adoption of the Proposed Amendments, had also terminated. The Company recorded $3.6 million of costs associated with the transaction in the year ended February 28, 2011, which is included in corporate expenses excluding depreciation and amortization expense in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.

Going Private Transaction

12 Months Ended

Feb. 29, 2012

Going Private Transaction [Abstract]

9. GOING PRIVATE TRANSACTION

On April 26, 2010, JS Acquisition, Inc., a corporation owned entirely by our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Jeffrey H. Smulyan, and Alden Global Capital (together with its affiliates and related parties, “Alden”) entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (the “Letter of Intent”) with respect to a series of transactions relating to the equity securities of Emmis. Subsequently, JS Acquisition, LLC (together with its wholly owned subsidiary, JS Acquisition, Inc., “JS Acquisition”) and Alden entered into a formal Securities Purchase Agreement, and Emmis and JS Acquisition entered into a Merger Agreement, all of which were designed to take Emmis private in a series of transactions that involved (i) JS Acquisition offering to purchase all of the Class A Common Stock at a price of $2.40 per share (the “Tender Offer”), (ii) Emmis offering to exchange (the “Exchange Offer”) all of its 6.25% Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Existing Preferred Stock”) for 12% PIK Senior Subordinated Notes due 2017 (the “New Notes”), (iii) the adoption of certain amendments to the terms of the Existing Preferred Stock (the “Proposed Amendments”) and (iv) a subsequent merger of JS Acquisition into Emmis (the “Merger” and together with the Tender Offer, the Exchange Offer and the Proposed Amendments, the “Going Private Transaction”).

On September 9, 2010, Emmis announced that the Proposed Amendments had not received the requisite shareholder votes to pass and that the Exchange Offer had terminated. The Exchange Offer was conditioned upon, among other things, the adoption of the Proposed Amendments. The same day, Emmis was informed that the Tender Offer, which was also conditioned upon adoption of the Proposed Amendments, had also terminated. The Company recorded $3.6 million of costs associated with the transaction in the year ended February 28, 2011, which is included in corporate expenses excluding depreciation and amortization expense in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.