• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 15, 2011

The radio business is having a tough second half of the year, with generally weak results from a number of big broadcast groups. This week brought quarterly results from Cumulus, which reported that total revenues slipped 1.9% from $302.7 million in the third quarter of 2010 to $297 million in the third quarter of 2011. Total revenues in the first nine months of 2011 declined 2.5% to $851.3 million.

Cumulus attributed the revenue decline, in part, to the absence of political advertising associated with last year’s hotly contested midterm elections. Excluding the acquisitions of Citadel Broadcasting and Cumulus Media Partners, both of which closed in the third quarter of this year, revenues at the core Cumulus properties were down just 0.6%.

Cumulus, which completed its $740 million buyout of co-owners Cumulus Media Partners in August, followed by the $2.5 billion acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting in September, now owns 570 radio stations in 120 cities around the U.S. That makes it the country’s second-largest broadcast radio group after Clear Channel Radio, which owns 850 stations nationwide.

Like Clear Channel Radio, recent weeks have seen a spate of layoffs at Cumulus properties, as the company seeks to trim costs and align its new properties in the wake of the large acquisitions. Cuts have included both on-air and off-air personnel at stations in big markets, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas.