• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 5, 2005

Demand for radio ad time remains erratic, according to two separate reports released on Monday. Interep, the largest independent sales agent specializing in radio and the Internet, reported a 5.1 percent decline in revenues derived from commissions on advertising sales. That actually represents an improvement from Interep's full-year 2004 results, which saw a 10.6 percent decline in commission revenues from 2003.

The company noted that a "significant portion" of the decreases in both the fourth quarter and full-year 2004 were due to Citadel Broadcasting's cancellation of Interep's sales representation contract, as well as "a dramatic softness in national spot advertising that has only recently begun to improve."

In its fourth-quarter earnings report to company shareholders, Interep attributed the spot radio advertising softness to a "sluggish economic recovery in general, and more particularly, the recurrence of the historical pattern of national advertisers over-emphasizing television during election and Olympics years at the expense of radio advertising."

Interep Chairman-CEO Ralph Guild, however, described the fourth quarter as "a turning point for both Interep and the national radio ad market," and added that "radio advertising is showing clear signs of recovery," especially strength from the retail and automotive advertising categories.

While the radio ad rep may be experiencing better advertising demand in 2005, that was not clear for the rest of the radio industry, based on a separate report released Monday by the Radio Advertising Bureau. The RAB's monthly Radio Revenue Index found that radio ad spending was flat in February 2005 versus February 2004. Thanks to stronger results in January, radio ad revenues are up 1 percent over the first two months of 2005.