• by March 15, 2002

Radio revenue rebounded in January with national sales up 2% over the same month a year ago. Local dollars for the month increased by 1% and combined total local and national figures also grew by 1% when compared to January of last year.

The January Radio revenue results were announced yesterday morning by Gary Fries, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), during his keynote address at the Kagan Radio Summit in New York City. At a press conference this past February, Fries had predicted that Radio would experience positive growth in January.

To put the intermediate and long-term growth of the Radio industry into proper perspective, RAB introduced a Sales Index that equates base year 1998 to 100. The Index works similar to the Consumer Price Index so that information can be monitored on a monthly basis.

The Local Sales Index for January 2002 is 135.7; the National Index for the month is 127.4 and the combined total is 133.5.

“The Radio industry has withstood economic turbulence in the past and it has done so again,” Fries noted. “Radio is a resilient, effective medium that delivers for its advertisers during down times as well as good. Looking ahead, I think we will see a slight glitch in February, brought on by the absence of traditional television sweeps advertising due to the Olympics. Following that, all indicators point to on-going sustained growth as the year progresses.”

These monthly totals are based on the RAB Radio Revenue Index of more than 100 markets. The accounting firm of Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co., and other certified public accounting firms, provide the local and national revenue data on the more than 100 markets RAB uses to calculate its Revenue Index.