• by November 7, 2000

Notching its 97th straight month of revenue gains, the Radio industry concluded the third quarter of 2000 with a 3% increase in local and national ad sales for September. Compared to the same month in 1999, local dollars were 6% better, although national revenues declined 6%.

However, year-to-date figures still show local sales running 15% ahead of last year and national revenues trending 20% higher in 2000. Through the first nine months of this year, combined local and national advertising totals were up 16%. These calculations are based on the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) Radio revenue index of more than 100 markets.

Compounded growth rates for combined local and national sales, 1998 through 2000, show a gain of 12% for the month of September and increases of 14% in year-to-date. The national compounded growth rate for the same period is 11% for the month of September and 17% for year-to-date, and local levels show a rise of 12% for the month and 13% year-to-date.

On the local front in September, the Southwest region of the country had the best month following a 15% gain in ad sales. The East region was next at 8%.

Despite all this prosperity, however, radio broadcasters are facing a potential backlash from major advertisers that feel burned by last-minute preemptions, inflated ad rates and overly crowded commercial pods, largely inflicted during the rush of dot-com dollars to the medium, as Media Week reported recently.

At the Radio Advertising Bureau’s annual Advertiser Day in Chicago last week, Kaye Bentley, senior VP of national media, affiliate and national promotion at Fox Broadcasting, reportedly said she felt betrayed by broadcasters that dumped many of Fox’s spots at the last minute for high-spending on dot-com advertisers.

Bentley spends tens of millions annually on the medium to push Fox’s fall season. For the past three years, her budget has increased, and so has radio’s share. But next year, radio’s take will be flat, and instead of bagging 60-75% of Fox’s ad budget, radio will get the same one-third share as local cable.

“Radio is our last line of defense,” she said. “We failed last year because stations preempted some of our spots, especially in morning and afternoon drive.”

“We’re trying to save radio as an advertising medium,” said Bentley. “If you don’t want to invest in your medium, we won’t invest in it.”

RAB president Gary Fries admitted that the radio industry needs to “focus on the people who brought us to the party, the steady users of radio,” he said. Also, Fries, who in September forecasted a bullish 13% for 2001, last week lowered that to a more modest 9-10%. “Times are going to get a little tougher. Orders aren’t going to keep coming in over the transom,” he explained. Commenting on today’s announcement of a successful September, however, Fries said, "As the current climate for advertising media shifts, Radio remains solid on the local front. September's increase is the beginning of a course corr