• by Erik Sass , February 6, 2012

The radio business had another rough quarter at the end of 2011, judging by some early results from radio groups.

Beasley Broadcasting said its total revenues declined 6.8% to $25.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Operating income decreased 10.5% to $6.9 million, and net income was basically flat, with a 1.7% increase to $3.39 million.

Beasley Broadcasting CEO George Beasley stated: “Our fourth quarter revenue decline reflects a combination of weak overall national spending in our markets and several unique national advertising issues that we have addressed or which were essentially one time in nature."

He noted that approximately "one-third of the overall revenue decline relates to a reduction in political spending in a non-election year.”

For the full year, Beasley’s total revenues were basically flat, edging down from $97.97 million to $97.7 million. Operating income increased 4.3% to $23.9 million, while net income for the year grew 26% to $10.1 million.

While other big radio groups have yet to report their fourth-quarter results, earlier industry-wide results suggest that radio enjoyed modest growth in 2011 overall. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, total ad revenues increased 3% in the first quarter, to $3.8 billion, then 2% in the second quarter, to $4.6 billion, and 2% in the third quarter, to $4.5 billion.