• by Paul Gough , March 22, 2004

The radio industry's fourth quarter was marked by a slight decline in ad revenues, although earlier strength caused it to finish 2003 ever so slightly up.

A MediaDailyNews analysis of publicly traded radio companies found that advertising in the fourth quarter fell 1 percent compared to the same three-month period in 2002. On a brighter note, the industry's 2003 ad revenues were up 1 percent compared to the same period in 2002, when the ad recession was still in the depths.

The MediaDailyNews index tracked well, with a separate report made by the Radio Advertising Bureau, a New York-based trade organization for the radio industry that tracks revenue monthly in more than 150 markets nationwide.

Using public documents filed quarterly and annually by the media companies that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the MediaDailyNews index includes 12 station owners. They include Viacom (owner of Infinity Broadcasting), Clear Channel (which owns the most stations), Cox Radio, Cumulus Media, Citadel, Beasley, and others. It now also includes Journal Communications, owner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and a number of radio stations primarily in the Midwest.

The fourth-quarter index fell to $2.15 billion in 2003 from $2.16 billion in the same period of 2002. The index rose to $8.11 billion in 2003, compared to $8.06 billion in 2002.

Fourth-quarter performance from the radio companies was mostly mixed. Citadel grew 8 percent, and two others--Saga and Cumulus--had growth in the mid-single digits. Others--including Viacom, Regent, Cox, Beasley, and Clear Channel--were down slightly. Revenues at Salem, a Christian broadcaster, fell 11 percent compared to the final three months of 2003.

But for the year, only two companies--Clear Channel and Viacom/Infinity Broadcasting--were in negative territory, and only slightly. That could easily be the result of tough comparisons to political advertising that had been strong in the fourth quarter of 2003 or the war in Iraq, which sent a prolonged chill throughout the radio industry.

Regent and Cumulus were up in the low-double digits; Beasley, Salem, and Journal Communications were flat.