• by Wayne Friedman , April 29, 2014

The Milwaukee-based Journal gained 12.6% to $46 million -- much of it coming from political, Olympics and retransmission revenue improvements.  Retransmission revenue was nearly 90% higher to $9.8 million with TV Olympic revenue for the Sochi Winter Games at $2.6 million. Political advertising grew by 25% to $500,000.

Taking those factors out, Journal's revenue was down 5.6% to $33.1 million.

Journal's second-biggest business -- publishing -- was down 2.7% to $35.6 million in revenue. Retail advertising revenue was up 1.3%, and classified advertising revenue dropped 4.6%, while digital advertising revenue improved 1.8%.

Radio business dropped 4% in revenue to $15.2 million. Local advertising revenue, excluding political, sank 3.2% primarily due to lower restaurant and financial advertising.

Journal's total revenue climbed 3.7% to $96.6 million and its operating earnings soared 43.7% to $12.0 million.

Looking forward, the company expects television revenue to be up in the low-to-mid teens, with radio, excluding political revenue, also showing low-single-digit improvements -- and publishing to be comparable to the second quarter of 2013.