• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 30, 2015

The nation’s two largest broadcast radio groups had varying fortunes in the first quarter of the year, with iHeartMedia, parent company of iHeartRadio, formerly Clear Channel, reporting a substantial increase in revenues, while Cumulus experienced a sizeable drop.

On the positive side, iHeartMedia’s total revenues increased 4% from $1.35 billion in the first quarter of 2014 to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2015, when the effects of foreign currency fluctuations are excluded. Within these figures, the main iHeartMedia radio business saw revenues increase 4.1% from $670.3 million to $697.8 million over the same period.

In addition, its Americas Outdoor business saw revenues increase 1.8% from $290.6 million to $295.9 million, and its International Outdoor business fell 7.4% from $344.6 million to $319.2 million.

The growth in radio revenues came despite an overall decrease in core local broadcast advertising; it was due primarily to contributions from iHeartMedia’s traffic and weather and syndication businesses. According to the company, the radio division’s strongest categories in the first quarter were automotive, food and beverage, and entertainment.

The company’s outdoor revenues in the Americas were up chiefly due to digital billboards, including its new Times Square spectaculars.

The radio giant still carries a huge debt from the deal to take it private in 2007, and the total amount is increasing, from around $20.3 billion in 2014 to almost $20.5 billion currently.

For its part Cumulus Media reported that total revenues fell 7% from $270 million in the first quarter of 2014 to $251.2 million in the first quarter of 2015. This decline was due to drops in core local ad revenues, down 3.6% to $141.6 million; national ad revenues, down 2.4% to $22.8 million; and network ad revenues, down 13% to $88.7 million. Broadcast advertising was down $18.8 million, while digital fell $1.6 million.