• by Paul Gough , January 7, 2004

Radio ad spending, which enjoyed a brief respite earlier this year, continued to slump in November, with a fall in local and national ad revenue compared to a year ago. And while radio companies said fourth-quarter revenues would be hurt by comparisons with 2002's political spending, that wasn't the story behind the 4 percent decline in overall advertising revenues in November 2003. National ad sales, which wouldn't be affected by political ad spending, dropped 6 percent during the month compared with November 2002. Local ad sales dropped by 4 percent. The data was released Tuesday by the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The RAB blamed a stalled economy for the decline in November, although the news wasn't as bad for the 11 months of 2003. Overall ad revenues year-to-date are up 1 percent, with national up 6 percent and local flat. RAB President-Chief Executive Officer Gary Fries sounded an optimistic note in releasing the data Tuesday, in a tone that has been echoed by other radio industry executives from Clear Channel's Randall Mays to Infinity/Viacom's Mel Karmazin.

"Consumer confidence is on the rise, and radio will be an early recipient of advertisers return to spending," Fries said.

A day before the RAB release, Mays told investors at a conference in Arizona that Clear Channel - which owns by far the most radio stations in the United States - that 2003 wasn't as strong as previous years of growth in the radio industry. Mays said Clear Channel had limited visibility into 2004, but thought that things looked positive.

"We are very encouraged by what we see going into 2004," Mays said Monday. "2004 is going to be a good year for the radio industry."

RAB's data is based on a survey of more than 150 markets.