11-5-13
Entercom President and CEO David Field reeled off market after market where Entercom stations are performing well in the ratings, however that has not translated to revenue. On Tuesday, Field had to explain to analysts and investors why Entercom had a very disappointing third quarter with revenue from the company's 23 markets dropping 4 percent from $102.3 million in the third quarter of 2012 to $98.4 million in 2013.
Field did not blame the drop on political revenue, which was only $1.2 million in the third quarter of 2012. He said the cause was poor sales execution. Markets in which Entercom competes saw radio increase revenue by 1 percent, so Entercom lost share. Local revenue was down 5 percent and national was flat, with August the weakest month of the quarter. Memphis, Portland, and Sacramento were Entercom's three best performing markets with insurance, professional services, telecom, and medical the three best categories.
Field said plain and simple, our sales performance was poor. "We failed to get the job done and that's unacceptable. We lagged our radio peers by a significant margin, failed to capitalize on our strong brands, ratings, and marketing capabilities." He says the Entercom brands are in great shape and the revenue problems Entercom is having are entirely fixable. "We have made significant progress in reinvigorating our sales performance." Field says the improvement has been steady and consistent. Entercom has implemented a lot of change over the past year or so, related to roles and systems, and Field says that caused a disruption which the company is working its way through. "It's about execution."
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