There were no stray cats in the radio industry in the second quarter of 2011. For the most part, all the public companies were consistently flat or up a smidge. The year started off a lot brighter with hopes of bigger revenue increases all around. However, a natural disaster in Japan and a political system in gridlock caused a recovering economy to hit the wall. Westwood One CEO Rod Sherwood (pictured) reported in to Wall Street last night with numbers comparable to all the public radio players. Nothing spectacular, nothing devastating.
The Westwood 1.8% increase ($40.8 million from $40.0 million) was primarily due to increased advertising revenue from the Company?s news programming, partially offset by decreased advertising revenue from other programming. Westwood One President Rod Sherwood said ?Our revenue was up slightly in the midst of slower than expected growth in the Network radio industry, and the seasonal absence of major sports programming in the second quarter.? Sherwood also said the NFL lockout may cost Westwood some revenue in Q3, if advertisers made an early decision to go elsewhere, in Q3 but that should pick up again in Q4.
Sherwood said the most significant event of the second quarter was the sale of Metro Traffic to Clear Channel. ?This transaction reduced the Company?s senior debt by approximately $104.0 million, strengthened our balance sheet, and helped position the Company for future growth. Since that time, we have continued to expand our programming assets, renew key partnerships, invest in our digital business and our IT infrastructure, and build new alliances with affiliates and advertisers and their agencies.?
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