11-7-2012
Analyst Jim Boyle asked Christian to analyze why radio's 2011 revenue results are coming in consistently soft, despite having weak 2010 numbers to overcome and such high expectations for banner political ad revenue. Boyle wondered if the cause was related to radio fighting radio for advertising dollars or was it something else. Saga operates in 23 medium and small markets and Christian was more than willing to tackle that question. He said the radio business is "fundamentally sound," but there are some problems.
According to Christian, major market radio stations are fighting each other for ad dollars and in the secondary markets, business has just been sluggish. He also says radio is not seeing new product categories come along like it had in previous years. He also blames the lack of excitement from advertisers on radio's adoption of centralization. He used the example of more and more stations going to voicetraking and said, as he always does, "you cannot save yourself to prosperity."
Christian was also critical of the relationship radio now has with advertising agencies. "It's trouble where national is headed. There is a depersonalization between radio stations and advertising agencies. Everything comes in on the fax. You just fill in the blanks and hot the button." He also took a little swipe at Clear Channel regarding national, "It's nice when you own the rep firm."
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