Radio's Revenue Drops Even Though Audience Grows

Can radio save itself?

Listeners are diverted by iPods and Internet and satellite radio. Companies are loaded with debt. Advertisers are heading to television or the Web -- and the advertisers that have continued to advertise on radio, like auto dealers and retailers, are being hit by the economic crisis and pulling back.

And even though the audience for broadcast radio is actually growing, stations cannot seem to increase their revenue.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[bascombe]

nobody wants to listen to crappy lies anymore or the liars who tell them.

[RobinSeattle]

Why would any progressive listen to terrestrial radio, which is owned by just a few conservative friendly conglomerates (and usually have lots of rightwing talkers on their rosters)? Support the little guy and listen to internet radio!Terrestrial needs the competition because it is freaking awful. Plus it is a far better way to find great new bands or artists you will never hear on regular radio. Please look into Live365, which has tons of stations with genres from classical to Celtic Music music, Soca, Salsa and Japanese pop to heavy metal and dozens of other styles.

[Diogenes08]

It's Neocon greed again; radio is eating its own tail. Just like newspapers, radio is concentrated in the hands of far too few people. Back in the day, one corporation could own 5 stations, and they had to be separated by enough geography that their signals did not overlap. The comment about Clear Channel having 3 stations in one town could not have been possible until recently.

Of course Clear Channel wanted to be Rupert Murdoch. They wanted to 'corner the market' in such a way that only their neocon message got out. They STILL won't play Springsteen, Steve Earle or The Dixie Chicks. So people smartened up and stopped listening, found their music elsewhere. It's not all that hard to spot propaganda, or smell it either.

[mi]

Perhaps they should take a good look at their programming.
supporting hate mongers may no longer be as profitable.
let's hope so anyway.

[Daniboy]

Lib newspapers seem to be in more trouble-Why?

[larry278]

Since the meltdown there isn't any credit. That means that Clear Channel won't be able to sell its stations that have lost their audiences. Clear Channel could change format, shorten operating hours, reduce a station's power. Clear Channel could become a chain of 5 watt stations. Clear Channel may have to get the permission to change operating hours &/or reduce a station's wattage.

[midknightryder13]

At the ClearChannel complex in my city there are threee talkers. The conservative station is the undisputed leader -- but their signal strength is unmatched. The second one is billed as middle-of-the-road, but when you run programming by BOR and Dr. Laura, I have to question that characterization. It also has a strong signal. The progressive station has BY FAR the weakest signal of the 3. It is sometimes difficult to hear it during the day.
Now, while all three station share a newsroom, only one (the conservative outlet) has round-the-clock local news.
I would be somewhat molified if the other two had DEDICATED news anchors for both drive times. They do not.
The rationale seems to be to have people tune to the conservative station for local news. Most listeners are not going to do that. Besides, since the outlets ARE ALREADY available why not give the listeners additional product?
Assuming that the idea is to increase revenue.

[YeahDonkey]

Burn in Hell Clear Channel

[BeasleysMom]

Those multi-million salaries paid to the hate talkers like Limbaugh sure takes a big chunk out of the budget! It will be interesting to see where this goes as the economy continues to have problems and people get sick and tired of hearing hate and anger flowing from their radios.

[Libbydoe]

I know that I listen sporatically to a Clear Channel station so that I can monitor the right wing talk shows. I make a point of noting the advertizers so that I can avoid their products. If I am one of many, it might explain a rise in listenership, but a decrease in advertising revenues.

[trollsbwild]

They are an evil company. Hope they choke on trying to pay Rush's $400 million dollar contract.

[toocoldout]

I'm surprised to hear the audience is growing. Traditional media is generally down across the board.

[mphalen]

""I think things will get better if the economy recovers," Ms. Ryvicker said, "but I can"t imagine this sector going from negative double-digits in Q4 to positive anytime soon.""

Duh! Of course radio has only itself to blame. Instead of pushing all this right-wing radio in all its market and giving the consumers what they actually want, maybe they would be in better shape. And maybe the audience is growing because progressive talk radio has been growing. And maybe if people had not heard all the right-wing lies from the likes of Rush, Hannity, etc. people would not have elected these idiot republicans and our economy wouldn't be in the toilet.

[sandiegoconservative]

You are either insane or completely unaware of how radio works. If you honestly believe progressive talk radio increases the overall listener base, then you need to take a look at the state of progressive radio these days. And conservative talk radio reflects only at best an average piece of the pie from all radio stations.

[mphalen]

I listen to progressive talk radio. There are more progressive talk radio stations and the shows on now are gaining more affiliates. My local progressive station is gaining new sponsers all the time. And Thom Hartmann and many others progressive talkers are beating the conservatives like Rush in their timeslots. You are obviously a Bill O'Reilly listener because he is constantly saying that Air America is bankrupt and progressive talk radio is failing, which is a lie. They are doing very well now. And wasn't the progressive station's format in San Diego changed, not because of low ratings but because conservatives didn't like the truthful message that was being broadcast? Yes, that is what happened. They tried to change the format of the Madison, WI progressive station but because of public pressure it was left progressive. Do you really think that there wouldn't be a market for progressive radio in Madison, one of the most liberal cities? The increase in listenership is not because people want to listen to more music stations. Like the article said, with Ipods, internet and satellite radio there is much competition with the music stations. Many people listen to progressive radio over the internet because they can't get it in their local areas. No, I am not insane and I do know how radio works.