Talk Radio

Source

• Radio delivered its sixth consecutive quarterly uptrend with a 1% increase to $4.6 billion in Q2 2011, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). First half 2011 revenue was up 2%, to $8.4 billion. Results for the quarter were buoyed by digital (+18%), off-air (+5%) and network (+3%), as was performance for the half: digital (+19%), off-air (+7%) and network (+2%).
• The streaming internet radio service Pandora says that there were 1.8 billion listener hours to its service during Q2 2011. According to the information the Radio Research Consortium has for Q4 2010 there were 2.3 billion listener hours to CPB stations. Digital listening (internet, HD, podcast) could possibly increase this total.
• By the most recent count (fall 2009), there were 1,323 Spanish-language stations in the US, up 8% from 1,224 in fall 2008, according to the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism. News talk remains a small part of that, with 96 stations using that format, up by three from the year before.
• A radio station makes three times the money running a terrestrial spot as it would running a streaming spot, according to analysis from Radio InSights. That means every spot that runs on the Internet rather than over-the-air will generate one third the revenue. Something like $9 billion in spot revenue will evaporate when radio turns off the transmitters.