Saga Communications net revenue from radio in Q2 was $30.3 million compared to $30.9 million in 2016. CEO Ed Christian said he did telegraph that Q2 would be choppy but it’s still painful to report a down quarter. “The good news is there is good news.” Saga continues to add new businesses to its radio stations, hundreds according to Christian. The challenge is when a car dealer drops off it takes a lot of small businesses to make up that revenue. And, according to Christian, the automotive category was soft in Q2. National was also down slightly.
Christian went on to say that, despite the down quarter, the world is not coming to an end. “We know what we’re doing and we do it well. We are a solid and highly profitable radio-centric company. The industry is still good. It’s wavy and soft right now, nobody is happy, but we’re not seeing tremendous decreases. It’s still a healthy business for a mature industry.
Christian says Q3 pacing is also down in the low single digits.
Need newer content…the loss of AM 1470 in Ithaca for example was not really replaced with anything spicy or crispy…heck I could run a progressive talk show that would be similar in some ways to the Alan Colmes Show..but I’m just a peon presently.