Also in the 8K filing, the company released preliminary revenue results for the quarter that ended June 30. Beasley estimated that for the months of April, May, and June, net revenue will be between $61 million and $61.65 million, representing either no change or an increase of up to 1.0% compared to net revenue of $61.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017.
For the first six months of the year, Beasley expects net revenue to land between $116 million and $116.8 million, which would amount to an increase of 1.1% to 1.8% compared to net revenue of $114.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017.
This is the 500 pound elephant in the room. Radio revenues are continually flat. One could argue that AM and FM radio are mature businesses. And in the major and medium markets, the major operators are focused on “controlling expenses”– paying the weekend announcers $15 an hour maybe, voice tracking many dayparts, refusing to pay strong salaries to develop more solid personalities. And many stations’ idea now of “promotion” is to set up a table at a client, have 1 or 2 minimum wage street team people, and hand out some time shirts or event tickets that the station got on trade. Meantime, radio “consultants” put forward constant eloquent babble that they know owners want to hear, but the consultants dare not really speak the truth. Radio as an industry by and large refuses now to step up and seriously invest in their people, refuses to spend money in serious station promotions, and refuses to cut down on unlistenably-long commercial breaks that drive listeners away, and shaft advertisers who are buried in those long breaks. A case can be made, that the large station groups who refuse to seriously invest in their own product, are admitting that they realize the industry is mature (or worse), and they are just milking it now.