We’ve seen two consistent themes as companies begin to report Q3 revenue. The first is that revenue is improving every month since the bottom in April. The other is that radio companies now compare revenue to a previous quarter in the same year, as opposed to the same quarter the previous year.
Saga CFO Sam Bush reported the company has seen significant increases in net revenue every month from the low point in April. Net revenue in Q3 was $24.1 million compared to $16.9 million in the second quarter, an increase of $7.3 million or 43.1% between the second and third quarters.
When you do compare revenue in Q3 of this year (24,143) to revenue in Q3 of 2019 ($31,276) the decrease was $7.13 million. When comparing revenue from the first 9 months of 2020 (67,060) to the first 9 months of 2019 (91,281), the decline was $24.2 million.
Gross political in Q3 was $1.8 million, for the second quarter, it was $289,000 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, it was $3.1 million. With October also a strong month for political the company expects October to be its highest revenue month of the year.
CEO Ed Christian told investors and analysts on the company earnings call that it has been a long 9 months and “we have nut burned $1 of your money.” Saga has $10 million in debt with leverage at .082%.
That happens when you “let go” of employees that have been with clusters for decades for younger, much cheaper air talent and local management.
I think the body count over the last decade is well over 15 in one of the markets. I was a part-timer that chose to leave in 2010, when we all were told to take a pay cut.
No mention of the impact of political? Curious.