Despite Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins’ opening declaration that “Market conditions in radio continued to adversely impact” revenue, AM/FM had a better Q3 than the rest of the company, as cutting costs tops the agenda for the broadcaster heading into 2027.
Urban One reported third-quarter net revenue of $88 million, down 5% year over year, with Radio Broadcasting the only segment to grow. Radio revenue rose 5.8% to $36.7 million, helped by about $800,000 in net political revenue and $1.9 million from Dallas stations KKDA and KRNB, which the company acquired from Service Broadcasting Group in July.
Overall, the group posted a net loss of $119.2 million, compared with a $2.8 million loss a year earlier. Impairment charges of $128.9 million drove the result, including $62.5 million tied to radio broadcasting licenses, $25.4 million for the Radio Broadcasting reporting unit, and $40.9 million for the Cable Television reporting unit.
Liggins noted, “Management is hyper-focused on cost reductions heading into next year and has identified at least $20.0 million of annualized savings,” though did not identify where those cuts would come from.
Network radio revenue under Reach Media fell 17.7% to $5.1 million, and Digital revenue dropped 24.6% to $9.6 million. Cable Television revenue slipped to $37.3 million from $39.8 million, with affiliate fees down 7.1% and advertising down 5.5%. On the earnings call, the company said TV One finished the quarter with 26 million traditional linear Nielsen subscribers, compared with 33.6 million a year earlier, or 29.3 million versus 35.1 million including virtual subscribers.
On the call, Urban One CFO Peter Thompson said Miller Kaplan data showed the company’s local radio sales down 5.1% against a market down 9.2%, while national sales rose 4.2% against a market down 2.1%. Services was the largest ad category, up 6.5%, primarily because of legal services.
Liggins said full-year net political revenue is expected to total $8.8 million across all divisions. He added radio political revenue will come in at around $8.4 million, against a budget of about $11 million.
Contractually outstanding debt stood at $325.2 million as of September 30, while interest expense fell to $2.0 million from $9.4 million, thanks to Urban One’s aggressive ongoing efforts to reduce its debt.
