Entercom Communications’ annual report mentions “internet” eight times, almost all in reference to “the competition.”  The company Web site has a tab touting “Innovation,” which leads to a six-sentence description of...HD radio. Its latest quarterly report doesn’t mention online ventures at all.

Bonneville Broadcasting offers a snazzy 22-minute online video about its 2008 company efforts.  Time devoted to discussing the internet: exactly eight seconds.

Saga Communications references its internet initiatives only once in its annual report, in a sentence that begins, “We have begun several initiatives to offset these declines...”   (To get the full effect of that statement, read it in your best Eeyore voice.)

Citadel Broadcasting doesn’t mention interactive ventures once in its latest quarterly statement.  But its 134-page annual report offered this lone statement:  “We also intend to continue to focus on the development of our station websites and advertising opportunities associated with the websites.”   As in, “Oh, yeah, we also intend to do THAT...” 


Citadel’s a great case in point. Though you wouldn’t know it by reading its company summaries, Citadel’s Interactive unit is actually becoming a lion in the interactive business.  It has 182 stations offering live streams to well over 2 million users and boldly proclaims “The Future is Online.”  It’s venturing into broadcast TV and cable’s territory by offering video “gateway” commercials that run before the audio player starts. One of its New Jersey stations offers a video commercial for Jersey Mall before the audio stream begins, and the audio player is populated with display ads for Hertz, American Express and Banana Nut Cheerios.   Not your traditional radio advertisers. 

So why isn’t the industry touting its internet ventures more?   

The fact is, the radio industry will generate about $334 million from online advertising this year -- $231 million of it from local advertisers.[1] That’s up 5% from last year.  During our midyear survey of local web sites, some stations reported more than 25% growth.  That’s certainly something to crow about. 

Radio One is about the only group telling the story.  While the rest of the industry is achieving an average of 2.4% of gross revenues from online advertising, Radio One last year was at 5%.  It mentioned “internet” a whopping 85 times in its annual report, touting its development of niche community sites like www.blackplanet.com and www.elev8.com.   This is clearly one company that sees the internet as a growth category and is eager to tell that story.

There are other great radio-borne initiatives, like Long Island Radio Group’s www.yourli.com.  In a great David vs. Goliath story, the company took on newspaper behemoth Newsday by launching a separately branded site that’s all about saving money.  The venture goes directly after Newsday’s circular/couponing business and uses LIRG’s massive radio megaphone on Long Island to drive traffic and branding for the site. 

Radio has a lot to tout when it comes to the internet, and even though it currently holds a 1.6% share of all local interactive advertising,[2] that only means there’s a helluva lot of room to grow. 

If radio executives start taking note of the efforts their interactive managers are pursuing – and put a bit more resources into one of their best high-growth-potential areas – the industry will truly have something to crow about.

Gordon Borrell is CEO of Borrell Associates.  The views expressed are his own.  He can be reached at gborrell@borrellassociates.com.

Borrell Associates Inc.