Salem up in Q3, sees Q4 down

Salem Communications reported that Q3 revenues were up 0.3% to 58.1 million. That gain came from the company's fast-growing new media and publishing operations, with radio revenues down 1.2% to 51.9 million. Station operating income dropped 7.3% to 19.2 million.

"The radio market continues to prove challenging for all broadcasters. While our net broadcasting revenue was down 1.2%, we did have some positive indications during the quarter. On a same station basis, advertising revenue on our Contemporary Christian music stations grew 3.1%, our block programming revenue increased 3.6% and our non-broadcast businesses grew revenue 14.9% to 6.2 million. We remain confident about the stability of our business model as we continue to invest in new media businesses that give us the ability to repurpose content and leverage the promotional abilities of our radio stations," said CEO Ed Atsinger.

For Q4, Salem is warning that revenues will be down from last year's 59.8 million to something in a range of 57.9-58.4 million. Radio revenues are expected to be 50.2-50.7 million, down from 52.6 million, owing largely to the loss of 1.5 million in political advertising. Non-broadcast revenue is expected to be up a half million to 6.5 million.
 

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