Clear Channel Radio revenues fall 22%

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Radio giant CC Media Holdings, the parent company of Clear Channel Communications, saw radio revenues fall 22% to $603.6 million in Q1. Outdoor was hit even harder, down 25% to $582.2 million. Clear Channel management’s favorite metric is operating income before depreciation, amortization and non-cash compensation expense (OIBDAN) – and OIBDAN fell sharply in the quarter. Radio OIBDAN plunged 50% to $138.1 million and outdoor 46% to $87.7 million.


So, for the entire company, Q1 revenues were down 23% to $1.21 billion and OIBDAN was off 56% to $174.2 million. (The total performance includes “other” and “eliminations” to arrive at the revenue figure and “other” and “corporate” for consolidated OIBDAN.)

“Our companies performed well on a relative basis in a difficult economic environment and weakened ad market. We commend our employees for their ongoing efforts to engage their audiences, customers and communities through our strong brands, high-impact mediums, and great portfolio of properties,” declared CC Media Holdings CEO Mark Mays.

“Radio and outdoor remain incredibly efficient marketing mediums. Our focus across our great businesses is to maximize the efficacy of our mediums for the benefit of advertisers. We thank our employees for their unwavering dedication and commitment,” added President Randall Mays.

Those comments were in a quarterly release from the company. Clear Channel has not conducted quarterly conference calls with analysts since last year’s buyout of most equity by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

CC Media noted that it announced a restructuring program on January 20th. That was when it fired 1,850 staffers. The program is expected to cut annual overhead by $350 million. The company incurred $33.6 million in expenses related to the restructuring in Q1.