David Field, President/CEO of radio group Entercom, is not interested in competing for a share of the 20B advertising pie which is attributed to radio. Nope. He wants a piece of the 250B pie for all media, and his company’s investments in HD radio and the internet all keep the much bigger number in focus. But radio is being drowned out by new media buzz – a fact of life he thinks PPM data will soon battle effectively. He said the combination of radio’s reasonable pricing structure, along with its unparalleled ability to reach 96% of all Americans for between 12-16 hours a week is story that needs to be trumpeted loudly and often. An enthusiastic backer of Arbitron’s new method, he said, "At the end of the day, radio the medium looks stronger than ever in the PPM world." He predicted HD radio will start to bring in revenue in 2008 but was still a few years away from being a big factor on the bottom line.
On the revenue front, the company is looking to flatline Q4 but may slide as much as -2%, but expects big things from political. Field noted that setting LURs ahead of election dates is a function of supply and demand, and decisions are up to local managers who have been trained to make them. There are no particular plans to expand via acquisition, but Field said the company, as always, is open to a prudent addition to the portfolio.
