The already thin ranks of Wall Street analysts covering radio and TV companies are being thinned again. After 18 years as a sell-side analyst, Jim Boyle is returning to a media job with SQAD. Gilford Securities will not fill his position as a media analyst.
Boyle told RBR-TVBR he’ll work on new business development and other projects for SQAD. SQAD tracks CPM rates for radio, TV, cable and Internet advertising.
One of the very few analysts ever to have personal experience in media businesses, some 15 years worth, Boyle joined Gilford in 2009 after more than 15 years as an analyst with Wachovia Securities, Alex. Brown and C.L. King.
As one of the very few analysts covering such companies as Emmis, Cumulus, Beasley and Radio One, Boyle’s exit is a continuation of the depletion of broadcast analysts, especially for radio companies, since the exciting days from the consolidation following 1996 radio deregulation through the early years of the 21st century.
But as an advertising recession led into a full-fledged national recession Wall Street lost interest in radio stocks and many brokerage houses either laid-off broadcasting analysts or had them rework their coverage portfolios and drop coverage of most radio stocks.
When might that trend change? “If the Street comes back it means the business has come back for a while,” Boyle told us.
RBR-TVBR observation: We’ve reported numerous times on broadcast analysts being laid-off or moving to new ventures. The numbers speak for themselves. The public stock float for radio stocks is pretty small. Lew Dickey at Cumulus hopes to change that with his recent increase in the size and capitalization of Cumulus Media.
But it will take a while for Wall Street to get interested and radio will have to get the excitement back and the only way to accomplish this is by entering into the internet world.
All at RBR-TVBR wish Jim well. He will be missed.
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