2007 RADIO DEALS HIT $3.2B Jeffrey Yorke – Radio and Records About 28% fewer radio stations were sold in 2007 than the previous year, primarily due to the historic Clear Channel radio sell-off that began in the final weeks of 2006. And, consequently, the value of the average radio station deal dropped last year, as total station deals reached $3.2 billion, compared to $22.8 billion in total 2006 deals transacted, according to figures supplied to R&R by BIA Financial Network.
The Chantilly, Va.-based medial financial adviser reports that there were 1,676 stations sold in 2007, compared to 2,107 in 2006, and Clear Channel again played a major role in producing those figures. Of the more than $26 billion overall deal that Clear Channel cut to go private, BIA calculated that $16.653 billion was in radio transactions, says BIA research analyst Elizabeth Villaroman. The amount of station sales in the final quarter of last year hit $366.569 million, compared to $17 billion in 2006, with just 246 radio stations sold in the final three months of 2007, compared to 1,346 trading hands in 2006.
BIAfn VP Mark Fratrik estimates that the radio industry generated $13.9 billion in 2007 revenues, up slightly from an estimated $13.7 billion in 2006, and he expects the industry to end this year with about $14.2 billion in revenues. |