US local radio sales climbed 1% in the first month of 2001 despite the prevailing slow advertising economy and record increases for 2000. National sales for January were down 15% on the previous year although when combined with the healthier local total this drop was only 35 year-on-year.
These monthly totals are based on the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) Radio revenue index of more than 100 markets and in order to place the intermediate and long-term growth of the Radio industry into better perspective, the RAB is introducing an index that equates base year 1998 to 100. The index will work similar to the Gross Pricing Index (GPI) so that the information can be tracked on a month in, month out basis.
“Accelerated pacing at the end of January in the local sector helped drive the increase,” noted President & CEO of RAB Gary Fries. “This performance, up against the extraordinary growth of January 2000 and in a soft advertising economy, when looked back upon will be a strong achievement for the Radio industry when compared to other economic indicators.”
