The Radio industry is growing!! Yeah, I said it!! Contrary to popular belief, the radio industry is not a dying industry. Yes, radio is constantly looking for more mediums to display their content on, but that does not mean terrestrial radio is dying.
Many companies are still heavily involved in this industry. Many are solely radio companies and some are fully integrated media companies.
The largest, by far, is Clear Channel Communications, who I will reference frequently in this blog. They own over 800 radio stations, a multi-billion dollar billboard advertising company, one of the biggest content production and syndication companies in the radio industry, a very successful advertising sales/media planning company, a well-known on-line social networking/streaming site called iHeartRadio, and more. They used to be in the TV business and live event business, but those were subsequently sold off. This company is an illustration of how successful the radio business is today.
Another one of those companies is CBS Radio, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owners of the CBS Television Network, among other assets. This company owns about 130 stations including the most successful and well-known all-news stations. They pioneered the all-news format. CBS is controlled by the Redstone family, who also has a controlling stake in CBS's former parent company, Viacom.
Yet another company that will be referenced frequently on this blog is Cumulus Media Inc. They are the proud owners of over 500 stations, making them the 2nd largest owner of radio stations in the U.S. Just last year, they bought another big radio company, Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel was struggling; going through rough financial times. Cumulus bought them as well as all of the former ABC radio assets that Citadel used to own including what is now Cumulus Media Networks, distributing shows such as the Sean Hannity Show and ABC News Radio. Atlanta-based Cumulus is a public company headed by a prominent media family, the Dickey family. The Dickey assets don't stop with Cumulus. Other assets include Dickey Publishing, a large regional publishing company comprised of the former Modern Luxury Media, and Dickey Broadcasting, a separate radio entity controlled by family member David Dickey that owns and operates the number one sports station in Atlanta, 680 The Fan, among other stations.
By far, my favorite company is another family-owned company by the name of Cox Enterprises, also based in Atlanta. I like them because they are live and local and don't rely on voice tracking (act of sounding local, but actually broadcasting elsewhere). Cox, controlled by descendants of James M. Cox, former Ohio governor and newspaper publisher. His two daughters, one in her mid-90s and one deceased, control Atlanta Newspapers, the Cox division that publishes the primary Atlanta newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Among their other assets is Cox Media Group, a radio/TV station owner and newspaper publisher, Cox Communications, a major cable company, AutoTrader.com, a car buying website which also owns Kelley Blue Book, Cox Reps, a radio/TV media buying firm, and Valpak, a mail-marketing firm.
All of these extremely successful companies are illustrations of how the radio business is growing, not dying. Keep in mind that there are many more very successful radio companies that I haven't listed here.
In this blog, I will post news stories relating to the radio industry and, occasionally, an editorial type of story.
ENJOY AND KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!!
Sincerely,
Aaron Waisler
Author/Editor/Founder
RADIO...It's Not Dying, People!!!
