Is There Anything To Be Thankful For ???

First it was CL King & Associates Radio analyst Jim Boyle calling 2008 “the worst year since 1954″, then Lew Dickey Jr., Cumulus Media President/CEO, making the dire prediction that “half the (radio) companies in business today will be gone within 36 months.”  Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, so isn’t there anything to be thankful for?  Well, not just yet - there’s more bad news on the way…

A new report just in this morning from mediapost.com mentions the L word - local radio, taking a major hit.  Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes predicts that next year, local radio revenue will decline 5% to 10%.  Local revenues, which traditionally make up more than two-thirds of radio’s total revenues are collapsing.  For the year-to-date, local revenues are down 8% and the decline appeared to accelerate in the third quarter, with a 10% drop.  The print advertising revenue forecast is worse annnnndddd - you ready for this?  Local internet advertising is not immune from this recession either.  Borrell Associates warns that local internet growth will slow from a 48% climb this year to 8% in 2009.  In dollar and cents, online revenue will go from $12.9 billion to a modest $13.9 billion.  But hey, a gain is a gain…

Don’t know about you but I’m tired of hearing all this bad news.  This is the worst decline I can remember and I started in radio 50 years ago last month, in 1958.  It can’t get any worse, can it ???   

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1783] Buh bye: The British evacuate New York, their last military position in the U.S. during the Revolutionary War (”the British are going…the British are going”)…
2. 1940] Debuted on this date: Woody Woodpecker in “Knock Knock“…
3. 1944] “Happy Trails“: Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis dies from natural causes at 78…1974] Former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant dies from lung cancer at 65…1987] Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington dies of a heart attack at 65…
4. 1947] Hollywood 10: Movie studio executives meeting in New York agree to blacklist the “Hollywood 10” who were cited a day earlier and jailed for contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee…
5. 1963] Laid to rest: The body of President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery…
6. 1980] No mas, no mas: Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Roberto Duran for the welterweight crown after Duran pleads “no mas, no mas” in the 8th round, ending the fight…
7. 1986] An affair to remember: The Iran-Contra affair erupts as President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese reveal that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels…
8. 1999] Elian gets his 15 minutes: 6-year old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez is rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida. The saga of Elian begins…
9. 2002] Colors of the rainbow follow: President Bush signs legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and appoints Tom Ridge to be its head…
10. 2003] Guilty as charged: Yemen arrests Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, a top al-Qaida member suspected of masterminding the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Al-Ahdal is later convicted and sentenced to 37 months in prison. Who was the judge, Lance Ito???

Music Memories:

• 1949] Debuted on this date: “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” - Gene Autry is played on the radio for the first time…
• 1966] Performance debut: The Jimi Hendrix Experience make their London performance debut at the Bag O’ Nails Club.  Jimi also played Royal Albert Hall…
• 1986] Recorded on this date: 36 British and American stars (including Paul Young, Phil Collins, Boy George, Sting, U2, Duran Duran, Bono, George Michael & James Taylor) get together as Band-Aid to record “Do They Know It’s Christmas” with proceeds going to Ethiopian famine relief, conceived by Bob Geldof)…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

Barbara and Jenna Bush (27), Christina Applegate (37), Jill Hennessy (40), Amy Grant (48), Bucky Dent (57), John Larroquette (61), Ben Stein (64), Percy Sledge (68) and Ricardo Montalban (88)…

Timeline Countdown: 2 days until Thanksgiving, 26 days until winter, 27 days until Hanukah and 30 shopping days until Christmas…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November, 25, 2008 at 08: 10:10 p11 and is filed under Today's Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.