{"id":13757,"date":"2017-03-28T04:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13757"},"modified":"2017-03-28T14:09:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T19:09:04","slug":"wbbm-tops-chicago-radios-cash-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/03\/28\/wbbm-tops-chicago-radios-cash-register\/","title":{"rendered":"WBBM tops Chicago radio cash register"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> WBBM Newsradio<\/p><\/div>\n

Chicago radio stations don\u2019t want you to know<\/a> how much they made in 2016, but at least we can tell who was on top.<\/p>\n

With estimated revenue of $45 million, the CBS Radio all-news combo of WBBM AM 780 and WCFS FM 105.9 <\/a>again led the market, according to a report released Tuesday by BIA\/Kelsey, <\/a>a Virginia-based research and consulting firm that tracks local advertising and marketing.<\/p>\n

WBBM Newsradio ranked fifth among the nation\u2019s leading revenue producers and was the only Chicago station to make the top 10. It rose 2.7 percent from $43.8 million the previous year, with the increase attributed in part to political advertising. \u201cThe news\/talk category experienced an overall improvement in 2016, likely due to the presidential year,\u201d BIA\/Kelsey noted.<\/p>\n

The chart below prematurely identified Entercom as the owner of WBBM, although the company\u2019s announced merger<\/a> with CBS Radio has not been finalized.<\/p>\n

Robert Udowitz, a spokesman for BIA\/Kelsey, would not say whether the firm will release revenue estimates for other Chicago stations, as it has in the past. \u201cThe decision on whether to release specific cities will be made after the [national] release has been distributed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While BIA\/Kelsey\u2019s figures are considered reliable estimates, they\u2019re not quite as authoritative as the sales totals compiled by the accounting firm of Miller Kaplan Arase,<\/a> which are based on reports submitted directly by station management.<\/p>\n

Under pressure from station groups, Miller Kaplan Arase threatened to sue<\/a> if I published \u201cany parts of its reports, including any revenue figures which you may obtain, regardless of source.\u201d As a result of the cease-and-desist order, this was the first time I was unable to publish annual revenues of the top 30 local stations and compare their year-to-year sales figures.<\/p>\n

For now whatever data BIA\/Kelsey releases will have to suffice \u2014 along with the company\u2019s cheery spin on the outlook for radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an age where consumers have many entertainment choices, local radio maintains its strength and popularity in the marketplace among national and local advertisers,\u201d said Mark Fratrik, senior vice president and chief economist at BIA\/Kelsey. \u201cOur forecast also notes that by 2021 we expect radio to surpass newspapers and become the fifth largest media category among advertisers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Radio Revenue 2016 (BIA\/Kelsey)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago radio stations don\u2019t want you to know how much they made in 2016, but at least we can tell who was on top. With estimated revenue of $45 million, the CBS Radio all-news combo of WBBM AM 780 and WCFS FM 105.9 again led the market, according to a report released Tuesday by BIA\/Kelsey,... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13757"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13757"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13766,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13757\/revisions\/13766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}