Interep Presents 2007 Radio Symposium

Radio: New Century, New Directions, New Opportunities

Roll Out of Electronic Measurement at Forefront of Industry Debate
Brand Extensions, On-line, Podcasting, HD Side Channels, Seen As New Opportunity for Engagement, Growth and Experimentation

NEW YORK, June 28, 2007 -- Today Interep (IREP.PK) held its fourth annual Radio Symposium at Bear Stearns' headquarters in New York City. This year's event was entitled Radio: New Century, New Directions, New Opportunities.

David Kennedy, Interep's CEO and co-moderator of the event, welcomed the crowd, saying, "Since our last symposium, quite a bit has happened in our industry. We've seen the roll-out of the PPM. RAEL continues to bring us new, quantifiable research on the effectiveness of our medium. HD Radio has begun its roll out across the country in a big way. And broadcasters have made significant strides in extending their on-air brands to include on-line, mobile and other digital technologies. That being said, there is still a lot of work to be done in all of these areas."

He later added, "I have long believed that radio is undervalued relative to its ability to generate results. Electronic measurement and all of the metrics that support radio's strengths, particularly its ability to influence consumer behavior, will help radio get the recognition that it deserves and ultimately improve our growth rate."

The day-long event was co-presented by Bear Stearns, and co-sponsored by Active International, Arbitron, and Media Monitors. Victor B. Miller, Sr. Broadcast Analyst, Bear Stearns, was the day's other co-moderator. In his opening remarks, Miller asked, "Is the Radio World Flat?" He cited the difficulty in identifying true radio revenue trends over the past several years due to unusual events: in 2005, Clear Channel introduced its "Less is More" initiative, significantly reducing available radio inventory; in 2006, Howard Stern moved from broadcast to satellite radio; this year, the privatization of Clear Channel, the roll out of the PPM, and changes within the management of CBS Radio are having an impact on the industry, further complicating projections on growth trends for the medium. He also threw out the challenge, "Who will be the next Christopher Columbus to prove that the radio world is not flat?"

On-air personality Erich "Mancow" Muller, was a featured speaker. He discussed the pressures faced by on-air talent to "push the envelope," but spoke harshly against what he called "lazy" radio, that puts viewers in harm's way, uses off-color language, racism, or other questionable tactics. He said that this kind of "senseless" programming does not forge long-term relationships with the listeners. He was also adamant about the importance of talk programming to the future success of radio, saying, "Unlike with music channels, you cannot recreate what a unique voice brings to radio."

Brian Weiser, SVP/Director Industry Analysis, PG/MAGNA Global USA, gave the luncheon presentation, called "Understanding Changes in the Media Economy." Weiser proposed that despite all of the press on the tremendous changes occurring within the traditional media space, that we must approach this view cautiously. He said that "we must look beyond the early adopters - real change in media is hard," and suggested that while change in media behavior is occurring, it is happening at a slow and less dramatic rate than often reported.

RAB's Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab made its first public presentation of results from its new study, "Engagement, Emotions and the Power of Radio." In summary, the main finding of the study is that radio ads have an emotional impact on consumers that is equal to that of television ads. The full study is available at http://www.radioadlab.org.

In the final panel of the day, entitled "A View from the Top," CEOs and COOs from four major broadcasting companies shared their views on the radio business. Panelists included David Field, CEO, Entercom; Gary Stone, President/COO, Univision; Farid Suleman, CEO, Citadel Communications; and Charles Warfield, President/COO, Inner City Broadcasting. General consensus among the group was that radio has had to overcome several hurdles in recent years, and that growth rates should improve. Field said, "Advertisers are going to rediscover that radio is an incredibly undervalued medium in terms of the results that we produce. We don't get credit for the resiliency that radio has had amongst incredible change. We still reach 96% of consumers each week."

Participating companies in the day's event included ABC Radio, Active International, AccuRadio.com, Arbitron, Blackstone, CBS Radio Sales, Citadel, Cumulus Media, Emmis Communications, Entercom, iBiquity, Initiative Media, Inner City Broadcasting, Gray Communications, GreenStone Media, JL Media, Mediaedge:CIA, Media Audit/Ipsos, Media Monitors, Miller Kaplan, Omnicom's OMD, Spanish Broadcasting System, Univision Radio, Wachovia Securities, and Zenith Media.