Interep Holds Mid-Year 2004 Radio Symposium
Inaugural Conference Focusing on Radio Industry
Over 250 Attendees from Financial and Broadcast Industries Gather to Discuss Challenges and Opportunities for Radio
Panelists Stress Importance of Long-Term Valuation
June 22, 2004 - New York: Today Interep (OTCBB: IREP) held its first Mid-year 2004 Radio Symposium at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. The symposium, which addressed the current opportunities and challenges facing the radio industry, drew over 250 attendees. Interep, along with Victor Miller, Sr. Managing Director, Broadcasting/TV and Radio Analyst, Bear Stearns, served as host for the event.
Ralph Guild, Interep Chairman and CEO, welcomed the attendees, stating, "This being our first symposium, we were delighted at the tremendous response. The number of registrants far surpassed our expectations." He added, "Every medium is affected by the changes occurring in the marketing arena, and radio is no exception. That's why it is so important to come together periodically as an industry to candidly discuss those issues that can dramatically impact our future success."
Miller opened the event by stating that radio generally takes 3-4 years to see complete recovery from an advertising recession. The last recession occurred in 2001. Miller said that it appears an advertising recovery is now underway, fueled particularly by television and cable, adding that, "following historical patterns, radio - a residual medium - generally lags other media slightly in the recovery cycle."
The day-long event featured speakers and panel discussions, and included representatives from the broadcasting, media sales, advertising agency, research and financial sectors. Advertising executives from major agencies including Mediaedge:CIA, OMD, Mindshare, Horizon Media, Zenith, and JL Media participated, as well as broadcasting executives from ABC Radio, Clear Channel, Cumulus, Emmis Broadcasting, Infinity Broadcasting, Inner City Broadcasting, Radio One, Spanish Broadcasting Systems, and Susquehanna Radio.
Several panels addressed the growing importance of non-traditional and non-media dollars- and cited this area as an important source for new radio revenue. Agency representatives urged radio to work with them to develop creative marketing proposals for their clients that go beyond "spots and dots." Several panelists mentioned the importance of selling the power of the medium to advertisers, backed by solid research and ROI data.
Expanding on the topic of accountability and ROI, Bob Patchen from Arbitron presented an update on the Portable People Meter, emphasizing that, "Advertisers are no longer settling for the same information as in the past." Generally, panelists responded favorably to the people meter as a superior method to the diary, although some stated that more testing was needed to answer all of their concerns about the new technology.
Also, Sunil Garga, COO of Marketing Management Analytics (MMA), spoke about radio's proven ROI and ability to drive sales for many of MMA's major national clients, including Kraft, Verizon, RadioShack, Campbells, P&G and McDonalds. He stated, "Radio does drive sales.case studies show markedly improved sales by adding radio to the media plan or increasing radio budgets."
The accountability panel also included Marc Guild, President of the Interep Marketing Division, who discussed Interep's RadioExchange - the radio industry's first electronic invoicing system, and Mary Bennett, EVP National Marketing for the RAB, who updated the group on the RAEL initiative.
The Industry Leadership panel included Rick Cummings, President of Radio, Emmis; Lew Dickey Jr., Chairman & CEO, Cumulus; David Kennedy, President & COO, Susquehanna Radio; Mary Catherine Sneed, COO, Radio One; and Charles Warfield, President & COO, Inner City Broadcasting. The radio execs touched on a number of topics, including spot loads, consolidation and the tone of business. On the subject of forecasting, however, all agreed that forward pacings are often not a reliable indictor of business, and that Wall Street in particular is often overly concerned with weekly pacing fluctuations. They urged investors to look at more long-term prospects and basic fundamentals as a more meaningful measure of value.
In the final session, moderator Lew Dickey, Chairman & CEO of Cumulus, served as moderator for a panel of broadcast analysts. Speaking on the question of consolidation trends, most analysts were modest in their projections for future consolidation in the near term. Dickey, however, "respectfully disagreed" with the group, stating that he thinks "consolidation will continue and pick-up as the economy and expansion continues."
Arbitron, Bear Stearns, RBC Financial Group, Banc of America Securities, and Inside Radio were sponsors of the event.
High (Cable/DSL/T1)
Part One: An Economy and Industry in Transition