BIA's Fratrik: Radio Needs To Invest In Localism

From Radio & Records:

The key to radio’s continued success is reinvesting in local news, weather, entertainment and community service, believes Mark Fratrik, VP of BIA Financial Network, a Northern Virginia financial and strategic advisory service.


In his "State of the Industry Report, A Look At the First Three Quarters of 2006," released Tuesday (Nov. 21), Fratrik notes that “despite competitive forces from iPods, Internet streaming, satellite radio and concern about ad clutter… the radio industry is still reaching over 90% of the American public. That’s an exceptional percentage.” But he believes to recapture its position in the ever-changing media landscape, the industry “must demonstrate a renewed vitality and a commitment to accountability. Radio needs to invest in what made it successful in the past,” Fratrik stresses.


He writes that without making that commitment, “the radio industry will wallow in the low single digits of advertising revenue growth below the inflation rate with the possibility of years of negative growth.”


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