Radio Station billings

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

Recently, I saw an article (proably at Airwaves On-line) mentioning that the
key reason for the New York Times' decision to lease WQEW to Disney was the
station's billings of approximately $4.5 million per year. That WQEW had low
billings for the New York market cannot have surprised many people--the spot
load was very light. By contrast, WFAN reportedly bills in excess of $40
million; WINS, about $36.5 million; and WCBS (AM), about $31 million. I'm
curious about WOR and WABC, but I haven't seen figures for those stations.

My question, however, is how does anybody know what a radio station actually
bills? I work in magazine publishing--controlled-circulation magazines (also
known as business-to-business publications). These books are similar to
radio stations in that the readers (qualified readers, anyhow) pay nothing
for their subscriptions. To qualify, you must supply demographic information
indicating that your demographics appeal to the magazine's advertisers and
that you are a purhcaser or specifier of the types products that are
advertised in the magazine. Industry surveys that purport to indicate the ad
revenues of these magazines abound. Generally, the revenue figures are
derived by counting the ad pages and multiplying by the rate-card rates for
such space. This becomes quite a complex exercise when you try to figure in
frequency discounts and the like.

Although my employer steadfastly disclaims any below-rate-card sales, they
eagerly tell all kinds of stories about the deep discounts (75% or more)
being offered by competitive publications. What this says is that the
competitive puvlications' revenues are well below those calculated by the
organizations that make such calculations. I assume that the same phonomenon
is in play with estimates of radio-station revenues. Can anybody shed any
light on who makes these estimates, what the estimates are based on, and the
typical margins of error.

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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