Barron's: Is this the future of radio?

[Dan Strassberg]

So reads the large headline on the cover of the 8/30/04 issue of Barron's
(weekly), sister publication of the Wall Street Journal. Beneath the
headline and a very bearish deckhead on the dismal future of radio as an
investment, is a picture of a 1930's-era classic table radio draped with
cobwebs. You may feel that $4.00 is a high price to pay for Barron's very
downbeat assessment of the medium's future (at least as an investment), but
some radio geeks will surely join the financial elite for this one week.
Most radio stocks are currently trading near the bottom of their 52-week
price ranges and only a few are forecasting more than mediocre earnings
growth in 2005. Nevertheless, pure-play radio companies continue to trade at
substantially higher earnings multiples than those of more diversified media
companies. The gist of the author's take is that, while radio's death has
been forecast repeatedly during the medium's 80+-year history, this downturn
might really presage the end of the line (or maybe not).

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367