Summary
Small market radio stations are best poised to come out of this economic downturn. Localism is a key driver, especially since newspapers are disappearing.
Analysis
The perfect storm of auto sales declines, a weak retail market and a housing market is not ready to turn around has not bode well for small market radio stations. They are not alone as declines in other media have been well documented, lots of red ink all around.
Small market stations, unburdened with legacy costs and debt service fill an important void in many markets. All local all the time is key, especially in the wake of newspapers greatly cutting back news coverage and in some cases disappearing all together. There are numerous success stories attributed to small market stations, well documented case studies where businesses were literally started and thrived from associating with local on-air personalities. From an advertiser standpoint these stations have been and continue to be extremely "user friendly", they understand what partnership is all about. So, in the end, small market radio is here to stay, good for listeners and for local businesses in a major way.
