Katz Radio Group’s Fall 2007 National Format Averages
Show Gains in the News, Talk and Sports Radio Formats

Youth-Oriented Radio Categories Consistent with 2006

New York, NY February 28, 2008 – Katz Radio Group’s National Format Averages (NFA) report for Fall 2007 said the Iraq war, the political season and baseball’s Mitchell Report on steroids all played a role in boosting the news, talk and sports radio formats.

“This fall’s heated and controversial topics have offered people an abundance of subjects to talk about, learn about and weigh in on during the fall survey period,” said Lisa Chiljean, Vice President and Director of Media Research for Clear Channel Katz Advantage, who wrote the report. “This trend clearly surfaced in the increases seen with talk radio, sports and news. While some individual formats showed more modest increases than others, this growth is likely to continue right through the spring and fall of 2008 leading up to the presidential election in November.”

The news segment captured 2.5 percent of the entire radio audience in 2007, up from 2.4 percent in 2006, while talk radio rose to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent. The sports category increased to 2.2 percent in 2007 from 2.1 percent a year earlier. 

Katz Radio Group has been publishing its National Format Averages twice a year since 1980. The report, which focuses on trends among  radio listeners, includes all Arbitron surveyed markets and interim reports for winter and summer using Arbitron’s measured markets. Over 4,000 radio stations and almost 50 formats in 300 Arbitron markets were surveyed during a 12-week period from the end of September through mid-December.

Among the report’s other significant findings is that radio continues to play an integral role in the lives of younger audiences. “This group connects with favorite personalities and formats and radio is the place they go to learn about new music,” Chiljean said. “They are also the technology generation. And as this group has spent more time with new technologies their time with radio has lessened a bit over the years. For the first time in several years, however, we noticed that this trend has slowed. Looking at an average of four primary youth formats, there is a strong indication that overall listening among youth demographics has stabilized.”

In these primary youth-targeted formats, overall audience share is stable. The urban contemporary format is consistent at 7.0 percent, alternative/modern rock is stable at 3.1 percent, contemporary hit radio is steady at 6.8 percent, and rhythmic contemporary hits remains at 4.2 percent.

The country music category, which slipped to 14.3 percent from 14.9 percent, remains the nation’s most popular radio format. Hispanic radio, the second largest format, declined from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent after experiencing steady growth for a number of years.

To view the full National Format Averages report, please visit the Katz Media Group website or click here for additional information.

About Katz Media Group
Katz Media Group, based in New York City, is the nation’s only full-service media sales and marketing firm. A subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, the company serves multiple media platforms and is the leading representative of radio and television stations. The Katz Radio Group is structured to most effectively represent the interests of its independent client stations through Eastman Radio, Christal Radio and Katz Radio. For more information, visit www.katz-media.com.

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