Echoing what has been reported in many national trades lately, small-market radio is often doing better than large-market radio. And that holds true for Regent Communications. In the company's Q4 2007 Earnings Conference Call this week, CEO Bill Stakelin cited growth for several of the company's markets, including Utica-Rome. In fact, Stakelin specifically gave the market "special kudos."
Utica was mentioned three times during the call (entire transcript here). Stakelin said the market reached 134% of its sales goal for February 2008. He also said the cluster posted 14.1% growth from 2007 to 2008. And lastly, the "special kudos" was given for Utica capturing 68% of the available market revenue in the fourth quarter.
The pep speech seemed to help Regent stock reach $1.09 for Wednesday's close, after several days of closing at or below $1.00. In Utica-Rome, Regent owns Big Frog 104 (WFRG), Lite 98.7 (WLZW), Oldiez 96 (WODZ) and Newsradio 950 WIBX.