Chicago Radio: Report..2014 Bad For Radio Revenue

Total radio revenue in Chicago plunged more than 10 percent in 2014. Income from all sources totaled $376.231 million — down from the previous year’s $419.715 million, according to figures supplied by the station groups and compiled by the accounting firm of Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co.

Chicago Media writer Robert Feder writes CBS Radio again led the market with WBBM 780 AM / 105.9 FM, although the all-news combo declined 6.5 percent with revenue of $39.215 million.

Faring no better was iHeartMedia, which had a change at the top of its Chicago cluster in light of losses at Top40 WKSC 103.5 FM.

Coming off a banner year in 2013, Hubbard Radio also saw sales plummet at its HotAC WTMX 101.9 FM.

According to Feder, three Cumulus Media stations posted the market’s most dramatic losses, including Classic Rock WLUP 97.9 FM, Classic Hits WLS 94.7 FM, and Talk WLS890 AM. But the company also had one of the year’s few winners, Alternative WKQX 101.1 FM (up 41.3 percent).

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Here’s Chicago radio’s revenue for 2014: