Citadel Q3 Revenues Up, Net Income Down

Citadel

CITADEL BROADCASTING CORP. third-quarter net revenues rose 2.6% to $112.5 million, credited to increases at the company's SALT LAKE CITY, MODESTO, TUCSON, NEW ORLEANS, and RENO clusters, offset by lower revenues in BATON ROUGE, BUFFALO, and LITTLE ROCK. Operating income fell from $40.8 million to $40.3 million, but station operating income rose 4.2% to $52.1 million. Net income dropped from $20.5 million to $18.4 million (17 to 16 cents/basic share). 

Chairman/CEO FARID SULEMAN said that CITADEL "continues to meet or exceed the expected growth rates for the radio industry despite the challenging advertising environment."

I believe we're at the bottom of what's been self-inflicted

On this morning's conference call, SULEMAN added, "Regarding the DISNEY deal, if the deal were to close in '07, that would be a year of transition, with '08 being the first year of operations." He discussed the business environment for radio in general by saying, "Radio has had some tough years replacing big catagories lost, along with 'LESS IS MORE.' I believe we're at the bottom of what's been self-inflicted."

Answering a question about future sales, SULEMAN commented that after the DISNEY deal is finished, "we could sell some of our smaller stations."

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