It's official: Radio sales were down last year, for the first time in a decade, according to the RAB.
The actual overall drop for the year was 7 percent.
The RAB is seeing signs of growth in 2002, according to President/CEO Gary Fries in his state of the industry speech at the association's convention in Orlando.
"Advertisers' reliance on radio has increased over the past year as our clients tap into the relationship we have with listeners," Fries said.
The last month of 2001 was also off. Local numbers for December alone were down 3 percent, and national business dropped 15 percent, for a combined total for the month off 6 percent compared to a year earlier.