Regent Releases First-Quarter Financial Results

Regent Communications, owner of 76 stations in 16 markets, said it posted a large increase in net broadcast revenue in its first quarter of 2003 and a slight increase in net income.
Net broadcast revenue rose from $13 million in the same quarter 2002 to $16.7 million, about 28%. Its station operating expenses, however, increased 25%, to $13.3 million from $9.9 million, as the company acquired new stations since the first quarter of 2002. Net income was $110,000, an improvement over its loss of $6.1 million in the same time period last year.
Terry Jacobs, chairman/CEO of Regent, commented on the business environment by saying that demand for advertising decreased during the run-up to the war in Iraq, and that afterward the company “experienced postponements of existing advertising business, and a hesitancy to plan new business in the future.”