The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) has released its report on radio revenue for the second quarter of 2009. Although revenue was down 22 percent from a year ago, the RAB says that there are signs of improvement. RAB President/CEO Jeff Haley stated that "we are most likely past the Q1 low point for Radio revenues and are now on the rebound."

For Q2, local revenue was down 25 percent to $2.8 billion, with national revenue down 24 percent to $591 million. Network revenue was off by 10 percent to $274 million, with off-air revenue down by 13 percent compared to a year ago, to $355 million. Digital revenue grew by nine percent to $120 million. Overall, radio brought in $4.171 billion in the second quarter of 2009.

The RAB also released its revenue data for the first half of the year, finding that overall revenue is down 23 percent compared to the first half of 2008. In the first half of '09, radio revenue stood at $7.601 billion.

According to the RAB, "much of Radio's weakness in Q2 and for the first six months of 2009 is linked to marketers associated with the auto industry (formerly Radio's top ad category, now #3) and major retailers feeling the impact of shaky consumer confidence and spending."