BIA/Kelsey's new 2010 U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast (2009-2014) says that local advertising revenues for television and radio will reach $34.3 billion in 2014, up from $29.9 billion in 2009. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 2.8 percent. Digital revenues for these media are also expected to grow at a 17.8 percent rate during the same period.

"Broadcasters must evolve to participate in more areas of the media ecosystem," said Rick Ducey, BIA/Kelsey's chief strategy officer and program director for the new Digital Strategies for Broadcasting (DSB) initiative. "This means developing the right multiplatform and multiple revenue stream strategies, which in turn requires new workflow, partnerships, business models and resources. The mission of DSB is to provide the strategic guidance and market intelligence to the media and technology companies that can help broadcasters successfully transform."

Meanwhile, BIA also named KIIS/Los Angeles as the nation's top billing radio station. KIIS earned $55 million in revenue in 2009, down from $66.3 million in 2008, according to preliminary figures calculated by BIA Advisory Services. The #2 station, WTOP/Washington, DC, had $51.03 million in 2009 revenue, down from $51.75 million. WTOP also posted the smallest year-over-year revenue decline among the top 10 stations, with 2009 billings down less than 1.5 percent from 2008. New York all-news stations WCBS and WINS ranked third and fourth, with 2009 revenue of $43.6 million and $42.9, respectively. The rest of the Top 10 billing stations in 2009 were KROQ/Los Angeles, WLTW/New York, KFI/Los Angeles, WBBM/Chicago, WHTZ/New York and WGN/Chicago.

WTOP was the only station in the Top 10 not located in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, and the station attributes that to the presence of the federal government and the government-related contracting advertising that it generates.

"Certainly, it is a category that no one else in the country has on the scale that we have here in Washington," Bonneville International senior regional VP Joel Oxley told the Washington Business Journal. "The recent switch from a diary-based Arbitron ratings system to the electronic portable people meters has also benefited us, showing a more accurate count of our audience and helping sales we receive through advertising agencies."