private investors. While Radio One is beefing up its interactive presence, some analysts see possible problems arising.
“Interactive is a much lower margin business than is radio, and it is rarely sold correctly,” Ryvicker says. “The biggest problem is that there do not seem to be any synergies among Radio One’s different products, and at the end of the day, its core business is radio which continues to lack pricing power.”
Radio One executives would not comment further. Its board of directors has yet to authorize the repurchase of up to $150 million in stock through the end of 2009.