May 14, 2007 - New York, NY

Interep Creates $21 Million New Radio Dollars in Q1 '07 Despite Weak Transactional Radio Market

Rolls Out Digital Training Program to Help Radio Clients Tap into $33 Billion Digital Ad Market

Today Interep (IREP.PK) announced that its new business development efforts generated $21 million new dollars for radio in Q1 2007, with over 90% of these dollars going to Interep’s client radio stations. According to the RAB, national radio revenue for January and February (latest available figures) was down (-1%), rendering this figure even more impressive.

Sheila F. Kirby, President, Strategic Sales Development, said, ”Obviously, the time has passed when radio salespeople can sit back and wait for opportunities to come to them. We must create the opportunities. I think these sales figures show that when we approach advertisers pro-actively, with innovative, integrated, consumer-driven media solutions - we can and do win, regardless of prevailing market conditions.”

Interep also announced that it will begin rolling out an extensive digital training program for its sales reps in the coming months. This training will entail working closely with its clients’ interactive teams to strategically position the digital assets offered by its radio clients.

Dave Kennedy, Interep’s CEO, said, ”Digital media in all its forms will be a critical part of radio’s future. It is vital to our company’s growth strategies - and to the revenue growth of our clients - that every Interep salesperson has a clear understanding of digital media and its marketing synergies with radio. That’s why we are willing to devote the resources to this new training initiative. The time has come; we must, and we will, become active players in the digital space.”

Kirby added, ”At Interep, we take our responsibility in helping our clients thrive in this new media world very seriously. It’s a reality that many Fortune 100 companies, like General Motors, are spending as much as 20% of their traditional media budgets on nontraditional delivery systems, including on-line advertising, mobile marketing, audio and video streaming, and the growing list of alternative media. For radio, this trend brings tremendous opportunity for those broadcasters who are actively investing in complementary delivery platforms to distribute content. Interep is committed to providing the necessary training to our salespeople to assure that radio participates vigorously in the digital movement.”

In 2004, Interep introduced a company-wide new business development training program for all of its radio sales representatives. Interep sees its newly announced digital initiative as the natural evolution of this business development training. 

About Interep

Interep (IREP.PK) is the nation’s largest independent advertising sales and marketing company specializing in radio, the Internet, television and complementary media, with offices in 17 cities.  Interep is the parent company to the following radio representation firms: ABC Radio Sales, D&R Radio, CBS Radio Sales, McGavren Guild Radio, and SBS/Interep. Interep is also parent to Azteca America Spot Television Sales and Interep Interactive, including Winstar Interactive. Divisions benefiting our clients and customers include our unwired network radio division, Interep Net Solutions™, Interep Innovations, our business development division, including the Interep Marketing Group (IMG) and Promotion Marketing; and Morrison and Abraham, a sales consulting firm. For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.interep.com.