Radio was the star of the show at today’s Southern Cross Austereo results briefing. While the company’s regional television business did not perform as well as expected due to its affiliation with the poorly rating channel ten, its radio business was described as resilient.

“Local advertising is strong, radio is resilient,” said CEO Rhys Holleran, reporting a year where overall revenue declined, but profits remained stable.

The company reported a net profit after tax of $96 million and continued to reduce debt and pay consistent dividends (see our earlier story for full results).

CFO Stephen Kelly said it had been “an eventful year, with the UK incident negatively affecting revenue.” Kelly estimated the financial impact of recent ‘incidents’ at around $5-8 million in a chart that showed revenue downturns after each incident.

The recent forced sale of Sunshine Coast stations Sea and Mix was also a significant factor on the books for last year, returning a one off profit to the company of $10 million.

Other radio factors in the latest accounts were an increase of half a million dollars for digital transmission costs and increased costs now that Triple M has gained more NRL coverage rights. Offsetting rising costs was the “vigorous management of expenses” and less money spent on analog tv transmission now that regional tv has transitioned to digital.

“Our radio business is a great underpinning… the importance and strength of regional radio and the strength of local advertising is important to us, we have outstanding relationships in our local communities,” Holleran told analysts at the results presentation, showing examples of local charity events supported by the network.

In this current quarter, government and election advertising has brought in a good in revenue. Holleran said businesses wants a “firm outcome from the federal election to bring economic confidence” but did not want to give formal guidance about earnings at this time. “I don’t think it is helpful to give formal guidance on things we can’t see at this time,” he said.

Holleran also hopes to see “sensible changes” to regulations after the election, particularly the “reach rule.”

Looking forward to other radio related elements of the business Holleran foreshadowed some new initiatives coming for digital radio in the next few months. He considers digital radio an investment for the future of radio. “You’ve got to start somewhere… we want to be in the game, digital radio is a good game to be in for the future.”

Both Holleran and Kelly focused on content, saying: “The issue today is content. We don’t care how our fans access our content… it’s a massively competitive landscape out there and we just need to continue to invest in our content.”