San Diego County’s radio stations saw revenue drop 2.5 percent, to $198.6 million in 2007 from $203.7 million in 2006, according to BIA Financial Network Inc., an investment adviser for media and telecommunications industries.

The local market, ranked No. 17 nationwide in terms of listeners, was down slightly more than the nation as a whole, which saw a 2.3 percent decline in estimated revenue to $17.9 billion for 2007.

KOGO-AM 600, a news, talk and sports station owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., had the highest revenues, estimated at $14.95 million, up from $14.9 million in 2006.

Classic rock station KGB-FM 101.5, also owned by Clear Channel, held second place with $14 million, down from $14.3 million the year before.

XPRS-AM 1090, a sports talk station that broadcasts San Diego Padres games and is owned by the San Diego-based Broadcast Company of the Americas, was No. 3 with $11.75 million, up from $11.7 million in 2006.

Soft rock KYXY-FM 96.5, a CBS Radio station, was No. 4 with revenue of $11.4 million, down from $11.6 million, while KLNV-FM 106.5, a Spanish language station owned by Univision Communications Inc., was No. 5, with $10.95 million, up from $10.9 million. All of the revenue figures were estimates by BIA Financial, which counts 44 stations in the county.

According to the Business Journal’s list of Radio Stations published in January, Clear Channel’s KHTS FM-933, a contemporary hits station, had the highest total number of weekly listeners with 403,600.

KHTS had estimated sales of $10 million, which tied it for eighth place with KMYI FM-94.1, according to BIA Financial. KMYI, which plays adult contemporary tunes, was second on the Business Journal’s list with 320,800 listeners.

Felicia Hansen, who owns San Diego-based Hansen Marketing & Media said “the beauty of radio” is that advertisers can target their audiences by the demographics various stations cater to and the periods during which they are most apt to be listening.

Jumpy Revenue Cycle

The San Diego radio market saw revenues increase between 2002 and 2004.

They declined in 2005 but rose again in 2006, according to BIA Financial.

The company projects revenue of $191.6 million for the local stations in 2008, representing a drop of 3.5 percent from 2007, and $189.7 million in 2009, which would be a drop of 4.5 percent compared with ’07.