Saga Communications Inc (SGA) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Saga Communications third-quarter 2025 earnings release and conference call. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎參加 Saga Communications 2025 年第三季財報發布會和電話會議。（操作說明）

It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Chris Forgy. Sir, the floor is yours.

現在我很高興把發言權交給主持人克里斯福吉。先生，請您發言。

Thank you, Matt, and thank you to your dulcet tones. And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to join Saga's 2025 Q3 earnings call. We appreciate your continued interest and support and your participation in Saga Communications, what we believe is the best media company on the planet. I'm here with Sam Bush, and today represents 28 years of Sam doing Saga earnings call. So Sam, congratulations.

謝謝你，馬特，也謝謝你悅耳的嗓音。感謝各位抽空參加 Saga 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。我們感謝您一直以來對 Saga Communications 的關注、支持和參與，我們相信 Saga Communications 是地球上最好的媒體公司。今天我和 Sam Bush 一起主持 Saga 的財報電話會議，今天是 Sam 主持 Saga 財報電話會議的第 28 年。所以，山姆，恭喜你。

And with that, I'm going to relinquish the floor to you for now, and I'll save my remarks for later in the call.

那麼，現在我把發言權交給你們，我的發言將在稍後的電話會議中進行。

Thank you, Chris. This call will contain forward-looking statements about our future performance and results of operations that involve risks and uncertainties that are described in the Risk Factors section of our most recent Form 10-K.

謝謝你，克里斯。本次電話會議將包含有關我們未來業績和經營成果的前瞻性陳述，其中涉及風險和不確定性，這些風險和不確定性已在我們最新的 10-K 表格的「風險因素」部分中進行了描述。

This call will also contain a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation for all the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are attached in the selected financial data tables.

本次電話會議也將討論一些非GAAP財務指標。所選財務資料表中附有所有非GAAP財務指標與最直接可比較的GAAP指標的調節表。

For the quarter ended September 30, 2025, net revenue decreased $528,000 or 1.8% to $28.2 million, compared to $28.7 million last year. Station operating expense increased $2 million to $24.7 million for the three-month period.

截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的季度，淨收入減少 52.8 萬美元，降幅 1.8%，至 2,820 萬美元，去年同期為 2,870 萬美元。車站營運費用在三個月內增加了 200 萬美元，達到 2,470 萬美元。

As reported in the press release, this increase was primarily the result of an industry-wide settlement with two of the music licensing organizations we are licensed by. In mid-August, the Radio Music License Committee, which Saga is a member of, announced separate rate-setting settlements with ASCAP and BMI.

如新聞稿所述，此次成長主要是由於我們與兩家授權的音樂版權組織達成了行業範圍內的和解協議。8 月中旬，Saga 所屬的廣播音樂許可委員會宣布分別與 ASCAP 和 BMI 達成費率制定協議。

The settlements established license fees, which applied retroactively for the periods from January 1, 2022, through September 30, 2025, and on a go-forward basis through December 31, 2029. In September, we booked $1.7 million for the periods from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2024, and another $407,000 for the nine -month period ending September 30, 2025.

和解協議確定了許可費，該費用追溯適用於 2022 年 1 月 1 日至 2025 年 9 月 30 日期間，並持續適用於 2029 年 12 月 31 日之前。9 月份，我們確認了 2022 年 1 月 1 日至 2024 年 12 月 31 日期間的 170 萬美元收入，以及截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的九個月期間的 40.7 萬美元收入。

The fourth quarter impact of the increased rates will be approximately $135,000 over our previously projected music licensing fees.

第四季費率上漲的影響將比我們先前預測的音樂版權費高出約 13.5 萬美元。

We reported an operating loss of $626,000 for the quarter, which without the settlement, would have been an operating income of $1.5 million compared to $1.6 million for the same period last year. We also reported station operating income, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, of $3.5 million for the quarter.

本季我們報告營業虧損 62.6 萬美元，如果沒有和解，營業收入本應為 150 萬美元，去年同期為 160 萬美元。我們也公佈了該季度的電台營運收入（非GAAP財務指標），為350萬美元。

Without the settlement, station operating income would have been $5.6 million for the quarter compared to $6 million for the same period last year. It is important to note that the company would have reported net income for the quarter without the music licensing settlement.

如果沒有這筆和解金，該電臺本季的營業收入將為 560 萬美元，而去年同期為 600 萬美元。值得注意的是，即使不計入音樂版權授權和解協議，該公司本季仍將實現淨利。

For the quarter, gross broadcast revenue included NTR, non-traditional revenue, which is mostly events we are involved in, decreased $1.8 million or 6.8%, while our gross interactive revenue increased $1.1 million or 32.6%.

本季度，包括非傳統收入（NTR，即我們參與的活動）在內的廣播總收入減少了 180 萬美元，降幅為 6.8%；而我們的互動總收入增加了 110 萬美元，增幅為 32.6%。

Gross political revenue was $73,000 for the quarter this year compared to $677,000 last year. For the third quarter this year, the increase in our interactive revenue made up almost the entire decrease in our broadcast revenue when adjusted for political. I think Chris is going to emphasize this again but we're in radio, so repetition is always a good thing.

本季政治活動總收入為 73,000 美元，去年同期為 677,000 美元。今年第三季度，經過政治因素調整後，互動收入的成長幾乎完全彌補了廣播收入的下降。我認為克里斯還會再次強調這一點，但我們是在廣播行業，所以重複總是一件好事。

And I just want to say again, for the third quarter this year, the increase in our interactive revenue made up almost the entire decrease in our broadcast revenue when adjusted for political.

我還要再次說明，今年第三季度，經過政治因素調整後，我們互動收入的成長幾乎完全彌補了廣播收入的下降。

For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025, net revenue decreased $3.1 million or 3.7% to $80.6 million, compared to $83.7 million last year.

截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的九個月期間，淨收入減少 310 萬美元，降幅 3.7%，至 8,060 萬美元，去年同期為 8,370 萬美元。

I won't go through the nine-month numbers that were reported in the press release other than to indicate that without the music licensing settlements, station operating expense would have decreased $1.7 million instead of the reported increase of $390,000.

我不會贅述新聞稿中公佈的九個月數據，只想指出，如果沒有音樂版權許可和解協議，電台營運費用將減少 170 萬美元，而不是報告中增加的 39 萬美元。

Without the settlement, operating income would have been $574,000 instead of an operating loss of $1.5 million and station operating income, again, a non-GAAP measure, would have been $13.8 million instead of $11.7 million. Also without the settlement on a same-station basis for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, station operating expense would have decreased 3.9% or $2.6 million.

如果沒有和解，營業收入將為 574,000 美元，而不是 150 萬美元的營業虧損；而電台營業收入（同樣是非 GAAP 指標）將為 1380 萬美元，而不是 1170 萬美元。此外，如果沒有截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的九個月內同站營運費用的結算，車站營運費用將減少 3.9%，即 260 萬美元。

Corporate expenses decreased $80,000 for the quarter and increased $74,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. Corporate expenses included $226,000 for the nine-month period relating to a potential proxy contest initiated earlier this year by one Saga shareholder. This has been disclosed in our previous public filings.

本季公司支出減少了 80,000 美元，截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的九個月期間，公司支出增加了 74,000 美元。公司支出包括與今年稍早由一位 Saga 股東發起的潛在代理權爭奪戰相關的九個月期間的 226,000 美元。這一點已在我們先前的公開文件中披露。

The decrease in other operating expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024 is primarily due to the sale of a non-productive AM station along with two translators in Asheville, North Carolina, the sale of WNDN, FM in Chiefland, Florida, and the shutting down of a nonproductive AM station in Bellingham, Washington in 2024.

截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的九個月期間，其他營運費用較 2024 年同期有所下降，這主要是由於 2024 年出售了位於北卡羅來納州阿什維爾的一家不盈利的 AM 電台及其兩個轉播台、出售了位於佛羅裡達州奇夫蘭的 WNDN FM 電台，以及關閉了位於華盛頓州貝靈厄姆的一家公司。

The decrease in other income is due to a one-time gain in 2024 related to the sale of Saga's equity investment in BMI when the organization was sold.

其他收入的減少是由於 2024 年出售 Saga 在 BMI 的股權投資時獲得的一次性收益，當時該組織被出售。

In addition to what Saga and I have already said -- in addition to what I've already said, I want to emphasize that for the quarter, total interactive revenue was up 32.6% and for the nine -month period, up 17.1% with a 54% profit margin for both the quarter and the nine -month period, excluding sales commissions for the quarter and for the year.

除了我和 Saga 已經說過的內容之外——除了我已經說過的內容之外，我還想強調，本季度互動業務總收入增長了 32.6%，前九個月增長了 17.1%，本季度和前九個月的利潤率均為 54%，不包括本季度和全年的銷售佣金。

Pacing for the fourth quarter is currently tough as we are up against $2 million in political we booked in the fourth quarter of last year. This was $1.6 million in October, $389,000 in November, and $10,000 in December. For the fourth quarter, we are currently pacing down approximately 11%, including political and 4.7% when political is excluded.

第四季的進度目前很艱難，因為我們要面對去年第四季預定的 200 萬美元政治支出。10 月份為 160 萬美元，11 月份為 38.9 萬美元，12 月份為 1 萬美元。第四季度，我們目前的成長速度約為 11%，其中政治因素在內；若不計政治因素，則為 4.7%。

On a positive note, our interactive pacing is strong for the fourth quarter being up 32% as of now.

從正面的方面來看，我們第四季的互動成長勢頭強勁，截至目前已成長 32%。

The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on September 19, 2025. The total dividend paid was approximately $1.6 million. To date, Saga has paid over $140 million in dividends to shareholders since the first special dividend was paid in 2012, as well as has bought back over $58 million in Saga stock. The company intends to pay regular quarterly cash dividends in the future.

該公司於 2025 年 9 月 19 日派發了每股 0.25 美元的季度股息。支付的股息總額約為160萬美元。自 2012 年首次發放特別股息以來，Saga 至今已向股東支付了超過 1.4 億美元的股息，並回購了超過 5,800 萬美元的 Saga 股票。該公司計劃未來定期按季度派發現金股息。

Further, as part of our overall capital allocation plan for 2025 and beyond, and as stated in the press release on October 17, 2025, the company entered into an agreement to sell telecommunications towers and related property and other assets located at 22 sites for a total cash purchase price of approximately $10.7 million.

此外，作為我們 2025 年及以後的整體資本配置計劃的一部分，正如 2025 年 10 月 17 日的新聞稿中所述，公司已達成協議，將位於 22 個地點的電信塔及相關財產和其他資產出售，總現金購買價格約為 1070 萬美元。

Sales proceeds, net of brokerage commissions and certain adjustments, in the amount of approximately $8.7 million were paid to the company, with the remaining cash proceeds of $1.8 million, representing four sites being deposited into an escrow account pending final landlord consents to assign the ground leases where the towers are located.

扣除經紀佣金和某些調整後，銷售所得款項約 870 萬美元已支付給該公司，剩餘的 180 萬美元現金收益（代表四個地點）已存入託管帳戶，等待房東最終同意轉讓塔樓所在土地的租賃權。

We also entered into long-term leases at each of the sites to allow us continued use of the towers at a nominal cost. We are continuing to work through the tax and accounting implications of this transaction, which will be disclosed in our future filings.

我們還與各站點簽訂了長期租賃協議，以便我們能夠以像徵性的成本繼續使用這些信號塔。我們正在繼續研究此交易的稅務和會計影響，相關內容將在我們未來的文件中揭露。

As we have previously stated, we intend to use a portion of the proceeds from the sale to fund stock buybacks, which may include open market purchases, block trades, or other forms of buybacks. All said, we believe Saga is in a strong financial position to improve profitability as our digital initiative improves both local radio and interactive revenue.

正如我們先前所述，我們打算將出售所得款項的一部分用於股票回購，其中可能包括公開市場購買、大宗交易或其他形式的回購。綜上所述，我們相信 Saga 的財務狀況良好，隨著我們的數位化措施提高本地廣播和互動收入，獲利能力也將得到提升。

The company's balance sheet reflects $26.3 million in cash and short-term investments as of September 30, 2025, and $34.2 million as of November 3, 2025. We currently expect to spend between $3.25 million to $3.75 million for capital expenditures in 2025.

截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，該公司資產負債表顯示現金及短期投資為 2,630 萬美元；截至 2025 年 11 月 3 日，現金及短期投資為 3,420 萬美元。我們目前預計 2025 年的資本支出將在 325 萬美元至 375 萬美元之間。

We currently expect that our station operating expense will be flat for the year as compared to 2024. This takes into consideration the expense reductions we have made, offset by the music license fee settlement with ASCAP and BMI, as well as for our continued investment in our ongoing revenue initiatives.

我們目前預計，今年的車站營運費用將與 2024 年持平。這考慮到了我們削減開支的措施，以及與 ASCAP 和 BMI 達成的音樂許可費和解協議所抵消的開支，以及我們對持續收入計劃的持續投資。

Without the music licensing settlement expense, we would expect station operating expense to decrease by 2% to 3%. We anticipate that the annual corporate general and administrative expense will be approximately $12 million for 2025 compared to $12.4 million in 2024.

如果扣除音樂版權費，我們預計電台營運費用將減少 2% 至 3%。我們預計 2025 年的年度公司一般及行政費用約為 1,200 萬美元，而 2024 年為 1,240 萬美元。

And with that, Chris, I'll turn it back over to you.

克里斯，那麼，我就把麥克風交還給你了。

Did you say crass? That's kind of crass, Sam. Congratulations anyway on your 28 years of earnings calls. Over the past several years and we have -- past several months, I'm sorry, Saga's elite group of leaders and employees, Saga's corporate team and Saga's Board of Directors have been extremely busy in the Sagaverse.

你說粗俗？山姆，你這樣說有點粗魯。無論如何，恭喜你從事財報電話會議28年了。在過去的幾年裡，以及——抱歉，在過去的幾個月裡，Saga 的精英領導層和員工、Saga 的公司團隊和 Saga 的董事會一直在 Sagaverse 中非常忙碌。

Since early this year, we have been diligently installing Saga's blended digital strategy, including the comprehensive training and development of Saga's market leaders, sales managers, media advisers, on-air content creators, and our directors of content creation.

從今年年初開始，我們一直在努力實施 Saga 的混合數位策略，包括對 Saga 的市場領導者、銷售經理、媒體顧問、廣播內容創作者和內容創作總監進行全面的培訓和發展。

We've made additional strategic investments in R&D and resources to assist our team members to run faster in the Saga's blended strategy. This, in order to achieve our objective of 2x gross revenue, most of it digital, in 18 to 24 months by capturing just 5% of the available search and display dollars available in our 27 Saga markets.

我們已在研發和資源方面進行了額外的策略性投資，以幫助我們的團隊成員在 Saga 的混合策略中更快地前進。為了實現我們的目標，即在 18 到 24 個月內，透過僅佔用我們在 27 個 Saga 市場中可用搜尋和展示廣告預算的 5%，實現毛收入翻一番（其中大部分是數位收入）。

We've added acumen and expertise to our Saga Board of Directors with expertise in digital, M&A, and the financial audit and consulting space. We are committed to sell one tower and the land the tower is on to a local developer as well as some excess land we own. And we are also in the process of listing and selling the company-owned home in Sarasota, Florida following multiple hurricanes that pounded Florida's West Coast.

我們為 Saga 董事會增添了在數位、併購、財務審計和諮詢領域具有專業知識和經驗的成員。我們承諾將一座信號塔及其所在土地出售給當地開發商，同時也將出售我們擁有的一些多餘土地。在多次颶風襲擊佛羅裡達州西海岸之後，我們也正在掛牌出售位於佛羅裡達州薩拉索塔的公司所有房屋。

And we have completed, as Sam said, the sale of several Saga towers, not because we needed the money but because of a larger strategic plan to return value to shareholders through stock buybacks and other capital allocation. This, while continuing Saga's robust quarterly dividend strategy.

正如 Sam 所說，我們已經完成了幾座 Saga 大樓的出售，這並非因為我們需要資金，而是因為我們制定了一項更大的戰略計劃，即透過股票回購和其他資本配置為股東創造價值。與此同時，Saga 繼續推行其穩健的季度分紅策略。

As a part of the tower sale, I would like to personally thank and show our appreciation to Executive Vice President and CFO, Sam Bush; Senior Vice President and Controller, Cathy Bobinski; Vice President of Engineering, Tom Atkins; Vice President of Finance and Board Secretary, Katie Semivan; and Financial analysts, [Cindy Lorelein and Amy Lundberg], for their efforts to help us complete the sale of these towers. This was a Herculean effort and it's much appreciated and it's still continuing. We're not quite done yet.

作為此次塔出售的一部分，我謹代表公司向執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Sam Bush、高級副總裁兼財務總監 Cathy Bobinski、工程副總裁 Tom Atkins、財務副總裁兼董事會秘書 Katie Semivan 以及財務分析師 Cindy Lorelein 和 Amy Lundberg 表示衷心的感謝，感謝他們為我們完成此次塔出售所做的努力。這是一項艱鉅的任務，我們對此深表感謝，而且這項工作仍在繼續。我們還沒完全完成。

Finally, we have -- we finally have and continue to make strategic expense reductions at the market and the corporate levels to allow us to reinvest in our transformational digital strategy to enable us to be more nimble. We're also selectively utilizing, as we've stated earlier, in AI to help improve efficiency and performance and to cut costs and to increase margins.

最後，我們終於——並將繼續在市場和公司層面進行策略性支出削減，以便我們能夠重新投資於我們的轉型數位策略，從而使我們能夠更加靈活。正如我們之前所說，我們也在選擇性地利用人工智慧來幫助提高效率和效能，降低成本並提高利潤率。

And over the next few months, we will continue to bring much of our digital deliverables into the house to allow us to better serve our team members and ultimately, our customers, again, to provide efficiencies, increase scalability, and increase margins, all of which will require the acquisition of people to accomplish this feat.

在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將繼續把大部分數位化交付成果轉移到公司內部，以便更好地服務我們的團隊成員，並最終服務於我們的客戶，再次提高效率、擴大規模、增加利潤，而所有這些都需要招募人員來實現這一目標。

Saga has come a long way in a very short period of time, yet we are far from finished. To fully understand how far we've come and why we believe Saga's blended strategy will work, we really need to go back to the beginning to the principles of what Saga was built on in the first place when Ed Christian founded the company.

Saga 在很短的時間內取得了長足的進步，但我們距離終點還很遠。要充分了解我們取得了多大的成就，以及為什麼我們相信 Saga 的混合策略會奏效，我們真的需要回到最初，回到 Ed Christian 創立 Saga 時所秉持的原則。

Internally, we refer to this with an old Latin phrase, Finis ab origine pendet, which means the end hangs on the beginning. Saga focuses on small and medium markets. Case in point, 21 of our 27 markets are smaller than Market 100.

在公司內部，我們用一句古老的拉丁語短語“Finis ab origine pendet”來指這一點，意思是“結束依賴於開始”。Saga專注於中小市場。舉例來說，我們 27 個市場中有 21 個比 100 號市場小。

Our acquisition strategy focused on markets with state capitals, state universities, non-closable military bases, strong ag business, large retirement communities with high net worth like we have in the villages in Ocala, Florida. And on the ground, Saga's market employees are known, liked, and trusted in the local communities in which they serve.

我們的收購策略重點是擁有州首府、州立大學、不會關閉的軍事基地、強大的農業企業、以及像我們在佛羅裡達州奧卡拉的村莊那樣擁有高淨值人群的大型退休社區的市場。在當地，Saga 的市場員工在他們服務的當地社區中廣為人知、備受喜愛和信任。

We pour ourselves into the local marketplace. Our leaders get involved in city government, raise money for important causes where money raised stays in the local community. We get belly-to-belly with influencers and decision-makers to move local business forward.

我們全心投入當地市場。我們的領導人積極參與市政府事務，為重要事業籌款，籌集的資金都留在當地社區。我們與有影響力的人士和決策者面對面交流，以推動本地企業發展。

Saga is really woven into the fabric of the communities in which we serve. But the name Saga has never mentioned. It's all about our local media groups and the name like the Columbus Media Group, for example.

Saga 已經真正融入我們所服務的社區的肌理之中。但Saga這個名字從未被提及。這一切都與我們當地的媒體集團以及像哥倫布媒體集團這樣的名稱有關。

Finally, Saga does on average $1 million to $1.5 million more a month in local direct revenue than we do in local agency revenue. And as we stated, local direct revenue is the primary driver to Saga's blended strategy.

最後，Saga 每月在本地直接收入方面平均比我們在本地代理收入方面多出 100 萬至 150 萬美元。正如我們所說，本地直接收入是 Saga 混合策略的主要驅動力。

I hope this is starting to make sense to you now. Saga was 10 years late to the digital party. We started this digital transformation way behind the curve, and we have the luxury of observing and learning from iterations and reiterations of our broadcast brethren. From a digital advertising perspective, Saga is really a cash flush start-up.

希望你現在開始明白我的意思了。Saga 進入數位化時代晚了 10 年。我們在數位轉型方面起步很晚，但我們有幸能夠觀察和學習廣播同行們的反覆嘗試和改進。從數位廣告的角度來看，Saga 真是一家資金雄厚的新創公司。

And what we know is this, the local advertising market is overdue for disruption. And it just so happens that Saga Communications operates in the size markets where we can have strong impact and influence on the local communities in which we operate, and that includes the advertising community.

我們知道的是，本地廣告市場早就該迎來改變了。恰好，Saga Communications 的業務規模適中，我們可以對我們營運所在地的當地社區產生強大的影響，這也包括廣告界。

These local advertising markets are ripe for disruption. Why? Because businesses are pouring more and more money into digital advertising every year but the rapid growth of digital budgets has outpaced the ability of advertisers to completely understand them and to use them effectively.

這些本地廣告市場亟待改變。為什麼？因為企業每年在數位廣告上投入的資金越來越多，但數位預算的快速成長已經超過了廣告主完全理解和有效利用這些預算的能力。

There are too many digital providers and too many conflicting solutions. Businesses don't know who to trust. In this case, trust, simplicity, clarity with a click, visit, call, and search approach, focused on the consumer journey, not the product-based selling that usually takes place, wins.

數位服務提供者太多，解決方案也太多，而且這些方案還相互衝突。企業不知道該信任誰。在這種情況下，信任、簡潔、清晰，以及點擊、存取、電話和搜尋等方式，專注於消費者旅程，而不是通常發生的以產品為中心的銷售，才能取得成功。

And advertisers are fed up with ineffective campaigns and empty promises. They don't really like what they are buying, know what they're buying, and they don't really like who they're buying it from. And there's a shift in consumer behavior. Advertising strategies haven't caught up with the journey people take when they buy. In other words, search and display is broken and there is a gap where tech meets human behavior.

廣告商已經厭倦了無效的廣告活動和空洞的承諾。他們不喜歡自己買的東西，知道自己買的是什麼，也不喜歡從誰那裡買。消費者行為正在轉變。廣告策略尚未跟上人們的購買歷程。換句話說，搜尋和顯示功能存在缺陷，技術與人類行為之間存在差距。

So focusing on the influence of the ads on the real consumer journey when a consumer interacts with a product or service will allow us, we believe, to not only win the market but also redefine it. And internally, we have begun seeing measurable returns on the yeoman's efforts that our team members have put into this transformation, and I want to underscore yeoman's efforts.

因此，我們相信，關注廣告對消費者與產品或服務互動時的真實消費歷程的影響，不僅能讓我們贏得市場，還能重新定義市場。在公司內部，我們已經開始看到團隊成員為實現這項轉型所付出的辛勤努力獲得了可衡量的回報，我想強調這些辛勤努力的重要性。

We have found that local direct advertisers who were not pitched to blend, we lose 29% of our existing radio business that we had. And with local direct advertisers that bought a blended product, their radio spend increased by 9% and their overall radio and blended spend increased by 27%. Now we just simply need to scale it.

我們發現，對於那些沒有進行融合推廣的本地直接廣告商，我們失去了 29% 的現有廣播業務。對於購買混合產品的本地直接廣告商而言，他們的廣播支出增加了 9%，他們的廣播和混合廣告總支出增加了 27%。現在我們只需要擴大規模即可。

And finally, this biggest and most encouraging news comes from Sam's report that he mentioned not once but twice, and I'm going to mention it a third time because frequency sales. And again, the biggest and most encouraging news comes from Sam's report.

最後，最令人振奮的消息來自 Sam 的報告，他提到了兩次，而我還要第三次提到，因為頻率銷售。再次強調，最重要、最鼓舞人心的消息來自薩姆的報告。

During today's earnings call, and to make sure you didn't miss it, I'm going to make sure you didn't miss it. This above all else, proves that there are green shoots popping up as it relates to our digital transformation. The blend is gaining momentum.

在今天的財報電話會議上，為了確保您沒有錯過，我將確保您沒有錯過。首先，這證明我們在數位轉型方面已經出現了積極的跡象。這種融合趨勢正在興起。

Again, for the third quarter 2025, the increase in Saga's interactive revenue made up almost completely the decrease in our broadcast revenue when you adjust for political. The question has always been, can we run fast enough in the blend to outrun the downdraft in the sector?

同樣，在 2025 年第三季度，Saga 互動收入的成長幾乎完全彌補了我們廣播收入的下降（扣除政治因素後）。問題始終是，我們能否以足夠快的速度在混合氣流中運行，以躲避該區域的下沉氣流？

Well, hope is not a strategy, and this may be an indication that perhaps we can. But make no mistake, although we are still in the infant stages of our digital transformation, this transformation is hard, really hard. It's taxing and it's working.

嗯，希望不是一種策略，但這或許顯示我們或許可以做到。但毋庸置疑，儘管我們仍處於數位轉型的初期階段，但這種轉型非常艱難，真的非常艱難。雖然很累，但確實有效。

We have the very best, most committed and passionate team of broadcasters I have ever had the pleasure of working with and serving, and they are the engine that make the blended transformation a reality.

我們擁有我所榮幸能共事過的最優秀、最敬業、最有熱情的廣播團隊，他們是實現融合轉型的引擎。

Thank you to all of you again for your time and your interest and your support and involvement in Saga Communications, what we believe to be the best media company on the planet.

再次感謝各位抽出時間，感謝你們對 Saga Communications 的關注、支持和參與，我們相信 Saga Communications 是地球上最好的媒體公司。

Sam, do we have any questions?

山姆，我們有什麼問題嗎？

We did. We got questions from three different shareholders and an analyst. And I'll start with Michael Kupinski's question from Noble Capital. The first two, he had three questions but the first two are interrelated, so I'm going to read both of them and let you address them jointly.

我們做到了。我們收到了三位股東和一位分析師的提問。我先回答 Noble Capital 的 Michael Kupinski 提出的問題。前兩個問題，他一共問了三個問題，但前兩個問題是相互關聯的，所以我打算把這兩個問題都讀一遍，然後讓你們一起回答。

Can you give us some color on the tone of the market, pacings into the upcoming quarter, local spot versus digital versus national?

能否為我們介紹市場基調、下一季的發展趨勢，以及本地廣告、數位廣告和全國性廣告的對比情況？

And then the second part of that is, while Saga does not get a lot of national advertising, it had been a key revenue growth driver for the company. How is this category performing going forward?

其次，雖然 Saga 沒有獲得許多全國性的廣告宣傳，但它一直是公司收入成長的關鍵驅動力。這一類別未來的表現如何？

So I'll address the last vertical first. National is weak in the fourth quarter. And it has had a little bit of a tradition in coming in later and later, which impacts our forward pacing. And Saga has two outstanding national sales managers and Tom Howe and Bruce Werner and a really proactive partner in Katz Radio. Unfortunately, we don't really control a lot of what happens in that vertical.

那我先來談談最後一個垂直領域。國民經濟在第四季表現疲軟。而且它似乎有點「拖延」的習慣，總是拖延到越來越晚，這影響了我們前進的步伐。Saga 擁有兩位傑出的全國銷售經理 Tom Howe 和 Bruce Werner，以及一位非常積極的合作夥伴 Katz Radio。遺憾的是，我們對該垂直領域發生的許多事情無法真正掌控。

As Sam mentioned, overall, total revenue pacing, excluding political, is down 4.7% for the quarter. Local pacing is consistent across the quarter, and digital pacing is still pacing plus 32% for the quarter, which is why we are running to the Saga's digital transformation in the first place. I hope that answered the question.

正如 Sam 所提到的，總體而言，不包括政治支出在內的總收入成長率在本季下降了 4.7%。本季本地業務發展速度保持穩定，而數位業務發展速度在本季仍維持成長 32%，這也是我們首先要推動 Saga 數位轉型的原因。希望我的回答能解答你的疑問。

I think it made a great start towards it.

我認為這是一個很好的開始。

Historically, advertisers reacted favorably in anticipation of Fed rate cuts given the favorable influence they had on the economy. As we have seen in many radio company results, the Fed rate action has had no impact and the radio spot advertising remains weak. Any thoughts on why there is this anomaly?

從歷史上看，鑑於聯準會降息對經濟的正面影響，廣告商通常會在聯準會降息前做出積極反應。從許多廣播公司的業績來看，聯準會的利率行動並未產生任何影響，廣播廣告收入仍然疲軟。大家覺得造成這種異常現象的原因是什麼？

Well, first of all, Sam, I don't believe it's an anomaly. And by no means, what I'm about to say is directed at the person who asked this question, and it's the economy, stupid. On Main Street, there's a delayed reaction, in my opinion, to rate cuts by the Fed.

首先，薩姆，我不認為這是一個異常現象。而且，我接下來要說的話絕不是針對提問的那個人，關鍵是經濟，笨蛋。我認為，聯準會降息對一般民眾的影響存在滯後性。

In our world, rate cuts impact our two largest economic indicators as to how radio will perform going forward, and they are housing starts and auto purchases. The 50 basis points reduction the Fed has dribbled out, kicking and screaming, simply has not gotten to Main Street just yet.

在我們看來，降息會影響廣播業未來發展的兩個最重要的經濟指標，即房屋開工量和汽車購買量。聯準會費盡心思、勉強推出的 50 個基點的降息措施，至今尚未惠及一般民眾。

We believe spot radio's downdraft is more a function of the macro decline in the sector and not the rate cuts or lack thereof. And as I said, not really based on the interest rate reduction.

我們認為，即興廣播的下滑更多是該行業宏觀經濟下滑的結果，而不是降息或缺乏降息的結果。正如我所說，這並非完全基於降息。

Very good. Thank you, Chris. We did have two additional questions from two shareholders, and I'm going to combine them because they were similar in nature or augmenting each other.

非常好。謝謝你，克里斯。我們還收到了兩位股東提出的另外兩個問題，我將把它們合併在一起，因為它們性質相似或相互補充。

There was a question as to why there wasn't a concrete plan for a buyback, including timing and amounts once the tower sale closed.

有人質疑，為什麼在塔台出售完成後，沒有製定具體的回購計劃，包括回購時間和金額。

And I would say there was a number of complexities to the tower sale. And we, Saga, had very specific expectations for the final terms and conditions as well as there were certain real estate transfer issues that had to be dealt with and are still being dealt with, shown by the fact that four of our towers, the sites are still in escrow, and we're working through -- which we will work through but we're working through the timing and the complexities of getting the real estate aspects of those transactions, those pieces of the transactions closed.

我認為，這棟大樓的出售涉及許多複雜因素。我們 Saga 對最終條款和條件有非常具體的期望，同時還有一些房地產轉讓問題需要處理，而且目前仍在處理中。這體現在我們四座大樓的土地仍在託管中，我們正在努力解決這些問題——我們會解決這些問題，但我們正在努力解決這些交易中房地產方面的各種時間和複雜性，以完成這些交易的各個部分。

It wasn't until days before the closing that we actually felt comfortable with the final sale proceeds. As Chris stated, we didn't sell the towers because we needed the money. We sold them because it was the right thing to do from a capital allocation standpoint. So again, we didn't feel comfortable with the amount until a couple of days before the closing and as to what the final sales proceeds would be and when the closing would take place.

直到交易完成前幾天，我們才真正對最終的銷售收益感到滿意。正如克里斯所說，我們出售這些塔樓並不是因為我們缺錢。我們出售它們是因為從資本配置的角度來看，這是正確的做法。所以，直到交割前幾天，我們才對金額、最終銷售收入、交割時間感到滿意。

And that's information that was necessary -- is necessary for the Board to know when considering final buyback plans. Buybacks are still a priority for a portion of these proceeds as we have previously stated. There will be more clarity to this in the near future as the Board continues to look at the amount and timing and make some final decisions.

而這些資訊是必要的——董事會在考慮最終回購計畫時必須了解的資訊。正如我們之前所說，回購部分收益仍然是我們的優先事項。隨著董事會繼續研究金額和時間表並做出最終決定，此事在不久的將來會更加明朗。

And I think that's it. We appreciate all of you joining, and I think we can turn it back over to Matt to wrap up the call.

我想就這些了。感謝各位的參與，我想我們可以把電話交還給馬特來總結。

Thank you, Matt.

謝謝你，馬特。

Thank you. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。各位，今天的活動到此結束。您可以暫時斷開連接，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您的參與。