Digital Offers Opportunities for Radio: Bob Pittman

Internet entrepreneur Bob Pittman has gone back to his radio roots in a new venture with Clear Channel, in which he will help extend radio brands, such as Z100 and Kiss FM, on the Internet and for mobile devices.

“Radio ‘listenership’ is not declining,” said Pittman, who is chairman of Clear Channel Media & Entertainment Platforms. Pittman started out as a radio DJ at age 15 to help pay for flying lessons.

“Digital is an opportunity for growth, not a threat,” he added.

Clear Channel owns 850 radio stations, reaching 95 million listeners a week in local markets across the country, Pittman told CNBC Monday.

Pittman, a founding member of the private equity firm the Pilot Group, is a former CEO of MTV Networks and AOL Networks and ex-COO of AOL Time Warner.

Time Warner spun off AOL as a separate company in December 2009.