A blog called All About Jazz has noticed the presence of highly attractive internet audio websites that allow users to have control over what music is going out of the speakers. And automobile-based internet connections will bring these competitors into radio’s traditional home field. But there’s more – the blogger thinks radio may be hurt by competing with: Radio.
Here’s the argument: Radio will not only have to compete with every kind of internet-only music service there is – and of course one of the names that came up was Pandora – but it will also have to compete with every radio station that streams its programming.
So the little radio station serving some small Midwestern market will suddenly find itself competing with big Midwestern stations based in Chicago and St. Louis, not to mention big stations from anywhere. Los Angeles and New York entries will be no more difficult to tune in than the stations right there in town.
AAJ suggests that this one-two punch may be what it takes to finally drive radio into the dustbin of history, and that the coup de grace will be delivered by radio against itself.
RBR-TVBR observation: Radio was written off when network television robbed it of its block programming modus operandi, and it survived that and grew stronger. Since it became the predominant in-vehicle medium, many newcomers have tried and failed to oust it. Is the internet going to join the list, or will it be the one to finally deliver radio a knock-out punch?
On the face of it, there is no reason to believe that the internet will have any more luck than did eight track tapes, cassette tapes, CD players, and most recently, satellite radio have had.
However, we believe that radio may in fact put its fingerprints over its own demise, but only if it succumbs to the internet style and fails to capitalize on its one enduring strength – localism.
A radio station in this environment, more than ever before, will have to be finely attuned to the tastes and information needs of its audience. If radio becomes a robotic jukebox, it will lose to internet robots that have far more reach and flexibility. The only road to continued prosperity is a laser focus on the people close to home.
RBR-TVBR note: Internet radio that has strong local content can be competitive today and for the future. In the current issue of RBR-TVBR’s Manager’s Businesss Report (MBR) internet radio is examined with ‘Bubba the Love Sponge’. The video outlines one key factor “Local Content is King and we mean not just streaming your current over the air programming.” Sign up to get your MBR and learn the digital business from the ground floor.
Manager’s Business Report Sign-Up here.
