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Is Terrestrial Radio Destined to Die?

Posted on: Dec 01, 2007 in Radio's Future

Nprdaytoday

Well my answer certainly is “no.”

But things ain’t gonna be the same as they have been historically.

You can hear that opinion and more in the interview I gave, along with the informed opinions of others (including Slacker.com) on this segment from the fine Public Radio show Day to Day.

Here’s the intro:

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to decide next week whether satellite radio companies Sirius and X-M can merge. Satellite radio has roughly 20 million listeners, but new technologies are posing a challenge to market shares.

Celeste Headlee reports on the development of portable Internet radio. Then NPR’s Alex Cohen gets a primer from Wilson Rothman, an editor at Gizmodo.com on the difference between leading radio technologies and Madeleine Brand talks with Mark Ramsey, president of Mercury Radio Research, about why the emergence of new technologies won’t spell the end for terrestrial radio.

Check it out. They did a really good job with this piece.

2 Comments;
  • http://www.hos.com Stephen Hill

    Mark, a simpler way to say what you and the others were describing in the Day to Day piece is that radio *programming* is now separating itself from the traditional means of distribution and delivery. When you boil it down this is how “radio” adds value to raw content.
    Your other definition of radio — as a trusted (audio) medium that stands between listeners and advertisers — *depends* on adding this value over time. You also point out that it must be unique and hard to copy to remain competitive.
    Another significant question is how important the notion of radically personalized aggregation of both raw content and programming will be in the future for service providers. Experiments like Last.fm, Pandora and Slacker are testing this idea, which holds great promise but has a long way to go to become a true paradigm changer.
    Stephen Hill
    Hearts of Space

  • http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/ Greg

    “BRACING FOR THE WORST”
    “In fact, the earnings report was so dismal that it shocked industry analysts and led to yet another drop in Citadel’s already sagging stock price, pushing it further into penny stock territory. Given a brutal outlook for the radio business and its own particularly alarming financial future, the company was forced to write off an unexpectedly large portion of the value of its stations, sending investors running for cover. At 1pm Eastern, CDL shares were collapsing, down $1.06 to a mere $2.80 per share, a more than 26% drop. That represents a loss of $280,000,000 in market capitalization.”
    http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-imus-employer-abc-owner-faces.html
    Definately, no money to subsidize HD radios! Unbelieveable, I thought that I’de never see the demise of terrestrial radio.

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MRM President Mark Ramsey has worked with innumerable television and radio broadcasters over his career, including all the biggest names, from Clear Channel, CBS, Bonneville, Sirius XM...

Mark Ramsey